The schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Massachusetts men’s basketball team as it gets set to take on another formidable Atlantic 10 opponent in Saint Bonaventure on the road tonight.

Despite dropping its last conference matchup to Richmond at the Mullins Center, UMass (11-7, 3-2 A-10) is sitting in a tie for third place in the A-10 standings with four other teams. After defeating Charlotte last week, the Minutemen will look to make it two straight road conference victories for the first time in coach Derek Kellogg’s time at UMass when it faces the Bonnies (10-8, 2-3 A-10).

While the Minutemen have a big-time scorer in senior Anthony Gurley, SBU has its own impact player in Andrew Nicholson. The junior forward is averaging 20.1 points per game this season, which sandwiches him between Gurley and the A-10’s leading scorer, Tu Holloway of Xavier.

Nicholson’s talent is not lost on Kellogg, who knows his team will have a difficult task on defense.

“He’s one of the better big guys I’ve seen, not only in our conference, but maybe on a national level for juniors,” Kellogg said in his weekly radio show. “If he catches the ball in a tight position, he’s almost impossible to stop.”

Not only is Nicholson a scoring threat, but he commands attention in the low post as witnessed by his 7.4 rebounds per game and near 55 percent field goal percentage, good for third in the conference.

Nicholson’s size could cause problems for the Minutemen, who have had difficulties in defending scoring big men this season. To counter, Kellogg admitted he might have to switch to a zone defense or throw double teams at Nicholson.

“He gives them a weapon that not a lot of teams in the conference have – a guy that pretty much every time down they’re looking to throw the ball into the post and he can make a play for them,” Kellogg said. “We’re going to have to do something to maybe double-team him, maybe play some zone to make it a little more difficult for him to dominate the game.”

Nicholson, however, won’t be the only player UMass will have to worry about making an impact in the contest. Junior guard Michael Davenport will bring his 13.4 scoring average and pesky perimeter defense (1.4 steal per game).

In the last meeting between the Minutemen and Bonnies, Davenport recorded his first career double-double with 26 points and 10 rebounds, while Nicholson also scored 26 to help SBU win, 70-69.

This time around, Kellogg will look for his team to do a better job defensively on both players, but that doesn’t mean the rest of the Bonnies aren’t capable.

“They’re starting five at one point was averaging all in double digits and all 40 minutes per game,” Kellogg said. “They’ve had a few kids come off the bench to make some plays for them that have been, I guess a pleasant surprise if your coach Smith.”

This season, SBU opened up A-10 play with a win over Charlotte at home before dropping three consecutive conference games to Temple, Rhode Island and Xavier.

“Let’s not forget their losses have been by one at [Rhode Island], which they should have won the game,” Kellogg said. “They lost to Temple and to Xavier, so they’re losses have come to the heavy weights in the conference.”

The Bonnies did, however, far better against the Musketeers than the Minutemen. St. Bonaventure dropped the matchup, 79-65, a 14-point margin, on the road, while UMass was handled by a score of 79-50.

Tip-off for the game will be tonight at 7 p.m. at the Reilly Center.

Jay Asser can be reached at [email protected].