The Result:  The Bonnies went down to GW tonight and got their doors blown off, losing to GW by a score of 69 to 46. SBU falls back under .500 to 7-8 after the loss. They were tied with the Colonials heading into the night. It was an embarrassing effort from a team battling GW for position in the standings. I thought the Bonnies were a solid bet to cover the six point spread….Not so much. This ranks with the first Richmond loss as the Bonnies’ two worst of the season for me.

What You Should Know:  In a game the Bonnies entered as six point dogs, SBU came out flat as a pancake in this one down in Foggy Bottom. GW started the game 7-8 from deep and opened up a 19-10 lead by the under 12 media timeout. In a rare scene, both teams came out playing 1-3-1 zones, daring the other to shoot it from deep. While SBU missed their first 10 of their first 14 shots, GW was shooting 63% to SBU’s 28% almost mid-way through the half. Posley started the game 0-3 from three (it got worse), making him eight for his las 63, yes 63 three pointers (12%).  GW was attacking the zone with great poise, getting the ball, moving it, and finding the open man on seemingly every single possession in the half.

Right before the under eight timeout the Bonnies finally got out of the zone and went man. It was already 23-12 and the game appeared over. Our backcourt was 0-9 and GW was shooting in obscene 66% from the field. At this point Shane texted me wondering “how bad is Jalen Adams that he STILL can’t play?” My answer: either really bad or really, really stupid (in basketball terms obviously). Either way I doubt he’s back next fall (just a hunch, nothing more).

It looked like one of those nights the Bonnies didn’t even make the trip. Just days after a solid road win at St. Joe’s our boys looked like a last place team through 40 minutes. It was ugly early on and it didn’t get any better. GW was looked like a team that was supposed to be in the NCAA Tournament….not a team that had won just once in their last eight games…leave it to the Bonnies to make a team struggling this badly to look this freaking good.

By halftime it was 36-18 GW and if you turned the game off I wouldn’t have blamed you. I started ironing clothes at that point and only had the game on because A) I’m a diehard and B) I had to write this post. The game continued a similar pace in the second half with GW coming back down to Earth on the shooting side and SBU looking like they kind of cared. You can’t take anything from the last 15 minutes of a blowout in my opinion however.

It was Over When: 43-25 at the under 16 timeout in the second half. I don’t like to give up on games at the break (though I more or less did tonight) but it was safe to say the game was over with 15 minutes left as GW continued to score and SBU continued to play disinterested basketball.

Ian says….SBU could be in trouble…

Ian Says: Not shocked at all. GW being losers of seven of their last eight seemed like a recipe for them busting out any game now and we happened to be up. The Colonials can be a good team (they have not been playing like one). They have a very good coach and good players and have the ability to beat anyone in the A10, WHEN they play well. Tonight SBU simply did not show up, they got worked and laughed off the floor by half-time. Schmidt likely ripped the team beyond belief at the break as he should have. What worries me (for the rest of the way) is Marcus Posley’s seemingly vanishing shooting game, our backcourts’ inability to shoot/score at all and if the defensive effort wasn’t bad enough tonight the offensive one was just as bad. It’s hard seeing this team, absent any shooters, winning going forward. It literally pains me to see Iakeem Alston pass up wide open threes time after time only to drive into their center and defense…but that’s what he is and that’s what the Bonnies offense is right now without Jay. Without Posley scoring at an efficient clip and Jay running the show this team looks awful…there’s no other way around it. Beating a poor St. Joe’s team on the road may have masked those truths for a weekend but this is the reality. And I said it before but how scary is it that Jalen Adams can’t get real time in blowout games? Is Xavier Smith alive? Can Taqqee make a jump shot? I shudder thinking about him being counted on as a major guard next season right now. These are reasons why SBU has the second least used bench in ALL of college hoops…what that foreshadows about next year you can make draw your own conclusions.

Foe of the Game:  Joe McDonald. Killed the Bonnies all night from deep hitting 5-6. He had 17 points and five boards.

Bonnie of the Game: If I had to pick one….Dion Wright. Only scored 10 points and didn’t do a lot on the glass tonight (rare) but continues to score efficiently which it seems other members of the team are struggling to do right now. Dion is the only consistent player on this team right now.

Good stats: Holy crap I have to fill this out tonight? I would just delete the whole line but that would be below my journalist integrity. We shot 72% from the line.

Bad stats: Where to begin? GW shot 57% from the field, 55% 3PT, had 14 team assists, were still+5 on the glass (despite not having many chances for offensive boards), had only nine turnovers (+3) and received 14 bench points. The game was over at the break so to me, stats in this one need to be taken with a grain of salt. Just know it was ugly. Posley was 0-6 from three so he’s basically a 10% deep shooter since Duquesne. Alston was again 0-5 and the bench gave Schmidt nothing.

I wasn’t surprised that: GW won the game. Never expected the Bonnies to win this game. Yes, GW was playing poorly but they are a million times more talented and they we going to break out sooner or later.

I was surprised that: This team didn’t show up at all. The first half tonight was one of the worst I can remember under Schmidt (and the second wasn’t any better). Down 18 freaking points, having scored only 18. GW shot 66%. 7-10 from three. SBU was 29% and 0-6 from deep. Posley/Alston and Cumberbatch were a combined 1-15 from the floor. Posley may just be totally shot at this point…I just don’t know anymore…the kid is shooting 10% from deep in their last nine games. If we had ANY bench at all he’d be on it or at least playing much less. I’d say “burn the tape” and move on but there have been too many of those games lately. The more I watch of this team the more I think to myself, “It’s actually amazing we’re 7-8 and not worse” because the talent/production this season is just not there. If you need proof go to the A10 stats page and have a look…it ain’t pretty. While their record may tell you SBU is an average their stats tell you they aren’t even that good. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing right now.

Up Next: The Bonnies return home to the RC to face rival Duquesne on alumni weekend. SBU NEEDS, I repeat, NEEDS to win this game. There’s no excuse to losing to one of the league’s worst teams, at home, when the building is packed. Having said that, the game this weekend scares the crap out of me because it screams “letdown game”…if this team is possible of letting you down that is. If you’re heading up to Olean: drink often and cheer loud and hard. The team needs it.