The Bonnies hit their winter break hiatus in fashion last night, downing Vermont at home by 12 in what was their best win of the season according to most metrics. SBU played fine basketball in the opening half but only led by six at the break, giving fans a sense of worry as they should have been up more. After Vermont came out on an 8-2 run to tie the game, it was nearly time to hit the panic button but just as I tweeted this:

This continued to propel the Bonnies to an easy dozen point home win, marking their sixth win in eight tries.

Now, for the 5 Takeaways…

Jay Adams can take the heat- About a week and a half ago I wondered on our Podcast why Jay Adams was struggling, then my brother crunched some numbers in looking at his first six games last year versus this year. His shooting was worse, he was turning it over more, taking more shots…all in all he was probably feeling the pressure of shouldering a much bigger load offensively for this team. Since then he’s scored 22 and 28 points, made 12-17 three pointers, had 13 assists to 3 turnovers and played 37 minutes per game. Simply put he’s been sensational.  Adams is playing like a first or second team all-league type of player and he’s clearly felt comfortable inside the RC. If Adams can play anything like this for extended periods, the Bonnies are going to have a real shot to make hay in the A10. Jay is a really fine player for SBU and he may just be scratching the surface of his talent. Really exciting to think about.  

The Bonnies are finding their strokes- After being unable to hit water if they fell out of a boat at Buffalo, the guards have lit it up inside the friendly confines of the RC. SBU pinned down 11-20 deep balls last night after making 10-22 vs. Ohio; they made just 2-21 vs. Buffalo. A lot of this improvement is because of Jay Adams’ current hot streak, but Nelson Kaputo (44% from three) has also been a huge factor off the bench for the team in respect to shooting the basketball. Meanwhile, after torching Loyola, Canisius and Hofstra, Marcus Posley has gone cold once again. In his last three games (Buffalo, Ohio and VT) the senior is just 4-20 from deep and 11-26 from two. It’s great that SBU has won three straight without MP at his best, now they need to hope he can get hot right before league play.  Posley is 16-60, or 27% from three this season. 

Nelson Kaputo is legit- I don’t want to get too excited over eight games because I’ve been burned before by freshman starts (won’t mention names), but the Canadian freshman has been fantastic off the bench. NP came off the pine again last night to score six points (2-2 from three) and dish out three assists in 19 minutes. On the season NK has posted some of the highest offensive ratings on the team (on a game by game basis) and has handled the point guard duties with aplomb. NK has dished out 24 assists against 10 turnovers. The team looks best, by far, when he’s on the floor and the team goes small - expect more of this as the season gets older.  Jay Adams should have been an all-rookie team selection last year and maybe SBU has another diaper dandy on their hands in Kaputo. This kid has looked really, really good…

RC cures many ills- Whether it’s the great shooting backdrop, the fans, the locker room or the smell of cheap popcorn, the Bonnies have always, and will always play well in the RC. SBU moved to 4-1 at home with the lone loss coming against a top 100 team in Hofstra. I was a bit worried about the Buffalo trip (still predicted them to win close) but felt much better about the return to the RC to close out non-conference play. The players feed off the crowd and our guards shoot better at home (I think there’s a future stats article on this coming). SBU did exactly what they needed to do: win three in a row vs. lesser foes prior to this “break”. Hey, a big part of being successful in college basketball is winning the games you should win. Thus far, SBU has done exactly that. Their two losses were “predicted” by most folks and computers, and they’ve done their part in all other games. If the Bonnies are going to finish .500 or better in league play, they’ll need to win at home and thus far they’ve done just that. Protect your house, boys. 

Height a non-issue…for now- SBU ranks 307th nationally in average height (75.8 inches) and found a way to overcome one of their biggest foes of the year last night in Vermont who is significantly taller (77.1 inches/124th nationally). SBU tied the Catamounts in defensive rebounding (25) and were just -2 on the offensive side of the ledger. Mark Schmidt’s clubs pride themselves every single year on defense and rebounding (surely carved from his toughness) and while it will be a struggle this year to “board it” as assistant coach Dave Moore says, the crew has done just fine through eight games. SBU still sports a top 100 offensive rebounding club (34.3%) and ranks 6th in the A10 (+3) in overall rebounding. We’ll see how those figures play out over 30 games. 

Fact: SBU ranks 12th in the A10 in shooting (43%), and 11th (32%) in three point shooting after Tuesday night. (Considering those facts, it’s pretty amazing they are 6-2).

Fact 2: Marcus Posley ranks 6th nationally in minutes played per game, playing 94.7% of all minutes for SBU. 

Fact 3: Dion Wright has scored 10 or more in 16 straight games dating back to last season. The last time he scored less than 10 was Feb. 14th at Dayton when he was held to nine. Wright scored 16 points and had seven rebounds last night. 

Advanced Stats from Last Night’s Win: (via BasketballState.com)