By Ray Floriani (@rfloriani)
A little over three weeks remain in the regular season. Davidson, after surviving an overtime scare from Saint Joseph’s on Wednesday, remains in the Atlantic 10 lead, with Saint Louis, Dayton and VCU on the heels of Bob McKillop’s Wildcats.
In consecutive losses to Davidson and Richmond, St. Bonaventure yielded defensive efficiencies above 100. Defense has been a staple under Mark Schmidt, but the Bonnies, as noted, had been struggling at that end as of late. On Tuesday, the Bonnies defeated Fordham, 76-51, limiting the Rams to a 74 efficiency. Upcoming games against Saint Louis on Friday and Monday will give us a better indication that the Bonnies may be back on track.
La Salle recently posted a noteworthy 83-78 victory over George Mason. For the season, though, it’s been a struggle for coach Ashley Howard’s Explorers. In conference, La Salle has suffered through losing streaks of three and five games. In early January, heartbreaking losses to St. Bonaventure and Rhode Island sandwiched a win at Saint Joseph’s. Losses to Richmond, UMass, Davidson and George Washington were decided by three possessions or less. Tuesday’s 75-57 defeat to a hot Saint Louis team was the Explorers’ first double-digit setback in a month.
Howard, in his fourth year at the school, has shown signs of closing the gap. Still, there is an appreciable amount of work to be done. The Explorers are in the bottom half of the A10 in offensive (100, 8th) and defensive efficiency (107, 10th). The latter metric is largely due to a defense allowing opponents to shoot 40 percent (second-worst in the A-10) from beyond the 3-point arc. Individually, the Explorers have three players averaging 11 or more points per game: Clifton Moore, Josh Nickelberry, and Jack Clark (11.2). Moore and Clark are the rebounding leaders. Among the trio, only Moore is a senior, while Nickelberry and Clark are juniors, providing talent to bank on for the future. The discussion here, however, is the present. La Salle is a team not shooting well, not forcing turnovers and not stopping opponents from shooting well.
VCU has won five of its last six, despite having Vince Williams out several games with a calf injury. The lone blemish, an 82-52 home loss to Dayton last Wednesday, was mitigated by a 73-64 win Tuesday over Rhode Island. KeShawn Curry sparked VCU with a career-high 28 points, but head coach Mike Rhoades still needs to address turnovers. The Rams’ 21 percent offensive turnover rate places them at the bottom of the A-10. Conversely, the Rams pace the conference with a defensive turnover rate of 25 percent.
George Mason and Richmond had a three game stretch not for the faint of heart. On Monday, the host Spiders defeated George Mason, 62-59, on a Jacob Gilyard 3-pointer at the buzzer. Two nights later in Fairfax, in a game that may have set a NCAA record for trips to the monitor, the Patriots returned the favor, defeating Richmond in overtime, 87-84. D’Shawn Schwartz hit several big shots for George Mason, pacing all scorers with 24 points.
Efficiency and Records
1) Dayton (+17, 8-3)
2) Saint Louis (+16, 8-2)
3) Davidson (+8, 10-1)
4) VCU (+4, 8-3)
5) St. Bona (+4, 5-4)
6) Richmond (+3, 7-5)
7) George Mason (+3, 5-4)
8) Rhode Island (-2, 3-7)
9) Saint Joseph’s (-3, 4-7)
10) La Salle (-7, 2-9)
11) George Washington (-8, 5-5)
12) UMass (-5, 3-7)
13) Fordham (-9, 3-7)
14) Duquesne (-18, 1-8)
Offensive Efficiency:
Davidson 115
Saint Louis 110
George Mason 108
Dayton 107
St. Bonaventure 106
Richmond 104
Defensive Efficiency:
Dayton 90
VCU and Saint Louis 94
Rhode Island 95
Richmond and Fordham 100
The offensive numbers among the leaders are impressive. To date, the aggregate efficiency of the league is an impressive 102. As the season comes closer to its conclusion, with teams battling for position and defenses tightening up, it remains to be seen if some of the offensive leaders will keep turning out those numbers.
Rhode Island is one of the leaders on the defensive end. The Rams, 3-7 and mired in a six-game losing streak, are struggling on the offensive end with an efficiency of 92 and a turnover rate of 20 percent, both third-worst in the conference.
Fastest Tempo:
Saint Joseph’s, Rhode Island and UMass: 70 possessions per game
George Washington, Saint Louis and La Salle 68
Deliberate:
Dayton: 63 possessions per game
St. Bonaventure and George Mason 65
Davidson 66
Duquesne 67
On the uptempo side, almost half the conference is now pushing the pace. The faster pace is to the liking of George Washington, especially as of late. Jamion Christian’s Colonials, after defeating UMass on the road Wednesday night, have now captured three of their last four, the lone setback being a close contest at the hands of Davidson.
Team Effective Field Goal Percentage Leaders
Davidson 57
George Mason 56
VCU, Saint Joseph’s and Dayton 52
Effective Field Goal Percentage Defense Leaders
Saint Louis 45
Dayton and VCU 46
Rhode Island 47
Saint Joseph’s and Fordham 49
The last two weeks gave a look at 3-point shooting, then 2-point accuracy. It’s only appropriate to put it all together. Effective field goal percentage takes into account 2-point and 3-point proficiency.
Looking at the individual leaders, there is no surprise Davidson and George Mason lead in team percentage. George Mason leads the A-10, shooting 40 percent from deep. In Josh Oduro, the Patriots have an inside threat who will step out on the perimeter. Oduro is hitting 33 percent from beyond the arc. Davidson is hitting 39 percent from distance while leading the conference with an impressive 56 percent mark from 2-point range.
Individual Effective Field Goal Percentage Leaders
Luka Brajkovic, Davidson: 66
DeRon Holmes, Dayton: 65
Michael Jones, Davidson: 65
Davonte Gaines, George Mason: 62
Josh Oduro, George Mason: 59
Ejike Obinna, Saint Joseph’s: 59
Makhel Mitchell, Rhode Island: 59
Rich Kelly, UMass: 59
Devon Cooper, George Mason: 58
Taylor Funk, Saint Joseph’s: 58
Upcoming Schedule
February 11: St. Bonaventure at Saint Louis
February 12: Saint Joseph’s at UMass
George Washington at Dayton
Davidson at Rhode Island
VCU at George Mason
Fordham at Duquesne
La Salle at Richmond
February 14: Saint Louis at St. Bonaventure
Duquesne at Davidson
Dayton at Rhode Island
February 15: VCU at Fordham
February 16: UMass at St. Bonaventure
George Mason at Saint Joseph’s
George Washington at Duquesne
La Salle at Saint Louis
All-KenPom
Luka Brajkovic, Davidson
Josh Oduro, George Mason
Yuri Collins, Saint Louis
Tyler Burton, Richmond
Grant Golden, Richmond
Conference Aggregate Numbers
Efficiency: 102
Tempo: 68 possessions per game
Effective field goal percentage: 50
Turnover rate: 18 percent
Home court winning percentage: 55
Close games: 25 percent
Blowouts: 14 percent
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