St. Bonaventure makes its first Atlantic 10 road trip of the year, heading to the Bronx to take on Fordham at 2 p.m. today in the first of two meetings vs. the Rams this season. The Bonnies opened A-10 play with a thrilling win over another Rams squad, knocking off preseason A-10 favorite VCU earlier in the week to move to 13-1 on the season.

STARTING FIVE

By winning 13 of 14 games to begin the year, the Bonnies have had their best stretch during a season since 2018 when the team went on a 13-game winning streak on the way to a 26-win season and NCAA First Four win over UCLA that year.

Melvin Council Jr. and Noel Brown each tallied 20 points apiece in Tuesday’s win over VCU. It was the first time that multiple Bonnies have scored 20 or more points in the same game since Feb. 10, 2024. For Brown, it marked his second career 20-point effort, both coming this year. His career-high of 22 points came in a November victory vs. Bryant.

Noel Brown has tallied double-figure scoring in four straight games for the first time in his collegiate career (14.8 ppg in that span). Brown played a career-high 37 minutes vs. VCU.

Jonah Hinton poured in a Division I career-high of 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting and 3-of-6 from distance in the win over VCU. It was Hinton’s fourth career D-I start, all coming due to the absense of guard Dasonte Bowen due to a foot injury.

St. Bonaventure has made more free throws (190) than its opponents have attempted (186) this season.

COUNCIL AT THE POINT

Melvin Council Jr. has shined since taking over the point guard duties during Dasonte Bowen’s absence. The Rochester native has been a do-it-all dynamo for the Bonnies, averaging 18.0 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 3.3 steals with a 3.6 assist-to-turnover ratio in the past four contests. He logged a season-high 24 points to key the win over Providence Dec. 14, then had the most steals by a Bona player (7) in two decades Dec. 17 at Siena. Against VCU, he tallied 20 points and eight rebounds along with four assists in a 40-minute effort, draining the game-winner on a running layup with 3.3 seconds to go.

NET GAIN

Bona’s enters the Atlantic 10 schedule ranking high in several national metrics.

In the NCAA NET rankings, the Bonnies stand 53 as of Jan. 2, second in the Atlantic 10 behind only Dayton (44). SBU stands at No. 73 in KenPom and No. 58 in the Torvik T-Rank system.

The Bonnies are now 4-0 in Quad 2 games with wins over VCU (home), Providence (neutral), Northern Iowa (neutral) and Florida Gulf Coast (road) as well as 2-0 in Quad 3 contests (wins vs. CSUN and at Siena).

WINS FOR THE HOLIDAYS

St. Bonaventure went 6-0 during the month of December, securing its first perfect month since going 7-0 in January 2021.

TRENDING NUMBERS

3 – St. Bonaventure has not trailed by more than three points since being down nine in the first half in an eventual win vs. Northern Iowa Nov. 29.

8 – St. Bonaventure is one of eight teams nationally in Division I to have scored 13 victories as of Jan. 3. (SBU, Tennessee, Florida, Oklahoma, Utah St., San Francisco, Furman, High Point).

30 – Chance Moore’s 30 offensive rebounds on the year are fifth among all Atlantic 10 players and the most by any A-10 guard. He also leads all A-10 guards in overall rebounding a 7.6 rpg. He matched his season high with 12 boards in the win vs. VCU.

92.9% – St. Bonaventure owns a winning percentage of 92.9%. Only three undefeated teams remaining in Division I (Oklahoma, Tennessee, Florida) have a higher win percentage.

+174 – SBU has had power in the paint so far: Bona’s is +174 in paint scoring though 14 games and has held a plus paint margin in all contests. SBU scored a season-high 48 paint points in the win over VCU Dec. 31.

SERIES HISTORY

This will be the 51st meeting between the Bonnies and the Rams. St. Bonaventure leads the series 30-20.

The Bonnies had an 11-game winning streak vs. their New York State rivals dating from 2013-2023 until the Rams won three in a row, sweeping the 2023 season series and taking the first game at the Reilly Center last year. Bona turned things around with a dominating 85-67 victory at Rose Hill Gym last February, however.

In all, the Bonnies have won 18 of the last 23 games vs. Fordham dating back to 2010. Fordham’s three-game winning streak was the longest for the Rams since Fordham captured seven straight matchups between 2005-08.

IN THE EMPIRE STATE

All-time, the Bonnies are 350-253 against teams from New York State. There are 22 New York schools currently playing at the Division I level and the Bonnies have played them all except one – there has never been an SBU vs. SBU matchup as the Bonnies have never played Stony Brook in men’s basketball.

Among all New York Division I men’s basketball programs since the start of the 2010-11 season, only two have a better overall winning percentage than St. Bonaventure’s .604: Syracuse (.653) and Iona (.639).

ABOUT FORDHAM

The Rams rank 10th in the Atlantic 10 in points per game (75.9), but have struggled offensively, allowing a league-high 75.4 ppg.

Fordham likes to run and score in transition – the Rams are 50th in the nation in fastbreak points at over 14 per game. Much of that comes off steals where the Rams rank third in the A-10 and top-65 in the country with nearly nine swipes per contest.

Senior guard Jackie Johnson III is not afraid to shoot – his 202 field goal attempts are the most by any A-10 player thus far and 34th nationally. That results in a lot of points – he’s second in the A-10 at 18.2 ppg. Johnson transferred from UNLV where he helped the Runnin’ Rebels to a quarterfinal spot in the NIT at 5.4 ppg last year.

Sophomore guard Jahmere Tripp is Fordham’s only other double-figure scorer (11.0 ppg), though graduate guard Japhet Medor (9.9 ppg) and junior forward Josh Rivera (9.7 ppg) are scoring threats as well. Grad center Abdou Tsimbila ranked 10th in the A-10 last season in rebounding (6.3 rpg) and was 18th nationally with 2.3 blocks per contest.

The Bonnies and Rams have one like opponent – Bryant, whom both teams scored wins over. The Rams beat Bryant in a thriller, 86-84, in the early game of the Basketball Hall of Fame Showcase last month just before the Bonnies defeated Providence in Mohegan Sun Arena.