Elon Men’s Basketball Phoenix and Eagles Meet Saturday in Statesboro

ELON, N.C. – Coming off its sixth straight win on Wednesday night, the Elon men’s basketball team hits the road for the first of back-to-back games on Saturday, Feb. 22, when it takes on the Georgia Southern Eagles. The afternoon matchup is set to begin at 2 p.m. at Hanner Fieldhouse with pre-game coverage beginning at 1:30 p.m. on WPCM 95.1 FM/920 AM.

ELON VS. GEORGIA SOUTHERN: Saturday marks the 21st all-time meeting between Elon and GSU. Elon leads the series 11-9 after claiming thrilling 60-59 win over the Eagles on Feb. 8 in Alumni Gym. Jack Isenbarger’s three-pointer with 0.7 seconds left proved to be the difference in a 60-59 victory for the Phoenix, who played without leading scorer Lucas Troutman. Elon is 4-4 against the Eagles inside Hanner Fieldhouse. Elon’s last game at Hanner Fieldhouse was Nov. 28, 2012, when the Phoenix claimed a 55-50 win in its Southern Conference opener. Matt Matheny has a 5-2 record against GSU.

LOOKING BACK: Five players scored in double figures in an 81-68 victory at UNCG on Wednesday, Feb. 19. The win marked the 10th straight victory over UNCG. Elon’s senior class remains undefeated against the Spartans (9-0) over the last four years.

GOING STREAKING: Elon’s current six-game winning streak is the longest since the Phoenix reeled off seven in a row last year. The longest winning streak during Elon’s Division I era is eight games by the 2005-06 team that won the SoCon North Division title. The longest winning streak in school history is 14 games by Horace Hendrickson’s 1939-40 squad that finished 18-3.

LOOKING AHEAD: Following Saturday’s game in Statesboro, Elon treks to Greenville, S.C., for a Monday night matchup at Furman. The game was originally scheduled for Feb. 12, but was postponed due to snow in the region.

APPROACHING A MILESTONE: With 74 three-pointers this season, Sebastian Koch is nine triples shy of breaking the single-season school record set by teammate Jack Isenbarger (2012-13) and Matt Nowlin (2003-04). Koch’s 74 threes are the fifth most in a single season in school history. Not far behind, Tanner Samson’s 67 threes are tied with Scottie Rice (2003-04) for the seventh most in a single season in Elon history.

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 (1,048 points) joined teammates Lucas Troutman (1,551 points), Jack Isenbarger (1,401 points) and Sebastian Koch (1,101) 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 66 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 24 dunks this season. When Troutman dunks, Elon is 12-7. 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 dunked 11 times in his last 10 games.

EYEING 20 WINS: Should Elon reach the 20-win plateau this season, it would mark the school’s 16th season with 20 or more wins in 105 years of basketball. A 20-win season would be only the fifth time in school history a team has finished back-to-back years with 20 or more wins. Matt Matheny would join Doc Mathis, Bill Miller and Bob Burton as the only coach to lead a team to back-to-back 20-win seasons. Bill Miller led Elon to six straight 20-win seasons from 1968-74.

ELON IN SOCON PLAY: The Phoenix is in its 11th season as a member of the Southern Conference. Elon is 91-96 (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 43-41 record in SoCon play.

FROM LONG RANGE: Elon currently leads the Southern Conference in three-point field goal percentage at 38 percent and threes made with 226. Sebastian Koch (74) and Tanner Samson (67) rank first and fourth in the league in threes made, respectively. The long-distance duo ranks third and fourth in the league in three-point field goal percentage, respectively.

BLOCK PARTY: With two blocks at UNCG on Feb. 19, Lucas Troutman extended his program-best career mark to 202 blocks. Troutman set Elon’s all-time blocks record last season and ranks seventh all-time in Southern Conference history in blocks and needs one to pass former VMI’s Lewis Preston (1990-93) for sixth in league history. Troutman is the conference’s active leader in career blocks.

TRACKING THE THREES: Jack Isenbarger enters Saturday’s game with 255 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 238.

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 75-79. Matheny was a finalist for CollegeInsider.com’s Hugh Durham Award last season, which honors the nation’s top mid-major coach.