A-10 Tempo Thursday: March 3, 2022

By Ray Floriani (@rfloriani)

Game statistic sheets today provide an area for time leading, but enjoying the lead for most of a game does not guarantee a victory. You must have the lead when the clock strikes 0:00.

Davidson has held the Atlantic 10 lead for virtually the entire campaign. Bob McKillop’s Wildcats, in the driver’s seat, still had to take care of business against George Mason and Dayton. On Wednesday, George Mason was defeated, leaving a trip to Dayton on Saturday to finish up the regular season.

The race for the top four and the accompanying coveted double bye in next week’s A-10 tournament is still not decided. Davidson, VCU, Dayton and St. Bonaventure lead the way. Saint Louis closely follows.

Less than a week of regular season play remains. Questions beg to be answered. It’s been that type of year. Expect to see more of it in Washington.

Efficiency and Records

1) Dayton (+17, 13-4)

2) Davidson (+13, 15-2)

3) VCU (+10, 14-3)

4) Saint Louis (+10, 11-6)

5) St. Bonaventure (+7, 11-5)

6) Richmond (+3, 10-7)

7) George Mason (0, 7-8)

8) Rhode Island (-3, 5-11)

9) Saint Joseph’s (-5, 4-13)

10) George Washington (-6, 8-8)

11) Fordham (-6, 7-10)

12) UMass (-9, 6-11)

13) La Salle (-9, 4-13)

14) Duquesne (-20, 1-15)

Offensive Efficiency Leaders

1) Davidson 113 

2) Saint Louis 109 

3) Dayton 107 

4) St. Bonaventure 105

5) George Mason and Richmond 104

Davidson also leads the way in effective field goal percentage (54 percent), and has the second-best turnover rate at 15 percent. Think of Davidson and you think of its multiple perimeter threats. Interestingly, the Wildcats are sixth in 3-point percentage, yet lead the A-10 with a 55 percent rate for shots from inside the arc.

Defensive Efficiency Leaders

1) Dayton 90 

2) VCU 91 

3) Rhode Island and Fordham 96 

5) St. Bonaventure 98

Dayton is still on top of the conference here. The Flyers’ strong suit is an effective field goal defense of 45 percent, second in conference. They lead the conference in a defensive mark of 43 percent for shots inside the arc. Dayton does not force many turnovers, however, it will lock you down defensively, especially inside.

Tempo

Fastest: UMass 70 possessions per game

VCU, George Washington and Rhode Island 69 

Saint Joseph’s 68

Deliberate: Dayton 63 possessions per game

Davidson, George Mason, Duquesne and St. Bonaventure 66

A few teams are pushing the pace, but none are at a breakneck, NASCAR-like tempo. UMass and Saint Joseph’s have been among the leaders all season. On the opposite side Dayton has also been a consistent leader in the most deliberate category. Anthony Grant, having a very young team, arguably opted for this to be an optimum pace to play. The last two seasons, Dayton’s tempo was 66 and 67 possessions per game, respectively. Numbers do not seem like a drastic difference from the 63 of this season. Measuring possessions, it is significant. The Flyers have put it in low gear tempo-wise. Who can argue with the results?

St. Bonaventure had a seven-game win streak snapped at VCU on Tuesday. The host Rams defeated the Bonnies by a resounding 74-51 count as Osun Osunniyi sat out the game with an ankle injury suffered with just over eight minutes remaining in the win at Saint Joseph’s the previous Saturday.

With the season winding down, it’s time to take a closer look at the percentage of team minutes the Bonnies’ starters are on the floor. Coach Mark Schmidt has utilized a short rotation during his years in Olean. In recent seasons, the rotation was seven or eight-deep. This season, Schmidt has rolled with virtually an iron five, as noted by the following list with the percentage of team minutes each starter has logged individually:

Jaren Holmes: 95 percent

Dominick Welch: 92 percent

Jalen Adaway: 90 percent

Kyle Lofton: 84 percent

Osun Osunniyi: 72 percent

Among the nation’s leaders, Holmes is ranked fourth. Welch 10th and Adaway 21st. Lofton’s numbers would be higher except for a three-game early season hiatus due to an ankle injury. Osunniyi, as noted, missed the VCU game. The senior also was off the floor several times during the year due to foul trouble.

