Richmond vs. St. Bonaventure NCAA Basketball Odds, Preview and Prediction (Archive)
The Atlantic 10 regular season comes to an end Friday night as Richmond heads to St. Bonaventure. The Spiders won the first matchup, in Virginia, 71-61, last month, their first win over the Bonnies in the last six meetings.
Here’s a look at the NCAAB odds for this matchup.
Richmond Spiders vs. St. Bonaventure Bonnies
Friday, March 04, 2022 – 07:00 PM EST at Reilly Center
Richmond is locked into a six-seed for the upcoming A-10 tournament at 19-11, 10-7. The Spiders could catch No. 5 St. Louis but would lose the tiebreaker. They have split their last six games, most recently suffering a loss to Dayton at the buzzer.
Bona is trying to hold off St. Louis and keep the four-seed in the conference tourney, which would mean a double-bye in the tournament. The Bonnies are 19-8, 11-5 and were blown out by 23 at VCU last time out, snapping a seven-game winning streak.
Wasted Defensive Effort
The 55-53 loss to Dayton came in what Richmond coach Chris Mooney called the team’s best defensive effort of the season. The Spiders had their best defensive efficiency of the A-10 season, allowing just 0.84 points per possession. They also allowed their lowest shooting percentage in more than a month.
The problem was the offense let the team down. Never strong from three this season, the Spiders shot just 4-of-16 from outside. They also shot just 16-of-40 from two-point range, their lowest percentage since the calendar flipped to 2022. Richmond ranks among the nation’s leaders in two-point percentage at 52.8.
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"We need to make a few more shots," said Mooney. "We had some open looks. We need to have those fall.” The result was Richmond’s first loss when allowing 55 points or fewer since 2014.
Tyler Burton battled foul trouble and scored just three points. Richmond needs him on the floor. He scored 36 in the win over St. Bonaventure earlier this year, the most by a Spider in five years. He leads Richmond in scoring (16.4 ppg) and rebounding (7.4 rpg).
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Richmond also needs point guard Jacob Gilyard to bounce back. He had just three assists against four turnovers in the last game. Gilyard is the A-10’s all-time career leader in assists.
He also holds the NCAA record for career steals and leads the nation with 3.03 per game this season. On top of that, Gilyard has made the most threes on the team, although Burton leads the way in three-point percentage.
The final member of Richmond’s big three is Grant Golden, who recorded his 20th career double-double in the Dayton game.
Need a Key Player to Answer the Bell
If there is a team that can't handle an injury to a starter, it’s St. Bonaventure. The Bonnies start five seniors, and they play about 88 percent of the available minutes. Three of the starters are on the floor more than 90 percent of the time.
That’s what makes Osun Osunniyi’s injury so troubling for St. Bonaventure. Any college basketball team would be impacted by a starter going down, but Bona doesn’t have anyone with the size of the 6-foot-10 Osunniyi, and certainly no one with his playing experience.
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Osunniyi leads the team in rebounding, at 7.6 and blocks at 2.9. He also hits 60 percent of his shot attempts. He was unable to finish St. Bonaventure’s win over Saint Joseph’s on Saturday after hurting his ankle. He sat out the VCU game, which, not coincidentally, ended up being the Bonnies’ worst loss of the conference season.
Six-foot-nine sophomore Abdoul Karim Coulibaly replaced him in the starting lineup and picked up four fouls in 17 minutes. Six-foot-nine freshman Oluwasegun Durosinmi picked up four fouls in 22 minutes.
It’s not clear if Osunniyi will be able to play, or how effective he’ll be if he does.
The Pick
Bona appears to have the edge on paper, but most of that paper was produced with Osunniyi at full strength. As the Bonnies showed against VCU, they’re a different team without him on the floor.
Look for Richmond to spring the road upset for your NCAAB picks.
NCAAB Pick: Richmond +3.5 (-110) at BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.