Elon Men’s Basketball Begins Final Road Swing at James Madison

ELON, N.C. – Elon University men’s basketball begins its final Colonial Athletic Association road swing to close regular season on Thursday, Feb. 28, with a matchup against James Madison. The rematch between the Phoenix and the Dukes is set to tip-off at 7 p.m.

GAME NOTES (PDF) | PREVIEW

COVERAGE
Watch the game live on MadiZone through CAA.tv, or you can listen to the coverage on the Elon Sports Network from Learfield/IMG College through TuneIn, elonphoenix.com/live, or on CAA.tv and the CAA.tv app. The Phoenix All-Access and Elon Sports Network coverage will be provided by Taylor Durham and Brian Morris starting with the pregame show 6:30 p.m.

THURSDAY’S GAME IS…
• The 11th meeting all-time between the Elon Phoenix and the James Madison Dukes.
• The 2,727th game in Elon’s program history.

AN ELON WIN WOULD…
• Be the 1,411th win in program history and Elon’s 264th Division I win.
• Be the 150th win for Elon head men’s basketball coach Matt Matheny.

THE MATCHUP
• Thursday night will be the 11th all-time meeting between the Elon Phoenix and James Madison Dukes.
• The Dukes hold a 7-3 lead in the all-time series.
• Elon snapped a two-game losing streak against JMU with a thrilling 68-65 win earlier this season on Dec. 30, 2018 at Schar Center.
• JMU swept the season series in 2017-18. The Dukes spoiled Elon’s final game inside Alumni Gym, 90-84, on Feb. 26, 2018 and earned an 85-74 overtime win on Jan. 18, 2018 inside the Convocation Center.
• The last nine meetings have been played since Elon joined the CAA in 2014-15. Elon and James Madison met for the first time on Nov. 29, 1975 and JMU claimed the 108-94 victory.

SCOUTING JAMES MADISON
• James Madison (13-16, 6-10 CAA), has won three of its last four games heading into Thursday night after topping league-leading Hofstra 104-99 in overtime on Saturday afternoon in Hempstead. The Dukes have also topped Drexel and Delaware during the stretch with its only loss coming against Northeastern.
• The Dukes have three players scoring in double figures this season, led by Stuckey Mosley’s 17.4 points per contest. Lewis is averaging 16.1 points and Darius Banks is tallying 12.4 points per game. Dwight Wilson is the team’s leading rebounder at 7.6 per contest.
• Overall this season, James Madison ranks in the top-3 in several team statistical categories, including 2nd in blocked shots (3.3) and 3rd in offensive rebounds (10.6) per game. The Dukes also rank third in offensive rebounding percentage at 31.4 percent per game. Mosley’s 17.4 points per contest ranks 7th in the league, just ahead of Elon’s Tyler Seibring.
• In conference games only, James Madison ranked 3rd in free throw percentage (76.9), 3rd in three-point field goal percentage (37.8), and 3rd in rebounding defense (32.8).
• James Madison finished its non-conference slate with a 7-6 record, which included wins against Radford (was receiving votes in the AP poll at the time), East Carolina, Charlotte, Northern Illinois, Coppin State and Bridgewater.

ABOUT ELON
• The Phoenix has a 9-20 record overall and is 5-11 in CAA action this season following an 84-74 loss to Charlesotn on Senior Day at Schar Center on Saturday.
• Elon has three players scoring in double figures. Seibring is Elon’s leading scorer at 16.5 points and is also grabbing 6.0 boards per game. Steven Santa Ana is second on the team in scoring as he is tallying 14.9 points and leads the team in rebounding at 6.1 per game. Sheldon Eberhardt is tallying 10.0 points per contest and has a team-best 3.4 assists per game.
• The Phoenix ranks first in the CAA in three-pointers made with 10.2 per game, which also ranks 16th in the nation. Elon’s 295 total three-pointers this season ranks 11th nationally at the NCAA Division I level.
• Seibring is currently 8th in the CAA in scoring (16.5), while Santa Ana ranks tied for 13th (14.9) in the league. Santa Ana’s 6.1 rebounds ranks 11th and Seibring’s 6.0 ranks tied for 12th in the league.
• Sheldon Eberhardt leads the team with 91 total assists, which is an average of 3.4 per contest and ranks 9th in the CAA. He also has the second-highest free throw shooting percentage (.815) on the team.
• In conference play only, Elon ranks in the top-5 in a few team categories. The Phoenix is 5th in the CAA in field goal percentage defense (.450), tied for 2nd in defensive rebounding averaging 25.3 per game and 4th in assists (13.9) per game.
• Seibring is once again is playing his best during conference play. The senior is bettering his season scoring average with 17.1 points per game and his rebounding at 6.9 per contest in 16 conference games.
• The maroon and gold played 13 times at home inside its brand-new Schar Center this season, including seven times in non-conference games.
• Elon and gold returns 11 total players and three of its five starters from a year ago. One of its three returning starters, Dainan Swoope, is out for the year after having season-ending foot surgery.
• The Phoenix returns four of its top six scorers, including its 2017-18 leading scorer and rebounder in Seibring (15.4 ppg, 6.8 rpg).
• The program’s senior class is made up of four players (Seibring, Santa Ana, Eberhardt and Karolis Kundrotas). Swoope will redshirt at the end of the season and is eligible for a 5th year.
• Elon made four new additions to the squad for 2018-19 in first-year players Chuck Hannah, Andy Pack, Federico Poser and Kris Wooten.
• The Phoenix has been predicted to finish eighth in the league as the CAA released its preseason men’s basketball poll on Oct. 17, during the conference’s digital media day. Tyler Seibring collected preseason All-CAA honors as he was named to the second team.

