Three Takeaways from Bonnies Three Game Winning Streak

St. Bonaventure has rattled off three wins in a row after getting past Bucknell, Miami (OH), and Big Four rival Buffalo. Bona’s got their first true road win of the season Saturday over UB, a sigh of relief after the same feat didn’t come until late January last season.

Last year’s Bonnies group was one of the least experienced teams in the nation after returning none of their scoring from the prior season. This year is a different story however, returning all five starters and 90 percent of its scoring from last year. They also brought in fifth-year players Mika Adams-Woods and Charles Pride, along with fourth-year player Noel Brown.

Now, the experienced group is working to unlock their potential, starting to show signs of doing so after three wins in a row.

Here are three takeaways from the recent win streak and how the Brown and White can continue on the right path:

The Mika Adams-Woods and Chad Venning Pick-and-Roll

Adams-Woods and Venning shined during Bona’s win over Buffalo Saturday. Adams-Woods runs the offense, especially with the recent absence of Kyrell Luc. Against Buffalo, he scored 20 points to go along with eight assists and six rebounds.

The Bulls had no answer for Venning the entire game, no matter what defense they threw at the Bonnies big man. He scored 23 points, tying his career-high, connecting on 11 of his 17 attempts from the floor. He also added five rebounds and two blocks.

The Adams-Woods and Venning pair has looked increasingly comfortable working together game after game. Venning’s dominance in the post allows Adams-Woods additional space to make the right decision while operating the offense, which led to clean scoring and facilitating opportunities for the lead guard in recent games.

“Chad was dominating in the paint and that opened up things for me,” Adams-Woods said after the win at Buffalo. “We were feeding him and getting him going. Once the defense started to collapse on him that created looks for me.”

Experience, Experience, Experience

Bona’s has one of the most experienced teams in the nation this year after returning six key rotation players and adding three additional players with ample NCAA experience through the transfer portal. The starting guard trio of Adams-Woods, Pride, and Daryl Banks III are all in their graduate season. Each are older than a backcourt group that currently starts for the Detroit Pistons. The St. Bonaventure roster has 725 career games and 562 starts at the Division I…