Saint Louis finally returned to action Tuesday evening. The first contest for the Billikens since December 23 saw Travis Ford’s team come up short at home against Dayton. Now, UMass and Davidson join George Washington on pause until further notice.
Moving on, arguably the two hottest teams in the conference, St. Bonaventure and Davidson, were set to meet at Belk Arena on Saturday. Davidson has paused activity, so that will have to be made up at a future date. George Mason had a home date with UMass get cancelled. Instead, the Patriots will travel to Reilly Center to meet the Bonnies. As mentioned previously, expect the unexpected and be prepared to adjust on the fly to the changes.
February, the final full month of conference play, is days away. For many, make that all, the clock is ticking. The following numbers reflect conference games through January 27, and are courtesy of KenPom:
Efficiency Margins and Records
2) Davidson (+12, 6-2)
3) Richmond (+11, 4-2)
4) UMass (+10, 4-2)
5) Rhode Island (+8, 6-4)
T-6) VCU (+4, 4-2)
T-6) Dayton (+4, 5-3)
8) Duquesne (0, 4-5)
9) George Mason (-1, 4-4)
10) George Washington (-2, 2-3)
11) Saint Louis (-7, 0-1)
12) La Salle (-8, 4-5)
13) Saint Joseph’s (-17, 0-8)
14) Fordham (-26, 1-8)
Offensive Efficiency Leaders
1) Richmond (112)
2) Davidson (109)
3) Dayton, St. Bonaventure and UMass (103)
Defensive Efficiency Leaders
1) St. Bonaventure (88)
2) VCU and Rhode Island (92)
4) UMass (93)
5) Duquesne (96)
On the topic of defense, mention must be made of Jeff Neubauer’s departure from the Fordham program on Tuesday. Associate head coach Mike DePaoli will fill in as an interim as the university conducts a national search for Neubauer’s replacement.
Neubauer prided himself on establishing a strong defense at Rose Hill, but let’s look at the defensive efficiency numbers in conference games during his tenure:
2015-16: 107 (8-10)
2016-17: 101 (7-11)
2017-18: 110 (4-14)
2018-19: 106 (3-15)
2019-20: 98 (2-16)
2020-21: 103 (1-7)
Over that 25-73 stretch, the Rams won just one Atlantic 10 tournament game, a victory over George Washington last season a day before the conference and all of college basketball shut down amid the pandemic. Interestingly, the Rams’ defensive efficiency averaged 104 during the Neubauer years. Teams want to keep the defensive number under 100 while breaking triple digits on the offensive end. The best a Neubauer offense could manage was 100 his first year, which saw an 8-10 conference record. Each year, the offensive numbers dwindled. Last year, the defense showed its best mark at 98. The offense struggled with an 85. To date, the Rams have a 103 defensive efficiency. The offense is last in the conference at 80.
Granted, Fordham did play better defense the last year-plus under Neubauer. At any rate, his successor still faces a monumental task, one that goes a lot farther than fixing the offensive numbers.
Tempo
1) VCU (73 possessions per game)
2) Saint Joseph’s and Saint Louis (72)
4) UMass (71)
5) La Salle (70)
Rhode Island also had a 70 mark, three-tenths of a percentage point behind La Salle.
Slowest Tempo
1) Fordham and Dayton (64 possessions per game)
3) Davidson (65)
4) St. Bonaventure and Duquesne (66)
Under the direction of Jeff Neubauer, Fordham always kept the pace in the 66-68 possession range. The pace, unfortunately, hasn’t translated into victories.
Games of Note
Saturday, January 23: St. Bonaventure 65, Duquesne 61
The Bonnies have now won 10 of the last 12 meetings with the Dukes. This series is anything but one-sided, however, as eight games have been decided by six points or less. A 91 defensive efficiency and 41 percent offensive rebounding rate proved a difference for Mark Schmidt’s Bonnies.
La Salle 84, Richmond 78
The Explorers were forced into a 25 percent turnover rate, but still posted a 118 efficiency. How? They shot 9-of-17 from 3-point range to earn the upset on Richmond’s home floor.
VCU 66, Dayton 43
VCU led tip to buzzer en route to a resounding bounce back victory after losing at St. Bonaventure the previous Wednesday. The Flyers were held to a 66 offensive efficiency as the Rams controlled the interior, blocking nine shots as Dayton did not have an answer on the perimeter, shooting 3-of-20 from beyond the arc.
Sunday, January 24: Davidson 69, UMass 60
The Wildcats trailed by as much as 12 in the latter part of the first half. Kellan Grady led the way with a game-high 22 points. Bob McKillop’s group excelled defensively, holding UMass to a 92 efficiency, 11 below its conference average.
Tuesday, January 26: Dayton 76, Saint Louis 71
The first game for the Billikens in over a month was the Arch-Baron Cup. The return and start of A1-0 play did not go well for Travis Ford, as Jalen Crutcher scored a game-high 27 points for the Flyers to offset just four offensive rebounds. Greater significance lies in limiting a normally aggressive rebounding Saint Louis team to just two caroms on the offensive glass.
Upcoming
Friday, January 29: Saint Louis at Richmond
Conference favorite Saint Louis stumbled against Dayton in its return to action after a long pause in activity. The Billikens take to the road to face formidable Richmond, a challenger for the top spot.
Saturday, January 30: Rhode Island at Dayton
Rhode Island has won three of its last four, and faces a Dayton team coming off a nice win at Saint Louis. David Cox’s Rams could use this one to gain momentum for the stretch run.
Wednesday, February 3: VCU at Rhode Island
Host URI will have to face the VCU pressure and interior defense, a tough battle, but a good opportunity for the host Rams to get a significant and much-needed win.
In St. Bonaventure’s win at Duquesne, Jalen Adaway was instrumental for the Bonnies. Adaway finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds, and two blocks. The 6-foot-5 junior made several key plays down the stretch to preserve the victory.
Davidson’s Kellan Grady has shot 10-of-14 from 3-point range the last two games.
Bones Hyland was VCU’s lone double-figure scorer in the win over Dayton. Hyland had a game-high 28 points.
La Salle had 6 players in double figures in the win at Richmond. Sherif Kenney paced the Explorers with 17 points.
In Saturday’s loss to George Mason, Saint Joseph’s committed only seven turnovers. Tuesday’s setback against Richmond saw the Hawks guilty of 18 giveaways.
Chad Baker scored a game-high 23 points in Duquesne’s 86-62 victory at Fordham on Wednesday. Baker, a 6-foot-7 freshman, shot only 1-of-4 from inside the arc. Dialing long distance Baker was 7-of-11.
Jeremy Sheppard is putting up some noticeable numbers of late. The Rhode Island senior guard scored 16 in a win over Fordham on Sunday and 25 at La Salle, another Ram victory, on Wednesday. Both were game-highs.
All-KenPom
Jordan Goodwin, Saint Louis
Bones Hyland, VCU
Jalen Crutcher, Dayton
Grant Golden, Richmond
Fatts Russell, Rhode Island
Conference Averages
Efficiency: 99
Tempo: 68 possessions per game
Home record: 23-27 (.460)
Close games: 11 of 50 (22 percent)
Blowouts: 10 of 50 (20 percent)
The home court edge is still not significant. To date, the conference fell under .500. Competitiveness is another issue. Close games are those decided by less than four points or going into overtime. Interestingly, just over one-fifth are close games while exactly one/fifth are blowouts. At this point, the numbers leave little middle ground for the type of games in conference. Almost half are white-knucklers or one-sided. A close look will be kept as February progresses.
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