The offensive stats haven’t been glamorous for the Bonnies through three games of the 2019-2020 season. In fact, they’ve been the Achilles heal of the 0-3 start. No team that shoots 17-60 (28%) from three wins many games. Heck, Bonnies’ head coach Mark Schmidt has said that himself. Factor in an extremely young and inexperienced team, with new faces, it makes it harder. When confidence waivers, the rim can feel locked.
So, what can the Bonnies do to relieve early season offensive woes? The answer: Amadi Ikpeze and Justin Winston, two players Schmidt spoke about ahead of the team’s 78-65 loss to the Siena Saints on Wednesday.
After getting into better basketball shape in the offseason by dropping in weight and spending a lot of time in the gym, Ikpeze set himself up for a nice senior season, Schmidt said. So far, the senior sits third on the team in points with 29 and has the highest shooting percentage at 56.5%.
“I think it’s good for Amdai,” Schmidt said. “He’s put in a lot of time. He knew he messed up last year with taking care of himself, and he made a commitment to get better. It’s good to see some success, and it helps us. When we get Osun back, we may play them together, but he’s given us an inside presence. He’s much quicker off his feet, so he’s been a positive. We’re pleased.”
Five of the Bonnies’ seven newcomers have played significant minutes this season. Of the five, Alejandro Vasquez, Matt Johnson and Bobby Planutis, who sat out last season due to NCAA transfer rules, have started games. Robert Carpenter and Justin Winston have gotten minutes off of the bench, and Jalen Adaway is sitting out a year due to transfer rules. Schmidt said his team has the talent to be good, but he can’t tell when all of the pieces will come together.
“We have some good young players,” Schmidt said. “As I said at the beginning of the year, they’re going to be good Atlantic 10 players, but we just don’t know when that’s going to happen. A couple of them have been thrust into playing a little bit more than they should.”
One of those players, in particular, is Winston, the 3-star recruit out of Putnam Science Academy in Putnam, Connecticut.
After only playing one minute in the Bonnies’ season-opening loss to Ohio, Winston has totaled 43 minutes of action since, including a start against Siena. And they’ve been quality minutes. In the Vermont and Siena losses combined, Winston has scored 20 points, shooting an even 40% in both games while grabbing 10 rebounds.
“Justin has been a bright spot,” Schmidt said. “He’s made his mistakes, but I think you saw a glimpse of his talent. He’s still trying to learn the system, but we’ve seen his god-given abilities. Hopefully, just like last year when we played a couple young guys early, it helps us as we move forward.”
Sure, a slow start may be disappointing. But, the one thing the Bonnies have to their advantage? They got off to a slow start on offense and in the win column last year, too. By the end of non-conference play, the Bonnies were 3-9, and through the first three games of the season, the numbers were similar to what they are right now. From three, the Bonnies shot 16-61 (26.2%).
Look where the team ended up? The Atlantic 10 Tournament Championship game, just one play away from dancing. If history is any indication, Schmidt’s teams get better as the season progresses. Bonnies fans, again, will have to wait it out.
The next challenge for Schmidt’s young team? The Rutgers Scarlet Knights out of the Big Ten Conference in the James Naismith Classic Saturday at 7 p.m. inside Scotia Bank Arena in Toronto, Ontario.
By Mike Hogan, Managing Editor
hoganm17@bonaventure.edu
