Bonnies come up short at Richmond

The hot shooting cooled off. St. Bonaventure could not match their proficiency from the field in the win at VCU three days ago. The result was a 65-54 setback at the hands of Richmond. The game at Richmond’s Robins Center saw the Bonnies drop to 10-4 (1-1) while Chris Mooney’s Spiders, in their first A10 matchup, improved to 9-5 overall. 

Possessions: 62. Richmond averages 62 possessions, the conference’s most deliberate tempo. They were right on the mark dictating the pace.

Offensive efficiency: Richmond 106, St. Bona 88

Four Factors:

Points in the paint and turnovers. One of coach Mark Schmidt’s mandates is win points in the paint and limit turnovers. 

Richmond owned the paint to the tune of a 30-20 advantage. In the turnover department, Bona had 14 (an excessively high 23% turnover percentage) allowing Richmond to secure a 19-6 edge in points off turnovers. The Spiders on their end were guilty of just six miscues.

Richmond had 11 steals meaning virtually every Bona turnover was the product of Richmond defense as opposed to simply unforced errors. 

Subtract the 14 from the 62 possessions and you have 48 possessions not ending in a turnover. That would have given the Bonnies  a 113 offensive efficiency- a mark that would probably have sent them home with a sweep in the city of Richmond. Obviously, those dreaded turnovers took their toll.

Offensive woes. Bonnies own a 111 offensive efficiency, second in the A10 to the 119 of Dayton. Obviously, they had a subpar effort on the offensive end. The 54 points matched their lowest point total since the mid January loss to Florida Atlantic. In that contest the Bona offensive efficiency was only 77. 

Once again, Schmidt has pointed out many times- offense can fluctuate so it’s paramount to have a solid consistent defense. Richmond averages a 107 efficiency and was held one below that figure. In the end, it was not a strong enough effort on the defensive end for the Bonnies.

Responding to runs. Richmond took a page from the Bona playbook from Wednesday by handling every run the visitors threw at them. Bona opened with a 12-2 run to build an eight point lead in the opening 10 minutes. Richmond answered with a 15-0 run highlighted by keeping the Bonnies off the scoreboard for nine minutes. Trailing by five at intermission the Bonnies got it to a one possession contest on several occasions. A…