Elon Men’s Basketball Hosts #9 Duke on Tuesday in Greensboro

ELON, N.C. – The Elon University men’s basketball team closes the 2013 calendar year on Tuesday, Dec. 31, when the Phoenix hosts the ninth-ranked Duke Blue Devils at the Greensboro Coliseum. The New Year’s Eve matchup is scheduled for 1 p.m. and will be broadcasted live on ESPNU with Joe Davis (play-by-play) and Cory Alexander (analyst) on the call. Tickets are currently on sale through the Greensboro Coliseum and online through Ticketmaster.

ELON VS. DUKE: The Phoenix and Blue Devils are no strangers heading into Tuesday’s game, which marks the 26th all-time meeting between the two schools. Duke leads the all-time series, 18-7, following last year’s 76-54 win on Dec. 20 at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Tuesday is the third time Elon and Duke have met since Elon moved to the Division I ranks. Tuesday is the fifth time the two schools have met since Trinity became Duke.

LAST YEAR’S MEETING: Duke, ranked No. 1 in the nation at the time, won last year’s meeting on Dec. 20, 2012, at Cameron Indoor Stadium, 76-54. The top-ranked Blue Devils went on a 15-3 run to take a double-digit lead over a six-minute stretch in the second period, going ahead by 19 points with 10:47 remaining. The Phoenix limited the deficit to 15, but Duke kept its foot on the gas to secure the victory, its 100th consecutive non-conference home win. Sebastian Koch led Elon with 14 points, while Lucas Troutman and Jack Isenbarger scored 13 and 12, respectively. Duke put four players in double figures, led by Mason Plumlee’s game-high 21 points.

ELON VS. THE ACC: Elon is 34-114 against current members of the ACC all-time and 1-25 since moving to the Division I ranks. The last time Elon defeated one of the current members of the ACC was in 2005 when the Phoenix went on the road to defeat the Oliver Purnell coached Clemson Tigers, 74-69, on December 30, 2005. Tuesday is Elon’s only game this season against a member of the ACC and first since facing Duke last year. Elon’s record against current ACC teams is: Clemson (1-1), Duke (7-18), Florida State (0-1), Georgia Tech (0-3), Maryland (0-2), Miami (1-0), North Carolina (4-18), NC State (8-21), Notre Dame (0-2), Virginia (0-6), Virginia Tech (7-14), Wake Forest (6-38).

TEAM CONNECTIONS: Elon’s Sebastian Koch and Lucas Troutman were prep teammates with Duke’s Marshall Plumlee at Christ School in Asheville, N.C.

ELON VS. RANKED OPPONENTS: Tuesday’s game vs. ninth-ranked Duke marks Elon’s 19th against a nationally ranked opponent during the school’s Division I era. Elon has already faced 21st-ranked Colorado this season. Other than Duke, one other team on Elon’s 2013-14 schedule currently owns a national ranking – UMass (22/23). The Phoenix is 0-18 against ranked opponents.

Elon vs. nationally-ranked opponents:

   Dec. 13, 2013, at #21 Colorado...................... L, 63-80
   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
   March 10, 2008, vs. #23 Davidson.................... L, 49-65
   Dec. 16, 2006, at #21 Notre Dame.................... L, 63-94
   Nov. 10, 2006, at #23 Georgia Tech.................. L, 49-83
   Dec. 3, 2005, at #22 Wake Forest.................... L, 59-78
   Dec. 15, 2004, at #5 Wake Forest.................... L, 67-85
   Nov. 18, 2004, at #19 NC State...................... L, 45-71
   Dec. 30, 2003, at #12 Cincinnati.................... L, 63-102
   Nov. 22, 2003, at #19 Wake Forest................... L, 55-97
   Jan. 7, 2003, at #17 Wake Forest.................... L, 56-98
   Dec. 21, 2002, at #14 Marquette..................... L, 57-89
   Nov. 30, 2011, at #16 Ball State.................... L, 65-106
   Dec. 30, 1999, at #24 DePaul........................ L, 56-80
   Nov. 22, 1999, at #17 Tennessee..................... L, 56-95
  *Dec. 21, 1998, at #6 Stanford....................... L, 58-82
  *Division I transitional year

LOOKING BACK: Elon held off a second-half surge by the Florida Atlantic Owls on Sunday, Dec. 22, hitting clutch shots down the stretch to leave FAU Arena with a 67-62 victory. After FAU took a three-point lead with 2:43 left, Jack Isenbarger dialed up his third and final triple of the game to knot it at 60-all with 2:00 to play. On the next possession, Sebastian Koch found Tanner Samson in the corner near the Phoenix bench for three to give Elon a 63-60 lead. It was all Elon from there, as Isenbarger hit four key free throws in the waning moments to put the game out of reach for the Owls and secure the victory for the Phoenix.

FROM LONG RANGE: Elon currently leads the Southern Conference in three-point field goal percentage at 42.5 percent and threes made with 125. Tanner Samson (45) and Sebastian Koch (41) rank first and second in the league in threes made. Samson ranks second in the SoCon in three-point field goal percentage, while Austin Hamilton is tied for third and Koch ranks sixth.

KOCH HONORED: Sebastian Koch scored a career-high 27 points at 21st-ranked Colorado on Dec. 13, and was named the Southern Conference Player of the Week on Dec. 17. Koch’s nine triples are the most in a single game during Elon’s Division I era. His 27 points mark the most by an Elon player since Jack Isenbarger’s 34-point performance against The Citadel on Feb. 4, 2012.

SAMSON HONORED: Tanner Samson was named the Southern Conference Player of the Week on Dec. 10 after scoring a career-high 23 points in an 87-70 win over VMI on Dec. 3. Samson connected on 5-of-8 from three-point land in the win and was 8-of-10 from the free-throw line. He added a career-best nine rebounds, three assists and three steals in 36 minutes against the Keydets.

MILESTONE WATCH: Both Sebastian Koch (934 points) and Ryley Beaumont (894 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 (1,338) and Jack Isenbarger (1,248). Troutman ranks 15th all-time and needs 44 points to pass Thomas Moore (1972-75) for 14th all-time. Isenbarger ranks 18th all-time in career points after recently passing Chris Long and Tom McGee. Isenbarger needs 12 points to pass Drew Spradlin for 17th all-time.

BLOCK PARTY: With two blocked shots at FAU on Dec. 22, Lucas Troutman extended his program-best career mark to 178 blocks. Troutman set Elon’s all-time blocks record last season and is seven blocks shy of passing VMI’s Eric Mann (1997-01) for 10th all-time in Southern Conference history. Troutman is the league’s active leader in career blocks.

TRACKING THE THREES: Jack Isenbarger enters Tuesday’s game with 227 career three-pointers made, which ranks second all-time in Elon history behind Chris Kiger’s (1994-98) career mark of 259. Isenbarger is the Southern Conference’s active leader in career triples.

DOUBLE TROUBLE: Lucas Troutman has scored in double figures in eight of Elon’s last 10 games this season and in 37 of the team’s last 44 games. Troutman has scored 20 or more points in eight of those contests.

HOME COOKING: Over the last three years, Elon has a 27-8 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. Elon is 5-1 at home for the third straight season and has won 12-of-14 inside Alumni Gym.

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 Tuesday’s game with an overall record of 66-74. Matheny was a finalist for CollegeInsider.com’s Hugh Durham Award last season, which honors the nation’s top mid-major coach.