St. Bonaventure came back from 20 points in Wednesday’s win at Saint Louis. Any win at this point of the season’s huge, but the fact that the Bonnies trailed by 20 points and still managed to win is gigantic.
Head coach Jim Crowley hopes that the final 10 minutes of Wednesday transitions to a full 40 minutes this afternoon against Davidson.
“Hopefully we carry a really good 10 minutes into a solid 40,” he said. “Those are all things you got to see by action. As a coach you reiterate things, you try and stay consistent, but it’s players that determine how they feel about how they’re playing and how they feel about how they’re teammates are playing.”
Davidson doesn’t have a very good record (5-21, 1-12), but they did beat Saint Louis in conference play and have some close losses.
“They’re not getting blown out a lot of those games. They’re right there,” said Crowley. “They had 18 offensive rebounds Wednesday at UMass, so they go hard.”
The Bonnies can’t take the Wildcats lightly. They can’t take this game for granted. St. Bonaventure needs every win they can get with three games remaining.
“They’re going to put the pressure on you, and if you’re not ready or you give away some things because you are not going at full effort they’re going to make you pay,” said Crowley.
Davidson ranks fifth in the conference in assists per game and eighth in 3-point percentage.
“They shoot well. They have a lot of different options,” said Crowley. “They have a couple of forwards who are pretty gifted. Hannah Early really shoots it well, so she becomes a difficult match-up for people.”
Early leads Davidson in scoring with 14 points per game. She shoots 35 percent from outside and grabs six rebounds per game.
She can play inside and out, which makes her a challenge.
“She’s tough because she’s also long. Do you put a forward on her, who is not used to guarding on the perimeter? But you put a guard on her she can go inside and post, so they run everything through her and she’s very confident in that role, so whoever is guarding her has really got to be up to the challenge of contesting her consistently,” said Crowley.
For the Bonnies, it all hinges on consistently. They have a great opportunity these next two home games (Davidson and La Salle) and one away game (Duquesne) to enter conference tournament on a winning streak.
“(It’s all about) consistency,” said Crowley. “Can we turn a really good 10 minutes into a solid 40 minutes?”
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