Elon Men’s Basketball Welcomes Georgia Southern to Alumni Gym on Saturday Night

ELON, N.C. – Winners of three straight, the Elon University men’s basketball team returns to Alumni Gym on Saturday night, Feb. 8, when the Phoenix hosts Georgia Southern. Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m. The game will be broadcasted on ESPN3 with Darren Goldwater and Dean Keener on the call.

ELON VS. GEORGIA SOUTHERN: Saturday night marks the 20th all-time meeting between Elon and GSU. Elon leads the series by a slim 10-9 margin after taking last year’s lone meeting in Statesboro, Ga., 55-50. Elon is 5-5 against the Eagles inside Alumni Gym. The last time Elon and Georgia Southern met in Alumni Gym was Jan. 5, 2012, as the Eagles claimed a 69-63 win. The two teams meet once more this season on Feb. 22 in Statesboro.

LOOKING BACK: Elon won its ninth straight game over UNCG on Thursday, Feb. 6, following a 72-66 decision inside Alumni Gym. Ryley Beaumont scored his 1,000th career point in the win and paced Elon with 14 points and nine boards. The Phoenix stifled the Spartans defensively in the win, holding UNCG to 36 percent shooting.

LOOKING AHEAD: Following Elon’s game against GSU, Elon heads to Greenville, S.C., to face Furman on Wednesday, Feb. 12. It marks the lone meeting between the Phoenix and Paladins this season.

THE CORE FOUR: Elon joined North Dakota State as the only school in the nation with four 1,000-point scorers on its current team on Thursday, Feb. 6, when Ryley Beaumont reached the career milestone. Beaumont joined teammates Lucas Troutman, Jack Isenbarger and Sebastian Koch in the 1,000-point club.

STAY CLASSY: This year’s senior class of Ryley Beaumont, Egheosa Edomwonyi, Jack Isenbarger, Sebastian Koch and Lucas Troutman has totaled 63 wins during its tenure at Elon, which is the most by a class during the school’s Division I era. The 1974 class, led by Clarence “Diffy” Ross, holds the all-time record for wins by a senior class with 85. The class of 1974 played with a total of eight players that have scored 1,000 or more points in their career at Elon.

TROUTMAN DUNKS: Lucas Troutman has tallied a total of 22 dunks this season. When Troutman dunks, Elon is 10-7. When Troutman does not dunk, Elon is 3-4. Troutman has registered a total of four multi-dunk games, including a season-high three at Chattanooga on Jan. 23. Troutman has nine dunks in Elon’s last eight games.

HOME COOKING: Over the last three years, Elon has a 31-9 record inside the friendly confines of Alumni Gym. Elon has sold out Alumni Gym 10 times under head coach Matt Matheny, with its most recent sellout coming on Jan. 18 vs. No. 15/16 UMass. Elon is 9-2 at home this year and has won 16-of-19 inside Alumni Gym. Against league foes, Elon is 17-5 over the last three years.

ELON IN SOCON PLAY: The Phoenix is in its 11th season as a member of the Southern Conference. Elon is 88-96 (including tournament action) against current members of the Southern Conference since the 2003-04 campaign. Elon went 13-5 against league foes during the regular season last year, winning the SoCon North Division title. Matt Matheny has a 40-41 record in SoCon play.

FROM LONG RANGE: Elon currently leads the Southern Conference in three-point field goal percentage at 39 percent and threes made with 201 (ninth nationally). Sebastian Koch (66) and Tanner Samson (63) rank first and third in the league in threes made, respectively. The long-distance duo ranks second and fifth in the league in three-point field goal percentage, respectively.

BLOCK PARTY: With two blocks against UNCG on Feb. 6, Lucas Troutman extended his program-best career mark to 197 blocks. Troutman set Elon’s all-time blocks record last season and ranks eighth all-time in Southern Conference history in blocks and needs one block to pass Davidson’s Jake Cohen for seventh in league history. Troutman is the conference’s active leader in career blocks.

TRACKING THE THREES: Jack Isenbarger enters Saturday’s game with 249 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. Sebastian Koch ranks third all-time in career threes with 230.

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 Saturday’s game with an overall record of 72-79. Matheny was a finalist for CollegeInsider.com’s Hugh Durham Award last season, which honors the nation’s top mid-major coach.