ELON, N.C. – The Elon University men’s basketball team plays its first of back-to-back road games on Wednesday night, Feb. 18, when the Phoenix takes on College of Charleston at TD Arena.
ELON VS. COFC: Wednesday night marks the 20th all-time meeting between the Phoenix and Cougars. Charleston leads the series, 14-5, and has won the last three meetings. Elon dropped a 66-50 decision to the Cougars on Jan. 14 at Alumni Gym earlier this season, as the Phoenix went without a three in the game’s final 20 minutes and finished 3-of-13 from deep. Elijah Bryant scored 19 on 6-of-12 shooting in the loss, but CofC’s Canyon Barry scored a then-career-high 23 points to lead four Cougars in double figures. Elon’s last win over College of Charleston was a 99-98 double-overtime thriller on Feb. 2, 2012.
LOOKING AHEAD: Elon travels to Delaware for its final regular season road game on Feb. 21 in Newark for a 12:30 p.m. tip. The game will be broadcasted on the American Sports Network.
VOTE AIR CANADA: Vote for Elon’s Kevin Blake in the Dark Horse Dunker competition and help send him to the State Farm College Slam Dunk Contest in Indianapolis during Final Four weekend! Fans can vote once per day at darkhorsedunker.com. Help spread the word by using the hashtag #VoteAirCanada on social media.
BEYOND THE ARC: With a three last game, Tanner Samson tied Jack Isenbarger’s single-season record of 82 set in 2012-13. Samson leads the CAA with 82 threes (eighth nationally) and three-point attempts with 236 (second nationally). Samson currently sits at 221 career triples, good for fourth in program history. He trails Sebastian Koch (242), Chris Kiger (259) and Isenbarger (264) on the career chart.
AHEAD AT THE HALF: Elon has been in the lead at halftime nine times this season and has won eight of those contests. Conversely, the Phoenix is 3-15 when trailing at intermission.
ELON IN FEBRUARY: Going into Wednesday’s game at College of Charleston, Elon has a 24-22 mark in the month of February under head coach Matt Matheny. Last year, Elon went 7-1 in February.
SENIOR CLASS: Elon’s senior class of Austin Hamilton, Kevin Blake and Ryan Winters have posted a total of 65 wins – the second most by a senior class during Elon’s Division I era. Last year’s senior class of Ryley Beaumont, Jack Isenbarger, Sebastian Koch, Lucas Troutman and Egheosa Edomwonyi finished with 68 wins over four years.
288 AND COUNTING: The Elon men’s basketball program has made at least one three-point field goal in 288 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 21 double-digit efforts in 27 games. In CAA games, Bryant is averaging 15.0 points per contest.
GETTING DEFENSIVE: Elon has forced at least 12 turnovers in 23 of its 27 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 11-7 record this season when it shoots 40+ percent from the floor. The Phoenix is 0-9 when it shoots below 40 percent.
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 Wednesday’s game with a career record of 88-98. 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.