Elon MBB Phoenix Travels to Towson for Regular-Season Finale

TOWSON, Md. – Elon University men’s basketball closes out the regular season on Saturday, March 2, facing Towson in its final Colonial Athletic Association contest of the season at SECU Arena. The rematch between the Phoenix and the Tigers is set to tip-off at 2 p.m. Prior to the contest, Towson will recognize its senior class as it celebrates Senior Day.

GAME NOTES (PDF) | PREVIEW

COVERAGE
Watch the game live through the Tiger Sports Network on 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 1:30 p.m.

SATURDAY’S GAME IS…
• The 11th meeting all-time between the Elon Phoenix and the Towson Tigers.
• The 2,728th game in Elon’s program history.

AN ELON WIN WOULD…
• Be the 1,412th win in program history and Elon’s 264th Division I win.
• Be the 151st win for Elon head men’s basketball coach Matt Matheny.

THE MATCHUP

• Saturday will be the 11th all-time meeting between the Elon Phoenix and Towson Tigers.
• Towson holds the 6-4 edge in the series. Five of 10 meetings in the series have been decided by 5 points or less.
• The Tigers won the first meeting of the season in the conference opener claiming a 77-60 win against the Phoenix at Schar Center.
• Elon swept the 2017-18 season series winning both home and away contests.
• The Phoenix defeated Towson 83-76 on Jan. 27, 2017 at SECU Arena and earned the home win 75-72 on Jan. 2, 2018 inside Alumni Gym.
• Elon’s first win against Towson was during its first CAA Tournament appearance with a 74-69 victory in the 1st round of the 2015 tournament in Baltimore.

SCOUTING TOWSON
• Towson (10-20, 6-11 CAA), has lost 4 of its last 5 games after its narrow 67-65 loss to W&M.
• The Tigers have 2 players scoring in double figures this season, led by Brian Fobbs’ 17.8 points per contest. Tobias Howard is chipping in 10.4 points per game thus far.
• On the glass, Dennis Tunstall is leading Towson with 7.7 boards per game.
• Overall this season, Towson ranks 1st in several categories, including field goal percentage defense (.429), rebounding (37.3), rebounding margin (+5.1), and offensive rebounding (12.3).
• In conference games only, Towson ranks 3rd in scoring defense (70.9), 1st in field goal percentage defense (.431), 2nd in three-point field goal percentage defense (.345) and 1st in offensive rebounding (12.1).

ABOUT ELON
• The Phoenix has a 10-20 record overall and is 6-11 in CAA action this season following its 73-58 rout of James Madison on Thursday night in Harrisonburg.
• Elon has three players scoring in double figures. Seibring is Elon’s leading scorer at 16.6 points and is also grabbing 5.9 boards per game. Steven Santa Ana is 2nd on the team in scoring with 15.0 points and leads the team in rebounding at 6.2 per game. Sheldon Eberhardt is tallying 10.2 points and 3.3 assists per contest.
• The Phoenix ranks first in the CAA in three-pointers made with 10.2 per game, which also ranks 15th in the nation. Elon’s 307 total three-pointers this season ranks 10th nationally at the NCAA Division I level.
• Seibring is currently 8th in the CAA in scoring, while Santa Ana ranks tied for 13th in the league. Santa Ana’s 6.2 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 3.3 per contest and ranks tied for 9th in the CAA. He also has the second-highest free throw shooting percentage (.820) on the team.
• In conference play only, Elon ranks in the top-5 in a few team categories. Elon is 3rd in the CAA in field goal percentage defense (.449), tied for 2nd in defensive rebounding (25.4) per game and 4th in assists (14.4) per game.
• Seibring is once again is playing his best during conference play. The senior is bettering his season scoring average with 17.2 points per game and his rebounding at 6.7 per contest in 17 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
• Tyler Seibring is now ranked in the top-10 in both career scoring (1,764 points) and rebounding (768 rebounds). He is the program’s all-time scoring leader and rebounder during the program’s NCAA Division I era.
• 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 1,218 of Elon’s 2,094 points this season, which is 58.2 percent of the team’s scoring in 2018-19.
• All three are having their best seasons of their four-year careers. Seibring is tallying 16.6 points per game and ranks 6th on Elon’s all-time scoring list. Santa Ana is averaging 15.0 points and a team-best 6.2 rebounds per contest. His 1,349 career points currently ranks 18th in program history.
• Eberhardt has added 10.2 points per game for the Phoenix this year and has a team-best 3.3 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 awaits its final seed for the upcoming 2019 CAA Men’s Basketball Championships following Saturday’s league games. Elon is locked in to the first round of the tournament and can earn as high as the No. 7 seed or as low as the No. 9 seed.