#7 ST. BONAVENTURE (19-12) vs. #2 LOYOLA CHICAGO (23-8)
Thursday, March 14 - 5:00 p.m.
Brooklyn, N.Y. - Barclays Center
TV: USA Network
Radio: Bonnies Online Network

Pregame meetup: Fulton Hall 2:30 - 4:30 p.m. (250 Ashland Place, Brooklyn)
Click here to pre-register

OPENING TIP

• The St. Bonaventure men's basketball team will take on second-seeded Loyola Chicago in Thursday's Atlantic 10 quarterfinals. The Bonnies held off La Salle, 75-73, in the second round Wednesday to advance in the tournament. Loyola has been waiting on an opponent after earning a double-bye.
• St. Bonaventure is 15-11 in A-10 Tournament play under head coach Mark Schmidt. 
• The Bonnies have now reached at least the quarterfinals in nine of the last 11 seasons the tournament has been completed. The Bonnies have won at least one A-10 Tournament game in nine of the 14 seasons they have qualified under Coach Schmidt.
• In Wednesday's second round win over La Salle, the Bonnies had six players score in double figures for the first time since Dec. 18, 2019 vs. Niagara. Click here for the box score and recap
• Schmidt's Bonnies teams have been to the semifinals five times and the title game three times (2012, 2019, 2021; winning in '12 and '21). 
• In addition to sending them back to the A-10 semifinals, a win Thursday would give the Bonnies 20 wins on the year. It would be the sixth 20-win season during the Mark Schmidt Era and 18th in program history. 
• St. Bonaventure will play Loyola Chicago in a postseason game for the first time. The Bonnies are 1-1 vs. the Ramblers as A-10 foes including perhaps their most complete performance of the year when they dominated Loyola, handing the Ramblers their largest margin of defeat in A-10 play this year (79-64) at home on Feb. 27. Daryl Banks III led Bona with 26 points and Chad Venning had 18. Moses Flowers posted 12 points, 8 rebounds, 5 steals and 5 assists.
• The last time the Bonnies were a No. 7 seed: 2011 when the Bonnies lost a heartbreaker, 75-73, in double overtime vs. 10th-seeded La Salle. Prior to that, the Bonnies had only been the No. 7 seed twice, winning first round games in both 1984 and 1985. In 1984, the Bonnies were a Cinderella story as they beat Penn State, Saint Joseph's and George Washington to reach the A-10 Championship Game for the first time in program history before falling to West Virginia.

SERIES HISTORY
Series tied, 3-3
The programs have met six times overall and twice as conference foes. Last year, the teams met in Chicago for the first meeting between the programs since 1952. They've never met in the postseason.

The Bonnies and Ramblers actually met in four straight seasons between 1949-52 with the last meeting coming Feb. 2, 1952 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium in a "home" game of sorts for the Bonnies. St. Bonaventure dominated, 79-48, to avenge a 58-50 overtime loss in Chicago the previous February. Both the 1951 and '52 Bona squads qualified for the NIT.

Bona scored a convincing 15-point win at home last month, powered by 26 points from Daryl Banks III, 18 by Chad Venning and 12 from Moses Flowers.

BONNIES AT BARCLAYS
St. Bonaventure is 7-7 all-time at Barclays Center including 2-1 this season. Bona defeated Oklahoma State, 66-64, before falling to Auburn, 77-60, in this year's Legends Classic. The Oklahoma State win was Bona's first in the building since the 2019 Atlantic 10 semifinals and snapped a three-game skid at Barclays. In Atlantic 10 Tournament games played inside Barclays Center, the Bonnies are 6-5. 

CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL
For complete information on the Atlantic 10 Tournament, click here.