A-10 Tempo Thursday: January 27, 2022

By Ray Floriani (@rfloriani)

Davidson saw a 15-game win streak end on Wednesday, as VCU survived a late rally from the host Wildcats to record a 70-68 victory. The loss knocked Davidson

from the ranks of the Atlantic 10’s unbeaten after surviving a scare at Fordham the previous Saturday. Nevertheless, Bob McKillop’s group still is on top of the conference, with VCU, Dayton, George Mason, Saint Louis and St. Bonaventure in close pursuit.

As teams deal with busy schedules over the next few weeks, the increased activity may sort things out a bit, or give us more surprises.

Efficiency and Records (courtesy of KenPom)

1) Dayton (+16, 5-2)

2) Saint Louis (+14, 4-2)

3) VCU (+9, 5-2)

4) Davidson (+7, 6-1)

5) George Mason (+6, 3-1)

6) Rhode Island (+3, 3-3)

7 St. Bonaventure (+2, 3-2)

8) Richmond (0, 4-3)

9) Saint Joseph’s (-1, 3-5)

10) Fordham (-8, 2-4)

11) La Salle (-8, 1-6)

12) UMass (-11, 2-5)

13) Duquesne (-12, 1-4)

14) George Washington (-18, 2-4)

Offensive Efficiency:

1) Davidson 116 

2) Saint Louis 109

3) George Mason and St. Bonaventure 105 

5) Dayton 104

Davidson blisters the nets at a conference leading 57 percent effective field goal percentage. Bob McKillop’s Wildcats are hitting 40 percent from beyond the arc. Davidson also cares for the ball extremely well with a 16 percent turnover rate, all adding up to a dangerous offensive team as its 116 efficiency metric bears out.

Defensive Efficiency:

1) Dayton 88

2) VCU 91

3) Rhode Island and Saint Louis 96

5) St. Bonaventure 99

Dayton is getting the job done defensively with a third-in-conference 45 percent effective field goal percentage defense. The Flyers also limit the opposition’s trips to the charity stripe with a 15 percent mark, good for third in the A-10.

PACE:

Fastest: Saint Joseph’s (71 possessions per game)

UMass and Richmond 70 

George Washington 69 and Saint Louis 69

Deliberate: St. Bonaventure (62 possessions per game) Dayton 63

George Mason 64

Davidson and Duquesne 66

Not one to push the pace for 40 minutes, Mark Schmidt’s Bonnies are enjoying the grind-it-out tempo. A few other noted contenders evidently are as well. Duquesne would probably push the pace a bit, but with a freshman backcourt (Amir Spears and Jackie Johnson) Keith Dambrot is taking a more conservative approach.

George Mason, under first-year coach Kim English, is a team to watch. The Patriots got off to a rough start, dropping a one-point loss at George Washington in their A-10 opener on January 17. They scored an eye-opening 50-49 victory over Dayton on Saturday, and followed that up with wins over Saint Joseph’s on Monday and St. Bonaventure two days later. 

George Mason is getting things done on both ends. Offensively, it is second in the conference in both effective field goal (54) and turnover percentage (15). On the defensive side, the Patriots limit opponents to a 20 percent offensive rebounding norm, second in conference play. English also has the services of 6’9” Josh Oduro, a skilled big man who scored 31 points in Monday’s win over Saint Joseph’s.

Rhode Island saw an early 20-5 lead dissipate in its 63-61 loss at home to George Washington on Saturday. The arc and the foul line proved to be the Rams’ undoing, shooting 2-of-19 from deep and 15-of-32 at the line. Three nights later, again in Kingston, URI saw a 15-point second-half lead wiped out as Richmond posted a 70-63 victory. Coach David Cox was able to get the pace (67 possessions) he wanted, but not the result, as a great opportunity to get two home wins and go into Dayton Friday with momentum went for naught.

With rescheduled games due to COVID postponements, some schedules are resembling that of the NBA. UMass earned its first conference win, defeating Saint Louis on Thursday, 91-85. Sunday, the Minutemen went on the road to play who else? Saint Louis. This time around, the host Billikens got the better of the rematch by a 90-59 count. Fordham, noted previously, dropped a close one to Davidson at Rose Hill on Saturday. The Rams led by 13 with 17 minutes remaining. Darius Quisenberry paced all scorers with 36 points. Davidson shot 3-of-13 from 3-point range, but did win the offensive rebounding percentage battle, 32-20. In a one-possession game, that represents a significant, and game-winning, difference.

This week, we are not looking at an advanced stat for the weekly individual player leaderboard, but rather, a plain ordinary number readily available in a daily box score. With the 3-pointer so prevalent these days, we take a look at the conference’s top ten shooters from downtown. A minimum of two shots per game were required to qualify:

1) Michael Jones, Davidson (53 percent)

2) Rich Kelly, UMass (51)

3) Davonte Gaines, George Mason (49)

4) Tyson Acuff, Duquesne 47)

5) Foster Loyer, Davidson (47)

6) CJ Kelly, UMass (44)

7) Ishmael El-Amin, Rhode Island (44)

8) Kobe Elvis, Dayton (43)

9) Taylor Funk, Saint Joseph’s (43)

10) Jalen Adaway, St. Bona (43)

Interestingly, the lowest number of attempts from this group was Acuff, who is shooting 17-of-36 at this point.

Upcoming Schedule:

January 28: Rhode Island at Dayton

January 29: LaSalle at Davidson

Saint Louis at Duquesne

Saint Joseph’s at St. Bonaventure

VCU at Richmond

January 30: Fordham at George Washington

George Mason at UMass

February 1: Richmond at Duquesne

Davidson at St. Bonaventure

February 2: Rhode Island at Fordham

La Salle at George Washington

Saint Louis at George Mason

Dayton at VCU

All-KenPom

Luka Brajkovic, Davidson

Josh Oduro, George Mason

Vince Williams, VCU

Hyunjung Lee, Davidson

Grant Golden, Richmond

Conference Aggregate:

Efficiency: 102 

Tempo: 67 possessions per game

Effective Field Goal Percentage: 50

Turnover Rate: 18 percent

3-Point Field Goal Percentage: 35

Home Winning Percentage: 52