Elon Men’s Basketball Treks to Rocky Mountains to Face #21 Colorado

ELON, N.C. – Winners of its last three games, the Elon University men’s basketball team plays the first of two back-to-back road games against high-major opponents when the Phoenix heads to the Rocky Mountains to face the 21st-ranked University of Colorado on Dec. 13. Tip is schedule for 8:30 p.m. (ET) inside the Coors Event Center. The game will be televised on the Pac-12 Network with Kevin Calabro (play-by-play) and Dan Dickau (analyst) on the call.

ELON VS. COLORADO: Friday night marks the second all-time meeting between Elon and Colorado. The two teams met during the 1998-99 season in Boulder, Colo., with the Buffaloes claiming a 107-69 win over the Phoenix on Nov. 20, 1998. Mike Thomas scored a team-high 17 points for Elon in the setback. Kenny Price scored 24 points for the Buffs, while Jose Winston tallied 13 assists.

ELON VS. THE PAC-12: Elon is 0-3 against current members of the Pac-12 Conference, having faced Colorado, Oregon State and Stanford one time each.

ELON VS. RANKED OPPONENTS: Friday night marks Elon’s seventh game all-time against a ranked opponent during the school’s Division I era, as the Buffs come in at No. 21 in the recent Associated Press top-25 poll. Two other teams on Elon’s 2013-14 schedule currently own a national ranking – Duke (8) and UMass (22). The Phoenix is 0-6 against ranked opponents. Elon’s last game against a ranked opponent was last season against top-ranked Duke on Dec. 20, 2012, as the Blue Devils claimed a 76-54 win at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Below are results from Elon’s previous six games against ranked opponents:

Dec. 20, 2012, at #1 Duke – L, 54-76
Dec. 29, 2011, at #5 North Carolina – L, 62-100
Dec. 20, 2010, at #1 Duke – L, 72-98
Dec. 3, 2005, at #22 Wake Forest – L, 59-78
Dec. 15, 2004, at #5 Wake Forest – L, 67-85
Dec. 21, 1998, at #6 Stanford – L, 58-82

ELON CONNECTIONS IN COLORADO: Tanner Samson (Littleton) and Ryan Winters (Denver) are the only two Elon student-athletes who hail from Colorado. The current Phoenix teammates played prep basketball at Regis Jesuit High School. Former Elon men’s soccer goalkeeper Clint Irwin ’10 is currently the starting goalie for the MLS’s Colorado Rapids, where he tied for fifth in the MLS in shutouts (10) and led the Rapids to the playoffs in 2013.

LOOKING BACK: Tanner Samson and Lucas Troutman gave Elon the one-two punch it needed on Dec. 3 against VMI, as the duo led the Phoenix to an 87-70 win over the Keydets inside Alumni Gym. Samson poured in a career-high 23 points and grabbed a career best nine boards in the victory, while Troutman ended the evening with 21 points on 8-of-9 shooting from the field. As a team, the Phoenix shot 57 percent from the field after knocking down 30-of-53 field goals. The Phoenix knocked down 6-of-18 from long range, five of which came off the hot hand of Samson. Elon outrebounded VMI, 37-35, to improve to 3-1 this season when it wins the battle on the glass.

LOOKING AHEAD: Following Friday’s game at Colorado, Elon heads to our nation’s capital on Tuesday, Dec. 17, to take on the Georgetown Hoyas. The game will be broadcasted live on the CBS Sports Network, with Dave Ryan (play-by-play) and Pete Gillen (analyst) on the call from the Verizon Center.

TRACKING THE THREES: Jack Isenbarger enters Friday’s game with 221 career three-pointers made, which ranks second all-time in Elon history behind Chris Kiger’s (1994-98) career mark of 259.

MILESTONE WATCH: Both Sebastian Koch (857 points) and Ryley Beaumont (859 points) are in line to be the next Elon players to reach 1,000 career points. Elon currently has two players with over 1,000 career points in Lucas Troutman (1,290) and Jack Isenbarger (1,215). Troutman recently passed former teammate Drew Spradlin for 17th on Elon’s all-time scoring chart following his 16-point performance against Columbia on Dec. 1. Troutman needs six points to pass Ed Juratic for 16th all-time.

BLOCK PARTY: With one blocked shot against VMI on Dec. 3, Lucas Troutman extended his program-best career mark to 171 blocks. Troutman set Elon’s all-time blocks record last season and is 14 blocks shy of passing VMI’s Eric Mann (1997-01) for 10th all-time in Southern Conference history.

FROM LONG RANGE: Elon currently leads the Southern Conference in three-point field goal percentage at 44.1 percent. Tanner Samson leads the conference in three-pointers made with 30, while Sebastian Koch ranks third with 23. Austin Hamilton leads the league in three-point field goal percentage at 61 percent.

DOUBLE TROUBLE: Lucas Troutman has scored in double figures in Elon’s last six games this season and in 35 of the team’s last 40 games. Troutman has scored 20 or more points in eight of those contests.

HOME COOKING: Over the last three years, Elon has a 26-8 record inside the friendly confines of Alumni Gym. Elon has sold out Alumni Gym nine times under head coach Matt Matheny, with its last sellout coming on Nov. 8, 2013, on opening night when the Phoenix topped Washington & Lee.

HEAD COACH MATT MATHENY: Matt Matheny is in his fifth season as the Elon head men’s basketball coach. The 2013 Southern Conference Coach of the Year by the media, Matheny enters Friday’s game with an overall record of 64-72. Matheny was a finalist for CollegeInsider.com’s Hugh Durham Award last season, which honors the nation’s top mid-major coach.