ELON, N.C. – Elon plays its first of two home games this week on Thursday night, Feb. 27, when the Phoenix welcomes the Wofford Terriers to Alumni Gym. Tip is set for 7 p.m. Pre-game coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. on WPCM 95.1 FM/920 AM.
ELON VS. WOFFORD: Thursday night marks the 51st all-time meeting between Elon and Wofford. Elon holds a 30-20 edge in the series, but has dropped four of the last five meetings against the Terriers. Elon split last year’s series with the Terriers, winning 68-61 on Jan. 19 in Alumni Gym before dropping a 60-50 decision in Spartanburg, S.C., on Feb. 7. Since the 1993-94 season, Elon has a 3-5 record against Wofford inside Alumni Gym. Elon head coach Matt Matheny is 1-5 against the Terriers, with his lone victory coming last year inside Alumni Gym.
HOME COOKING: Over the last three years, Elon has a 33-9 record inside the friendly confines of Alumni Gym. Elon has sold out Alumni Gym 12 times under head coach Matt Matheny, with its most recent sellout coming on Feb. 15 vs. Samford. Elon is 9-3 when Alumni Gym is sold out. Elon is 11-2 at home this year and has won 18-of-21 inside Alumni Gym. Against league foes, Elon is 19-5 over the last three years.
LOOKING BACK: Elon wrapped up a three-game road swing with a 78-49 victory at Furman on Feb. 24. The 29-point margin of victory marks Elon’s largest over a Southern Conference foe since joining the league. The win marked Elon’s fourth straight road win and eighth straight win overall.
TROUTMAN HONORED: Lucas Troutman was named the Southern Conference Player of the Week on Feb. 25. In three wins against UNCG, Georgia Southern and Furman, Troutman averaged 18.7 points and 7.3 boards, shooting 56 percent from the field. The Belton, S.C., native also recorded seven total blocks during the three game stretch.
ELITE COMPANY: Lucas Troutman now ranks among the top-10 in Elon history in career scoring with 1,584 career points. Troutman ranks ninth all-time in school history in career points and needs 45 points to pass Brendon Rowell (1998-2002) for eighth.
TRACKING THE THREES: Jack Isenbarger became Elon’s all-time leader in career threes on Feb. 24 at Furman, passing Chris Kiger’s 16-year mark of 259. Isenbarger now sits at 261 career triples and is the Southern Conference’s active leader in career threes made.
APPROACHING A MILESTONE: Sebastian Koch is closing in on Elon’s single-season threes made record of 82 set by both Jack Isenbarger (2012-13 season) and Matt Nowlin (2003-04 season). Koch currently has 77 threes this season, which ranks second in the Southern Conference.
GOING STREAKING: Elon’s current eight-game winning streak ties the 2005-06 squad for the longest during the school’s Division I era. The longest winning streak in school history is 14 games by Horace Hendrickson’s 1939-40 squad that finished 18-3.
THE CORE FOUR: Elon, North Dakota State and Georgia State are the only schools in the nation with four 1,000-point scorers on its current team. Ryley Beaumont reached the career milestone on Feb. 6 and currently has 1,058 points. Beaumont joined teammates Lucas Troutman (1,584 points), Jack Isenbarger (1,421 points) and Sebastian Koch (1,112) 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 68 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 26 dunks this season. When Troutman dunks, Elon is 13-7. When Troutman does not dunk, Elon is 5-4. Troutman has registered a total of five multi-dunk games, including a season-high three at Chattanooga on Jan. 23. Troutman has dunked 13 times in his last 12 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 93-96 (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 45-41 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 243. Sebastian Koch (77) and Tanner Samson (73) rank second 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 one block at Furman on Feb. 24, Lucas Troutman extended his program-best career mark to 207 blocks. Troutman set Elon’s all-time blocks record last season and ranks sixth all-time in Southern Conference history in blocks and needs nine to pass The Citadel’s Kirill Misyuchenkoleague (1995-98) for fifth in league history. Troutman is the conference’s active leader in career blocks.
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 Thursday’s game with an overall record of 77-79. Matheny was a finalist for CollegeInsider.com’s Hugh Durham Award last season, which honors the nation’s top mid-major coach.