ELON, N.C. – The Elon University men’s basketball team returns to Alumni Gym for the first of back-to-back home games on Thursday night, Feb. 6, when the Phoenix hosts the UNC Greensboro Spartans. Tip is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game will be broadcasted exclusively on Phoenix All-Access.
ELON VS. UNC GREENSBORO: Thursday night marks the 46th all-time meeting between Elon and UNC Greensboro. The Phoenix leads the series 22-13 and has won the last eight meetings against the Spartans. Elon won both regular season meetings versus UNC Greensboro last season and knocked the Spartans out of the Southern Conference Tournament with a 68-61 decision last year on March 9, 2013. In games played on Elon’s campus, the Phoenix is 14-6 against the Spartans. The last time the two teams met inside Alumni Gym was March 2, 2013, on Senior Night, as the Elon claimed an 80-66 win behind a sellout crowd. Elon put four in double figures in the win, led by Lucas Troutman’s game-high 25 points. Matt Matheny is 8-1 against UNC Greensboro in his career at Elon.
LOOKING BACK: Elon won in Boone for the first time during Matt Matheny’s tenure and swept the season series versus Appalachian State for the first time in 45 years following an 83-76 win last Saturday, Feb. 1. This year marks the first time in school history that Elon won on the road at ASU and at Davidson in the same season. Elon put five in double figures for the second straight game, led by Lucas Troutman’s game-high 21 points.
LOOKING AHEAD: Following Thursday’s matchup with the Spartans, Elon hosts Georgia Southern on Saturday, Feb. 8, at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcasted on ESPN3.
STAY CLASSY: This year’s senior class of Ryley Beaumont, Egheosa Edomwonyi, Jack Isenbarger, Sebastian Koch and Lucas Troutman has totaled 62 wins during its tenure at Elon, which is the most by a class during the school’s Division I era. The 1974 class, led by Clarence “Diffy” Ross, holds the all-time record for wins by a senior class with 85. The class of 1974 played with a total of eight players that have scored 1,000 or more points in their career at Elon.
TROUTMAN DUNKS: Lucas Troutman has tallied a total of 21 dunks this season. When Troutman dunks, Elon is 9-7. When Troutman does not dunk, Elon is 3-4. Troutman has registered a total of four multi-dunk games, including a season-high three at Chattanooga on Jan. 23. Troutman has eight dunks in Elon’s last seven games.
MILESTONE WATCH: Sebastian Koch became the third player on Elon’s roster to reach 1,000 career points on Jan. 18 against UMass and now sits at 1,052 career points, joining Lucas Troutman (1,499) and Jack Isenbarger (1,349). Troutman ranks 11th all-time in scoring and needs 71 points to pass Clarence “Diffy” Ross for 10th all-time. Isenbarger ranks 15th all-time in school history in career points and needs 33 points to pass Thomas Moore for 14th. Elon’s next closest player to reaching 1,000 career points is Ryley Beaumont (993 points). If Beaumont reaches 1,000 points this season, Elon will be the only team in the nation with four 1,000-point scorers on its current roster.
HOME COOKING: Over the last three years, Elon has a 30-9 record inside the friendly confines of Alumni Gym. Elon has sold out Alumni Gym 10 times under head coach Matt Matheny, with its most recent sellout coming on Jan. 18 vs. No. 15/16 UMass. Elon is 8-2 at home this year and has won 15-of-18 inside Alumni Gym.
ELON IN SOCON PLAY: The Phoenix is in its 11th season as a member of the Southern Conference. Elon is 87-96 (including tournament action) against current members of the Southern Conference since the 2003-04 campaign. Elon went 13-5 against league foes during the regular season last year, winning the SoCon North Division title. Matt Matheny has a 39-41 record in SoCon play.
FROM LONG RANGE: Elon currently leads the Southern Conference in three-point field goal percentage at 40 percent and threes made with 199 (ninth nationally). Sebastian Koch (65) and Tanner Samson (63) rank first and second in the league in threes made, respectively. The long-distance duo ranks third and fourth in the league in three-point field goal percentage, respectively.
BLOCK PARTY: With two blocks against WCU on Jan. 30, Lucas Troutman extended his program-best career mark to 195 blocks. Troutman set Elon’s all-time blocks record last season and ranks eighth all-time in Southern Conference history in blocks and needs three blocks to pass Davidson’s Jake Cohen for seventh in league history. Troutman is the conference’s active leader in career blocks.
TRACKING THE THREES: Jack Isenbarger enters Thursday’s game with 249 career three-pointers made, which ranks second all-time in Elon history behind Chris Kiger’s (1994-98) career mark of 259. Isenbarger is the Southern Conference’s active leader in career triples. Sebastian Koch ranks third all-time in career threes with 229.
HEAD COACH MATT MATHENY: Matt Matheny is in his fifth season as the Elon head men’s basketball coach. The 2013 Southern Conference Coach of the Year by the media, Matheny enters Thursday’s game with an overall record of 71-79. Matheny was a finalist for CollegeInsider.com’s Hugh Durham Award last season, which honors the nation’s top mid-major coach.