Nothing like an early-season showdown on a Wednesday night for a conference that has shown great early-season balance. St. Bonaventure (14-1, 2-0) will visit Saint Louis (9-6, 2-0) at Chaifetz Arena, featuring a matchup of two of the remaining three unbeaten teams in Atlantic 10 play.
Yes, after two games, only three teams are unbeaten, with Richmond being the other. This shows the balance of the Atlantic 10
Early on, St. Bonaventure has exceeded expectations. In the Atlantic 10 preseason poll of coaches and select media, Saint Louis was selected fourth, but St. Bonaventure was 10th.
A strong non-conference showing and more importantly, beginning the conference season with a 77-75 home win over preseason favorite VCU, has vaulted the Bonnies to contender status, at least in the early going. That was followed by an 86-66 win at Fordham, increasing the Bonnies’ win streak to eight games.
Saint Louis has enjoyed double-digit Atlantic 10 wins over Fordham and a highly-touted St. Joseph’s team. The Billikens have won three in a row.
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St. Bonaventure at Saint Louis Betting Odds
Saint Louis is a 3.5-point college basketball betting odds favorite against St. Bonaventure on BetMGM with the Over/Under set a 141.5.
The moneyline for Saint Louis is -165 while it is +140 for St. Bonaventure.
St. Bonaventure at Saint Louis on TV
The matchup between St. Bonaventure at Saint Louis will be televised exclusively on Peacock.
Tonight’s game will begin at 8 p.m. ET.
St. Bonaventure at Saint Louis Prediction
I like Saint Louis laying the points. The Billikens have played well at home with an 8-1 record this year. The one loss was 74-71 to a Wofford team that was simply a bad night for the Billikens, who were outrebounded 36-30. Wofford had 13 more field goal attempts and shot 29 for 58 (.500) compared to 21 for 45 (46.7%) for Saint Louis.
Wednesday’s game figures to be as close as the all-time series, which is tied at 16 wins apiece.
St. Bonaventure has made its reputation this season on defense. The Bonnies lead the A-10 in scoring defense, allowing 61.1 points per game. They are 13th in scoring, averaging 73.3 ppg.
Saint Louis has a high-powered offense, which is fifth in the A-10 in scoring (77.7 ppg) The Billikens are 11th in scoring defense, allowing 70.4 ppg. Yet in the two Atlantic 10 wins over Fordham and St. Joseph, Saint Louis allowed an average of just 60 points per game.
Saint Louis will have to stop the hot hand of Bonnies senior guard Melvin Council Jr., the most recent Atlantic 10 Player of the Week. In the wins over VCU and Fordham, he averaged 22.0 points, 6.0 assists, 4.5 rebounds, and 2.5 steals.
For the season, Council is averaging 14.4 points, second on the team to 6-foot-6 senior Chance Moore (14.8 ppg). Moore, a Missouri State transfer, has blended in well with his new team.
Council has moved over to point guard because Dasonte Bowen hasn’t played since Dec. 7 due to a foot injury. In addition to leading the Atlantic 10 with 2.5 steals per game, Council is 12th nationally in this department.
Saint Louis is a top-heavy scoring team, with three players averaging 18 or more points, the only team in the country to have a trio averaging 18 or more points. The three are 5-foot-10 senior Isaiah Swope (18.3 ppg), 6-foot-5 redshirt senior Gibson Jimerson (18.2 ppg), and Indiana State transfer, 6-foot-10 junior Robbie Avila (18.2).
Even against a good defensive team, Saint Louis appears to have enough firepower to prevail.
