Elon MBB’s Northern Trip Continues at Canisius

ELON, N.C. – Elon University men’s basketball continues its northern stretch of three games in six days on Tuesday, Dec. 19, as the Phoenix faces the Canisius Golden Griffins in non-conference action. The game will tip off inside the Koessler Athletic Center at 7 p.m.
GAME NOTES | PREVIEW

COVERAGE
Watch the action on ESPN3 through WatchESPN. Listen to the Elon IMG Sports Network broadcast on WSJS 104.5 FM and 1200 AM, or on elonphoenix.com. Taylor Durham and Brian Morris will call the action on the radio broadcast with the pregame show starting at 6:30 p.m.

THE SERIES
• Tuesday will be the third meeting between Elon and Canisius and the first since Nov. 19, 2013.
• The first time the two side met was in the first round of the 2013 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament. The Phoenix fell to the Golden Griffins 69-53 on March 20, 2013.
• In the last meeting, Canisius came out victorious again with a narrow 86-85 victory in the NIT Preseason Tipoff on Nov. 19, 2013 at the Rutgers Athletic Center. Brian Dawkins is the lone Phoenix on the current roster to have played against Canisius.
• Second-year Canisius head coach Reggie Witherspoon will face Elon for the second time in his coaching career. He defeated Elon as the head coach at Buffalo in overtime by a score of 70-63 on Dec. 7, 2004 inside Alumni Gym.

LAST TIME OUT
• Elon used runs late at the end of each half to defeat BU 77-69 on Sunday afternoon in Case Gym.
• Steven Santa had a team-highs 19 points, while adding six rebounds and five assists. Four Phoenix finished in double figures. Tyler Seibring has a team-high eight rebounds and Sheldon Eberhardt passed a team-best seven assists.
• The Phoenix dished out a season-high 22 assists and tied a season-best with 15 three pointers against the Terriers.

A LOOK AT ELON
• The Phoenix is off to a 7-4 mark and won four of its last five games, as well as six of its last eight contests.
• Elon was averaging 78.7 points in the first nine contest until the team was held to 44 points at UNCG. The Phoenix is now averaging 75.4 ppg, which is sixth in the CAA.
• Elon is 2nd in the CAA averaging 10.6 made three pointers a game and 3rd in the league with 15.9 assists per contest.
• The Phoenix continues to be strong defensively, only allowing teams to shoot 42.1% from the floor and 34.1% from three, which both rank third in the CAA. Elon is also first in the league in defensive rebounds, averaging 30.6 per game.
• Dainan Swoope is currently Elon’s leading scorer at 15.5 ppg, Brian Dawkins is 10th in the league averaging a team-best 6.2 rpg, while Sheldon Eberhardt is fifth in the CAA with 3.8 apg.
• Eberhardt has the best assist/turnover ratio in the CAA with a 2.8 ratio with 42 assists to just 15 turnovers.
• Elon returns all five starters and its top five scorers from a team that finished 18-14 overall and placed tied for fourth in the CAA with a 10-8 mark in 2016-17.
• Four of the five starters averaged double-figure scoring last season, led by 2016-17 All-CAA Second Team forward Tyler Seibring, who averaged a team-high 14.4 ppg.
• Brian Dawkins finished second on the team in scoring at 12.9 ppg, while Steven Santa Ana and Dainan Swoope each scored 11.7 ppg. Dmitri Thompson posted 8.9 ppg as a junior last season.
• Dawkins, Thompson, Jack Anton, Jack George and Collin Luther make up this year’s senior class.
• Elon also made three additions this past offseason, bringing in freshman guard Nathan Priddy and forwards Simon Wright and Duje Radja into the fold.

SWOOPE THERE IT IS
• Dainan Swoope is Elon’s leading scorer through 11 games averaging 15.5 ppg and has scored in double figures nine times thus far.
• Before suffering an ankle injury in the second half at UNCG, Swoope was averaging 17.1 ppg in the first nine contests.
• He had 20+ points in four straight games from Nov. 17-22 and averaged 23.8 ppg during that span.
• Most recently, his last 20+ point game came in a 77-74 win over Radford on Nov. 22, when he scored 24.
• During the Black & Gold Shootout, Swoope matched a career-high with 26 points in Elon’s triple overtime win against FIU on Nov. 17, followed with a 25-point performance against Concordia-St. Paul on Nov. 18 and rounded out the tournament with 20 points against Milwaukee.
• Swoope is currently 11th in the CAA in scoring averaging 15.5 ppg through 11 games this season.
• The junior point guard is also seventh in the CAA in assists averaging 3.4 dimes per game this season. He is third in the league with 33 made three-pointers this season.

