Elon MBB Phoenix Concludes Non-Conference Slate at Indiana State Friday

ELON, N.C. – Elon University men’s basketball concludes its non-conference schedule on Friday, Dec. 22, on the road at Indiana State for a second all-time meeting inside the Hulman Center at 6 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 5:30 p.m.

THE SERIES
• Friday will be the second meeting between Elon and Indiana State and the first since Dec. 18, 2000.
• The Sycamores won the first all-time meeting with an 80-54 victory in Terre Haute, Ind.
• Elon is 1-2 all time against current members of the Missouri Valley Conference and 0-2 against conference members who were part of the league during the matchups. Loyola (Md.), who joined the MVC in 2013, is the lone team Elon faced when they were not members of the conference.
•Indiana State is 3-2 all time against CAA teams with its last win coming in 2015 against Hofstra in the Paradise Jam tournament.

LAST TIME OUT
• Elon fell to the Canisius Golden Griffins 67-51 on Tuesday night, Dec. 19, inside Koessler Athletic Center.
• Brian Dawkins led the Phoenix as he finished with team-highs of 13 points and seven rebounds.
• Canisius limited the Phoenix to just 37 percent shooting from the floor and 30.8 percent from three. The Golden Griffins took advantage of Elon’s turnovers scoring 19 points off 14 maroon and gold giveaways.

A LOOK AT ELON
• The Phoenix has a 7-5 record overall this season.
• Elon is averaging 73.3 ppg through 12 games. The Phoenix was averaging 78.7 points in the first nine contests, it was held to 44 points at UNCG (12/7) and 51 at Canisius (12/17).
• Elon is 2nd in the CAA averaging 10.4 made three pointers a game and 3rd in the league with 15.7 assists per contest.
• The Phoenix continues to improve defensively, only allowing teams to shoot 42.2% from the floor and 34.4% from three, which both rank third in the CAA. Elon is also first in the league in defensive rebounds, averaging 30.1 per game.
• Dainan Swoope is currently Elon’s leading scorer at 14.5 ppg, Brian Dawkins is 11th in the league averaging a team-best 6.3 rpg, while Sheldon Eberhardt is sixth in the CAA with 3.7 apg.
• Eberhardt has the 5th-best assist/turnover ratio in the CAA with a 2.2 ratio with 44 assists to 20 turnovers.
• Elon returned 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 12 games averaging 14.5 ppg, nearly a 3-point increase from his 11.7 ppg last season.
• Swoope has scored in double figures nine times thus far.
• He is currently 11th in the CAA in scoring averaging 14.5 ppg through 12 games this season.
• The junior point guard is also seventh in the CAA in assists averaging 3.4 dimes per game this season. He makes 85% of his shots from the free throw line, which is 2nd in the CAA.
• 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.

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 6.8 points and a team-high 3.7 assists per contest. He also has the highest shooting percentage on the team at 49.3%.

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 918 career points and is just 82 points away. Tyler Seibring is right behind with 911 career points and is within 89 points. Dainan Swoope has 839 career points, just 161 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 14.5 ppg, while Brian Dawkins is second averaging 12.3 ppg.
• Rounding out the top scorers are Tyler Seibring, who is averaging 11.5 ppg. Dmitri Thompsonand Steven Santa Ana are right there with 9.8 ppg and 9.3 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 three times this season Elon had less in a game was two against Radford (11/22) and at UNCG (12/7) and one at Canisius (12/17).

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 INDIANA STATE
• Indiana State is 5-6 on the season and having won two of their last three heading into the final non-conference tilt of the season. Jordan Barnes leads the Sycamores with a 17.0 ppg average.
• The Sycamores are 82-10 when holding teams to 63 points or less under eighth-year head coach Greg Lansing(and 18-0 when limiting teams to 53 or less).
• Greg Lansing is just the sixth head coach in the history of the program to record at least 100 victories at the helm of the Sycamores as he owns 125. He recently passed Glenn Curtis for third on Indiana State’s all-time career list and needs nine more to tie Royce Waltman for second.
• Senior Brenton Scott owns 229 trifectas in his career which is second-best in the history of the program. He is one of just three Sycamores to record at least 200 career 3-pointers. He only trails Michael Menser by 54 for the school record.
• Jordan Barnes reached the 20-point scoring mark in four consecutive games between Air Force and Green Bay — the longest such streak by a Sycamore since Greg Thomas had four in a row during the 1992-93 campaign. Larry Bird holds the school record as he reached the 20-point mark 25 times in a row during the 1977-78 and 1978-79 campaign.
• Indiana State head coach Greg Lansing owns a school record five victories over nationally-ranked teams during his tenure, a new standard set on December 7, 2016 in the win over No. 15 Butler. Additionally, he owns six victories over Power 5 schools, with all of those coming against on a neutral site or on the road.
• Indiana State head coach Greg Lansing led the Sycamores for the 200th time against Missouri-St. Louis in 2016 and then it was his 100th career home game against the same opponent in 2017. He is one of just four head coaches at Indiana State to coach at least 200 games. Duane Klueh, Royce Waltman and Gordon Stauffer are the others.

UP NEXT
The Phoenix opens Colonial Athletic Association action inside Alumni Gym on Saturday, Dec. 30, hosting the Drexel Dragons at 2 p.m. It will be the first of the final nine remaining regular season games remaining inside historic Alumni Gym.