Now, taking a look at the A10 leaders:

1) Jacob Gilyard, Richmond: 95 percent

2) Jaren Holmes, St. Bonaventure: 95 percent

3) Dominick Welch, St. Bonaventure: 92 percent

4) Jalen Adaway, St. Bonaventure: 90 percent

5) Taylor Funk, Saint Joseph’s: 88 percent

6) D’Shawn Schwartz, George Mason: 88 percent

7) Jordan Hall, Saint Joseph’s: 87 percent

8) Kyle Lofton, St. Bonaventure: 84 percent

9) James Bishop, George Washington: 84 percent

10) Gibson Jimerson, Saint Louis: 84 percent

Coach Billy Lange wants Funk and Hall on the floor as much as possible. The St. Joe’s rotation falls decidedly short of the Bonnies in percentage of minutes played, though. Last season, an A-10 commentator half-jokingly said Schmidt could not coach in the NBA because he would not deal with load management. If you’re ready, you play, each game and virtually all of it.

The 3-pointer is a weapon. Individually, here are the A-10’s top five:

1) Rich Kelly, UMass: 48 percent

2) Michael Jones, Davidson: 46 percent

3) Ace Baldwin, VCU: 44 percent

4) Tyson Scuff, Duquesne: 44 percent

5) Foster Loyer, Davidson: 44 percent

Keep an eye on these top marksmen, two from A-10-leading Davidson, during tournament play.

Quick Hitters

Minus Osunniyi, an inside force and rim protector, St. Bonaventure gave up 44 points in the paint at VCU.

Dayton was outrebounded, 38-29, in its loss at La Salle on Saturday. Anthony Grant’s Flyers got back on track, winning the battle of the boards 39-29 in Tuesday’s win at Richmond.

Prior to defeating Duquesne on Saturday, Rhode Island dropped eight of its previous nine games, the lone victory coming against Davidson.

Out with an injury most of last season, Chuba Ohams came back with a vengeance. The Fordham senior center recorded a double-double in 19 of Fordham’s 29 games.

Duquesne has scored 62 points or less in 13 of its last 14 games, all losses. Keith Danbrot’s group broke through Wednesday with 93 points in a triple-overtime loss at George Washington. The Dukes are at the bottom of the conference with an efficiency of 89 in A10 play.

In Saint Louis’ 80-74 victory at Rhode Island on wednesday, the Billikens shot better from 3-point range than inside the arc. Saint Louis was 9-of-19 from three and 19-for-44 from 2-point range.

LaSalle won its second straight, defeating Saint Joseph’s, 49-48, on Wednesday. The Explorers swept their Big 5 rivals by holding the Hawks to 12 second-half points. Both were under their offensive efficiency norm with La Salle at 77 and the visiting Hawks checking in at 75.

Davidson keeps on rolling. The Wildcats stopped George Mason, 73-62, on Wednesday. The win was their fifth straight and ninth in their last ten. The Patriots canned 40 percent of their 3-point shots. Davidson answered with balanced scoring and a 39-28 rebounding advantage.

Upcoming Schedule

March 4: Richmond at St. Bonaventure

March 5: Davidson at Dayton

La Salle at Duquesne

George Washington at Fordham 

Rhode Island at Saint Joseph’s 

UMass at George Mason

VCU at Saint Louis

A-10 Tournament at Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C. 

March 9: Game 1: #12 vs. #13

Game 2: #11 vs. #14

March 10: Game 3: #8 vs. #9 

Game 4: #5 vs. winner of game 1 

Game 5: #7 vs. #10

Game 6: #6 vs. winner of game 2

March 11: Quarterfinals

Game 7: #1 vs. winner of game 3 

Game 8: #4 vs. winner of game 4 

Game 9: #2 vs. winner of game 5 

Game 10: #3 vs. winner of game 6

March 12: Semifinals

Game 11: Winner of game 7 vs. winner of game 8

Game 12: Winner of game 9 vs. winner of game 10 March 13: Championship

All-KenPom

Josh Oduro, George Mason

Luka Brajkovic, Davidson

Hyunjung Lee, Davidson 

Vince Williams, VCU

Tyler Burton, Richmond

Aggregate Stats

Efficiency: 101

Tempo: 68 possessions per game

Effective field goal percentage: 50

Turnover percentage: 18

Offensive rebound percentage: 27

2-point field goal percentage: 49

3-point field goal percentage: 34

Home winning percentage: 60

Close game percentage: 24 

Blowout percentage: 17

The home court edge shows a marked difference from early in the season. In the first weeks of January, the host team barely broke even, with the winning percentages right around .500. Through February, now into March, that homecourt advantage is more pronounced. Blowouts under 20 percent and nearly a quarter of the games being close attests to better competitive balance.