The St. Bonaventure Bonnies take on the Richmond Spiders in a big Atlantic 10 showdown on Friday. This is the final game of the regular season for both of these teams, and they’ll each be looking to head into the conference tournament with some momentum to help improve their tournament resumes.
Will the Bonnies handle their business against the Spiders in front of their home fans? Keep reading our Richmond vs. St. Bonaventure college basketball picks and predictions to find out.
Richmond vs St.Bonaventure odds
This odds widget represents the best odds available for each betting market from regulated sportsbooks.
St. Bonaventure was a 4-point favorite when this line first hit the board, but that line is now down to 3.5 in some spots. The total, which opened at 138, is also down to 137 on some sportsbooks, but it’s a pretty even split between 137 and 138.
Use the live odds widget above to track any future line movements right up until tip-off and be sure to check out the full college basketball odds before placing your bets.
Richmond vs St.Bonaventure predictions
Predictions made on 3/4/2022 at 1:30 p.m. ET.
Click on each prediction to jump to the full analysis.
If you're signing up for a new sportsbook for the 2021-22 college basketball season, here are two of the best bonuses available:
USA: Sign up with Caesars and get your first bet matched up to $1,001! Claim Now
Canada: Bet $1, get $100 in free bets when you sign up with BetVictor! Sign Up Now
Richmond vs St. Bonaventure game info
• Location: Reilly Center, St. Bonaventure, NY
• Date: Friday, March 4, 2022
• Tip-off: 7:00 p.m. ET
• TV: ESPN 2
Richmond at St. Bonaventure betting preview
Injuries
Richmond: Malcolm Dread G (Out), Jason Nelson G (Out), Aidan Noyes F (Out).
St. Bonaventure: Osun Osunniyi F (Questionable).
Find our latest NCAA basketball injury reports.
Betting trend to know
Richmond is 14-5-1 against the spread in its last 20 road games. Find more NCAA betting trends for Richmond vs. St. Bonaventure.
Richmond vs St. Bonaventure picks and predictions
Our side and total predictions are based upon our analysis of the line and total in this game. Our best bet is our favorite pick across all markets.
Spread analysis
When these teams met at Richmond on February 4, the Spiders earned a 71-61 win over the Bonnies as 3.5-point home favorites. Richmond shot just 26.1% from three in that game, but the team was still able to win by double digits. Heading into this second meeting, that has to be somewhat concerning for Mark Schmidt’s team.
Richmond might not be an elite 3-point shooting team, but the group is solid from deep overall. The Spiders are shooting 34.0% from behind the 3-point line this year, and the Bonnies are prone to giving up good looks — they’re just 109th in the nation in adjusted defensive efficiency (all efficiency stats from KenPom.com). They should be more effective from behind the arc in this one, giving the team a decent chance to move to 2-0 in this head-to-head series this year.
The Spiders also happen to have the best player on the floor in this game, which is always a good feeling when you’re backing somebody in a meeting between two teams that are evenly matched. Richmond’s Tyler Burton is averaging 16.4 points and 7.4 rebounds per game this season, and he’s also chipping in 1.1 steals per game on the other end of the floor. Burton is viewed as a sleeper in the 2022 NBA Draft, as he’s a good shooter and has a nice combination of size and athleticism. If he starts to get it going, the Bonnies won’t have an answer for him.
In Jacob Gilyard, the Spiders also have a guard that is capable of going out there and performing at a high level. That would be big for Richmond, as St. Bonaventure has a good backcourt themselves, with Jalen Adaway, Jaren Holmes, Kyle Lofton, and Dominick Welch all holding their own.
Prediction: Richmond +4 (-107)
Over/Under analysis
The Under is 8-1 when Richmond has played against teams with winning percentages between 60.0% and 80.0% after 15 or more games since the start of last season. The Under is similarly 15-4 when St. Bonaventure plays teams in that same range of 60.0% to 80.0% over the last two seasons.
These teams are just more likely to get themselves into low-scoring battles when facing good competition, and that is exactly what we should see here. The Spiders and the Bonnies are also two teams that play at rather slow paces, so this isn’t likely to be an up-and-down affair.
It’s also worth noting that the Under has hit in three of the last four meetings between these two teams, and it’s also 3-0 in the last three games that St. Bonaventure has played.
Prediction: Under 138 (-110)
Best bet
One of the main advantages that Richmond has over St. Bonaventure is the team’s depth. The Bonnies just don’t have a deep rotation at all, and the team is especially thin in the frontcourt. The team only gives significant minutes to two forwards — and no true centers — and one of those forwards is questionable for this game. If Osunniyi can’t play in this one, Richmond really should run away with a win here. Osunniyi is the team’s leading rebounder and he’s another source of consistent offense for Schmidt’s group. In fact, even if he’s out there and isn’t at 100% health, the Bonnies are in real trouble.
The Bonnies are also just 2-8 against the spread when facing teams that make 8.0 or more threes per game this season, which is part of the reason it’s alarming that the Spiders won by 10 without shooting it well last game. Richmond is going to let it fly from deep and a decent shooting performance is likely. All in all, the Spiders might just be the better team in this game. Sure, home-court advantage will mean something, but this seems like too many points.
Pick: Richmond +4 (-107)
Did you know that if you parlayed our Richmond vs. St. Bonaventure picks, you could win $26.93 on a $10 bet?
Use our college basketball parlay calculator to create your own parlays and see their potential payouts.