PROVIDING A SPARK
• Sheldon Eberhardt has made an impact off the bench, scoring in double-figures three times this season for the Phoenix.
• He posted a career-high 10 assists in Elon’s victory over Saint Peter’s, which was the first time an Elon player had 10 or more assists in a game since Chris Long had 10 on Feb. 19, 2011 against UNCG.
• Eberhardt is currently averaging 7.2 points and a team-high 3.8 assists per contest. He also has the highest shooting percentage on the team at 50.8 percent.

CLOSING IN ON 1,000 POINTS
• Three Phoenix are less than 200 points away and two are less and 100 from reaching 1,000 career points. Elon currently has 39 players in program history that have reached the 1,000-point mark.
• Dmitri Thompson is the closest with 909 career points and is just 91 points away. Tyler Seibring is right behind with 906 career points and is within 94 points. Dainan Swoope has 836 career points, just 164 away.

IT’S ALL ABOUT BALANCE
• Three of five Elon starters are averaging doubles figures in this early part of the season. Swoope leads the way with 15.5 ppg, while Brian Dawkins is second averaging 12.2 ppg.
• Rounding out the top scorers are Tyler Seibring, who is averaging 12.1 ppg. Dmitri Thompsonand Steven Santa Ana are right there with 9.8 ppg and 9.5 ppg this season, respectively.
• Elon has had six different players finish in double figures this season and four have led their team in scoring during games.
• The Phoenix has had at least three players finish in double-figures in nine games this season. The only two times this season Elon had less in a game was two against Radford (11/22) and at UNCG (12/7).

THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT NOV. 30…
• The Phoenix defeated USF by a score of 79-78 in overtime on Thursday, Nov. 30, inside Alumni Gym.
• For three straight seasons since 2015, Elon has now played an overtime game inside Alumni Gym and won on Nov. 30 for three straight years.
• Elon came back from an eight-point deficit with 18 seconds to play to force overtime and defeat Kennesaw State 103-93 on Nov. 30, 2015.
• Last season, Elon defeated FIU 84-81 in an overtime thriller on Nov. 30, 2016.

WHAT A THRILLER
• Elon erased a 13-point deficit to defeat Florida International in triple overtime on Friday, Nov. 17, to open the Black & Gold Shootout.
• It was only the second triple overtime game Elon has played since becoming a Division I program in 1999-2000.
• The Phoenix improves to 2-0 in triple overtime games since becoming a Division I program. Elon defeated UNCG 112-108 in the team’s last 3OT game on Feb. 28, 2004.

SCOUTING CANISIUS
• The Golden Griffins are 4-7 overall and have lost three straight games heading into their matchup against the Phoenix. They own a 2-1 record inside the Koessler Athletic Center with its most recent loss coming against St. Bonaventure on Dec. 6 with a 73-65 defeat.
• Canisius fell in a close battle 68-65 on Saturday night at Albany. The Golden Griffins trailed by nine, 66-57, with 37 seconds to play and attempted to battle back.
• Isaiah Reese leads the team in scoring averaging 16.7 points per contest and has scored in double figures in nine games this season. He is also one of two players in the MAAC to rank in the league’s top-10 in scoring average (16.7 points per game), rebounds per game (6.5) and assists per game average (4.4). Reese is the only player in school history to record a triple-double as he registered 23 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists against Youngstown State on Nov. 18.
• Canisius senior Jermaine Crumpton will be making his 100th career appearance in Blue and Gold on Tuesday. As the program’s active leader in career games played, he ranks 23rd in school history with his 1,191 points.
• The Golden Griffins rank second in the MAAC only allowing 71.2 points per game this season. They also rank second in the league defending the perimeter only allowing opponents to shoot 33.7 percent from three-point range. Offensively, Canisius ranks first in the MAAC shooting from the floor nailing shots at a 47.7 percent clip and dish out 16.5 assists per game, which ranks tied for first in the league.

UP NEXT
The Phoenix concludes the non-conference portion of its schedule on Friday night, Dec. 22, at Indiana State. The game inside the Hulman Center will tip off at 6 p.m. and will be aired on ESPN3.