VCU, St. Bonaventure Put Unbeaten League Marks on Line
Visiting Rams on Seven-Game Win Streak Entering Rematch of 2021 Atlantic 10 Title Game
The Atlantic 10 Conference is getting some national exposure as Friday night’s showdown between visiting Virginia Commonwealth and St. Bonaventure will be airing on ESPN2.
It will be the first meeting between the Rams and Bonnies since the 2021 Atlantic 10 Championship Game was won by St. Bonaventure. The Bonnies swept the Atlantic 10 regular-season and tournament titles for the first time in program history.

VCU takes a 4-0 road record into the game while St. Bonaventure is 5-1 at home. The home team has won each of the last three regular-season games and is 2-0-1 against college basketball spreads.
The three-point spread seems to be popular in this series. VCU was favored by three in the last regular-season meeting between the teams and that was also the line in the championship game of the Atlantic 10 tournament.
- Game: Virginia Commonwealth (10-4) at St. Bonaventure (9-3)
- Location: Reilly Center, St. Bonaventure, New York
- Day/Time: Friday, 7:30 p.m. ET
- Television: ESPN2
VCU Rams at St. Bonaventure
Bonnies
Baldwin Return Keys Winning Streak
Not much just jumps off the page when looking at Adrian Baldwin’s statistics.
The sophomore guard is the second-leading scorer for the Virginia Commonwealth Rams, but his 10.8 points per game average wouldn’t break into the top 25 among the Atlantic 10’s top scorers even if he had played enough games to qualify.
The true impact that Baldwin has had for VCU can be summed up by what happened when he missed the first eight games of the season.
The Rams were just 4-4 and averaged 57.4 points and 11.8 assists per game. Virginia Commonwealth is 6-0 in the six games since he returned. VCU’s points per game have jumped by more than 11 points, the Rams went from shooting 40.6 percent without Baldwin to 46.9 percent with him in the starting lineup. The assist per game went up by four and the turnovers dropped by nearly three per game.
Baldwin scored in double figures in each of his first two games and had 10 steals in games against Jacksonville State and Old Dominion.
After a three-week hiatus due to four games being either postponed or canceled, Baldwin picked up where he left off, Beginning with a win at Dayton, he averaged 11.7 points, 3.3 rebounds, 5.7 assists, and 2.0 steals.
Baldwin is second on the team with 31 assists despite missing the eight games. With only 16 turnovers in six games, he provided some stability for a team that had 37 more turnovers than assists without Baldwin in the lineup.
Virginia Commonwealth not only carries a seven-game winning streak into the game but also has covered against the college basketball spreads in its last six outings.
St. Bonaventure Still Shaking Off Rust
St. Bonaventure has played the fewest games of any Atlantic 10 team but it is not by design.
Three consecutive games in late December and early January were either postponed or canceled due to COVID-19 protocols. The Bonnies returned to the court on Tuesday and escaped with an overtime win against La Salle. The 25-day stretch between games is the longest in the 102-year history of the St. Bonaventure program.
Kyle Lofton, Dominick Welch, and Osun Osunniyi were among five starters scoring in double figures. That trio is no stranger to VCU program.
Lofton averaged 14.3 points, Welch 14 points, and Osunniyi 11.3 points and 9.7 rebounds in three games against the Rams last season.
In a rematch of the A-10 title game, VCU gets a chance at redemption with a trip back to St. Bonaventure on Friday.
“Going to … a place like St. Bonaventure is really hard. So we got to grow, no matter what happens, like we did last year.” https://t.co/Kgjtjnzvwg
— Wayne Epps Jr. (@wayneeppsjr) January 13, 2022
However, the defense was the key for the Bonnies’ championship run a season ago as St. Bonaventure led the Atlantic 10 in scoring defense and field-goal percentage defense. However, the Bonnies have given up an average of 77.6 points in the last seven games. The Bonnies have allowed three of their last seven opponents to make at least 50 percent of their shots, so tightening things up on the defensive end will be a point of emphasis moving forward.
Something of note to those who bet online: The Bonnies have failed to cover in each of their last seven games despite going 4-3 over the stretch.
Turnover Battle Likely to Decide A-10 Matchup
VCU is third in the Atlantic 10 in turnover margin with a +2.86 mark. St. Bonaventure is 10th at +0.25.
VCU leads the Atlantic 10 with 9.3 steals per game and rank second in the conference with 5.9 blocked shots, one spot ahead of St. Bonaventure.
The last four games and five of the last seven St. Bonaventure games have gone over the total while three of VCU’s last four road games also went over the total.
COVID-19 protocols have made it difficult for both teams to develop consistency. VCU’s strong showing in a loss to Baylor is enough to look for the Rams to return home with another win on the road.
Pick: Over -130½
Pick: Virginia Commonwealth +2½