IN RARE COMPANY
• Senior forward Tyler Seibring is now ranked in the top-10 in both career scoring (1,746 points) and rebounding (764 rebounds). He is the program’s all-time scoring leader and rebounder during the program’s NCAA Division I era and ranks 6th and 10th in each category, respectively.
• Seibring is the first Elon player at the NCAA Division I level (since 1999) to join the top-10 in both categories of scoring and rebounding. He is also just the sixth player in program history to have a top-10 ranking in both categories.

SEIBRING COLLECTS THIRD-STRAIGHT ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT HONOR
• Senior forward Tyler Seibring have been named to the Google Cloud Academic All-District 3 Men’s Basketball Team for the third straight season, announced Thursday, Feb. 21, by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
• By virtue of being named to the first team, Seibring will be included on the national ballot for the Academic All-America Team.
• He has been maintaining a 3.95 GPA as an English and Economics double major and is a member of both Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi academic honor societies.

THERE’S A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING
• During Elon’s three-game road trip from Jan. 19-26, the Phoenix posted a 2-1 mark, which included victories at William & Mary and UNCW.
• The Phoenix claimed its first-ever victory in Williamsburg and first win in Kaplan Arena on Jan. 19 with a 76-71 victory over the Tribe.
• Elon then bounced back from a loss at Charleston to earn its first-ever win inside Trask Coliseum with a 89-82 victory over UNCW. It was the program’s first win in Wilmington in 43 years with the previous victory coming on Jan. 24, 1976 at Hanover Hall.

DYNAMIC SENIOR TRIO
• Seniors Tyler Seibring, Steven Santa Ana and Sheldon Eberhardt have combined for 1,165 of Elon’s 2,021 points this season, which is 57.6 percent of the team’s scoring in 2018-19.
• All three are having their best seasons of their four-year careers. Seibring is tallying a career-best 16.5 points per game and ranks 6th on Elon’s all-time scoring list with 1,746 career points. Santa Ana is also having the best season of his Elon career averaging 14.9 points and a team-best 6.1 rebounds per contest. His 1,329 career points currently ranks 18th in program history. Eberhardt has added 10.0 points per game for the Phoenix this year and has a team-best 3.4 assists per contest.

WOOTEN TABBED CAA ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
• Wooten averaged 11.5 points while shooting 60 percent from the floor (9-15) and 55.6 percent from three-point range (5-9) as Elon split a pair of road games Nov. 18-22 during the final week of the Phoenix’s non-conference slate.
• He is Elon’s first player to earn a weekly accolade from the conference this season. He is also Elon’s first CAA Rookie of the Week selection since Tyler Seibring earned the honor for the third time his freshman campaign on Jan. 18, 2016.

SEIBRING NAMED SENIOR CLASS AWARD CANDIDATE
• Tyler Seibring has been named one of the 30 NCAA Division men’s basketball candidates for the 2018-18 Senior CLASS Award®
• The Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
• The Senior CLASS Award winner will be announced during the 2019 NCAA Men’s Final Four® this spring.

JOINING THE 1,000-POINT CLUB
• Senior guard Steven Santa Ana became the 43rd player in program history to reach 1,000-career points against Central Penn on Nov. 27.
• Elon currently has three 1,000-point scorers on the team in Tyler Seibring, Dainan Swoope and Steven Santa Ana. Swoope and Seibring each joined the 1,000-point club as juniors.
• Seibring was the first to join, becoming the 40th player overall and the 11th junior to reach the mark. Dainan Swoope became the 42nd player overall, the 12th junior.

RECORD-SETTING PERFORMANCES

• The Phoenix have twice set a program record with 19 three-pointers made in a game this season.
• Elon set the record of 19 triples in its 98-71 victory over Milligan College on Nov. 15, 2018, the program’s first-ever win in Schar Center.
• The team then matched the mark on Nov. 27, 2018 inside Schar Center during its 92-59 win over Central Penn.

SCHAR CENTER
• Elon University men’s basketball will play its games inside its new facility, Schar Center, this season after calling Alumni Gym its home since since 1950.
• Schar Center officially opened its doors in July of 2018 and was dedicated on October, 19, 2018. The 161,000-square-foot convocation center has a current capacity of 5,100-seats.
• Not only does it serve as the home for Phoenix basketball and volleyball programs, but it also serves as an event venue that will provide a large gathering space for a wide variety of major campus events such as convocations and concerts.
• The facility is named for Dwight and Martha Schar, of Palm Beach, Fla., parents of Stuart Schar ’16 and Spencer Schar ’19.
• Among Elon’s most generous donors for the project, the Schars have contributed $13 million to the university to provide lead funding for the convocation center and the expanded School of Communications facilities, which features Dwight C. Schar Hall as the centerpiece.

HOW 2018-19 BEGAN
• Elon’s 110th season of basketball opened with a marquee matchup as the Phoenix hosted the No. 8-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels on ESPNU in the program’s first regular season basketball game inside Schar Center on Friday, Nov. 9.
• Prior to that contest, the Phoenix opened the 2018-19 season on Nov. 6 on the road at Manhattan. Elon then competed in the Tiger Thanksgiving Classic, Nov. 22-24, at Pacific University on Thanksgiving week.
• During its non-conference slate, the Phoenix scheduled a total of seven home contests, which have included North Carolina, Boston University, No. 25 Furman, UNCG and Canisius. The Phoenix then concluded non-conference action on the road at Kennesaw State and UMKC.

UP NEXT
The Phoenix closes out the 2018-19 regular season on Saturday, March 2, facing Towson in its finale. Elon’s matchup against the Tigers on Towson’s Senior Day will tip-off at 2 p.m. inside SECU Arena.