ELON, N.C. – The Elon University men’s basketball team returns to Alumni Gym on Thursday night, Feb. 5, for its second game of the year against the Drexel Dragons. Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m.
ELON VS. DREXEL: Thursday marks the third all-time meeting between the Phoenix and Dragons. Each school has won one game in the series. Elon earned a 77-67 win in Philadelphia earlier this year on Jan. 3 in its CAA debut. Rookie Elijah Bryant scored a career-high 32 points on 10-of-20 shooting, as the Phoenix went 11-of-20 from three in the victory. Elon held the Dragons to 29 rebounds in the win, a season-low for any opponent versus the Phoenix this season.
LOOKING BACK: Northeastern’s formidable duo of Zach Stahl and Scott Eatherton went a combined 16-of-18 from the floor to lead the Huskies to an 80-61 win over Elon on Jan. 31 in Boston. The duo finished with 19 and 16 points, respectively, as the Huskies shot 60 percent for the game – a season-high for any opponent against the Phoenix.
LOOKING AHEAD: Following Thursday’s game against the Dragons, the Phoenix travels to Hempstead, N.Y., for a Saturday night tilt at Hofstra. Earlier this year, the Pride claimed a 79-61 win over Elon on Jan. 10 at Alumni Gym.
FROM DEEP: Tanner Samson sits at 211 threes in his career entering Thursday’s game, good for fourth in school history. The Littleton, Colo., native is entering rarified air, as he trails only Jack Isenbarger (264), Chris Kiger (259) and Sebastian Koch (242) in career threes. Samson leads the CAA in threes made with 72 (seventh nationally) and three-point attempts with 195 (fourth nationally).
284 AND COUNTING: The Elon men’s basketball program has made at least one three-point field goal in 284 consecutive games. The last time Elon did not make a three in a game was Jan. 30, 2006, at Georgia Southern when the team went 0-of-14 from deep.
FIRST-YEAR SUCCESS: Rookie guard Elijah Bryant is leading all CAA freshmen in scoring at 13.8 points per game. Bryant has been tabbed CAA Rookie of the Week four times this season and garnered player of the week honors once. He has 18 double-digit efforts in 23 games. In CAA games, Bryant is averaging 15.5 points per contest.
GETTING DEFENSIVE: Elon has forced at least 12 turnovers in 21 of its 23 games this season. Elon forced a season-high 21 turnovers against Charlotte on Nov. 16. The Phoenix forced 19 turnovers on Jan. 3 at Drexel, the most against a league opponent this season.
40-PERCENT MARK: Elon has an 11-3 record this season when it shoots 40+ percent from the floor. The Phoenix is 0-9 when it shoots below 40 percent.
CAREER DAY FOR HAMILTON: Austin Hamilton scored a career-high 31 points vs. Delaware on Jan. 24, draining six threes in the win. Hamilton joins Elijah Bryant as the only other Phoenix player to score 30+ in a game this season. Hamilton is the first Elon player to score 30+ points in Alumni Gym since Jack Isenbarger scored 34 on Feb. 4, 2012, vs. The Citadel.
FREEBIES: Elon’s 25 made free throws against Delaware on Jan. 24 are the most in a game since the Phoenix knocked down 27 against Western Carolina on Feb. 16, 2013.
READY FOR LIFTOFF: When it’s all said and done, the Phoenix will have traveled a total of 17,415 miles on the road this season via flight and bus. Elon’s longest trip was a 5,764-mile round-trip to Cancun, Mexico. The team’s shortest trip was a 44-mile round-trip to the Greensboro Coliseum.
HEAD COACH MATT MATHENY: The 2014-15 season marks the sixth year at Elon for head coach Matt Matheny. Matheny enters Thursday’s game with a career record of 88-94. Matheny was voted by the Southern Conference media as the Coach of the Year in 2012-13 and was a finalist for CollegeInsider.com’s Hugh Durham award, which honors the nation’s top mid-major coach.
ROAD TO BALTIMORE: The 2015 CAA Men’s Basketball Championship is scheduled for March 6-9 in Baltimore, Md., at Royal Farms Arena. Last year, Delaware topped William & Mary, 75-74, in the championship game to earn the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.