ELON, N.C. – The Elon men’s basketball team begins a two-game road swing on Thursday night, Feb. 18, at 7 p.m. against the Drexel Dragons inside the Daskalakis Athletic Center (DAC). It’s the second matchup of the season between the two squads with four games left in the CAA regular season.
You can listen to the game live on WSML 104.5 FM/1200 AM with Taylor Durham and Ryan Meizinger on the Elon IMG Sports Network. Pre-game coverage on WSML in the DAC begins at 6:30 p.m. You can also watch Drexel’s video broadcast on CAA.TV. The game will also be aired on Sirius/XM Radio on Sirius 83 and XM 202 channels on the Heritage Sports Radio Network (HSRN).
SERIES HISTORY
Thursday marks the fifth all-time meeting between Elon and Drexel. The Phoenix and the Dragons are tied 2-2 in the all-time series. Elon won the first meeting this season in Alumni Gym on Jan. 2 with an 83-78 victory. Both teams split the season series last season. Elon defeated Drexel 77-67 in Philadelphia on Jan. 3, 2015 to open CAA play last season and the Dragons has the narrow 67-63 victory inside Alumni Gym on Feb. 5, 2015. Prior to last season, the first-ever meeting took place on Nov. 18, 2013 in Piscataway N.J. as part of the NIT Season Tip-off. The Dragons won 71-64 as the eighth-seed in the preseason tournament.
FRESH IMPACT
Elon’s freshmen have made an impact during the 2015-16 season scoring 36.4 percent of Phoenix points this season. 763 of the team’s 2,094 points have been scored by a freshmen, which includes 266 from Tyler Seibring, 256 from Dainan Swoope, Steven Santa Ana has tabbed 192, Karolis Kundrotas has scored 29 and Sheldon Eberhardt has 20. The three freshmen that have had the most playing time has made an impact for the Phoenix in conference play. Tyler Seibring has averaged a team-high 12.1 points and 5.6 rebounds in 14 games. Steven Santa Ana has notched 8.9 points and 4.2 rebounds per game in nine CAA contests. Dainan Swoope is averaging 7.8 points in conference play.
SHARING THE WEALTH
A total of nine different Elon players have led the team in scoring in 14 CAA games this season. Thompson and Seibring have been the high scorers in a team-most three conference games. Only Luke Eddy (2) and Tanner Samson (2) been the other scoring leaders in more than one CAA game this season.
SO CLOSE, BUT JUST SHORT
In the last four losses for the Phoenix, Elon has trailed by two points or the game has been tied in the final 10 seconds. The combined margin has been -14 with a average margin of -3.5 per game.
Hofstra (1/28) – 64-64 with 9 seconds left
Towson (2/6) – 80-78 with 9 seconds left
UNCW (2/11) – 84-82 with 8 seconds left
CofC (2/13) – 64-62 with 9 seconds left
A WINNING SENIOR CLASS
Elon’s senior class of Sam Hershberger, Tony Sabato, Tanner Samson and Wes Brewer have been a part of 68 wins during their time with the program since the 2012-13 season. They have a combined record of 68-54 since their first year with the program. The most wins posted by a senior class during Elon’s Division I era is 69 total victories, which was reached by last year’s 2015 class of Austin Hamilton, Kevin Blake, and Ryan Winters.
DISHING IT OUT
Elon as a team is averaging 15.6 assists per game this season, which is tied for second in the CAA. Luke Eddy is leading the team with 127 assists and 4.7 assists per game, which is third in the league.
GOOD START IS KEY
Elon has been most successful this season when winning the tip and leading at the half this season. The Phoenix is 11-1 overall this season when leading at the half. Elon’s loss vs. JMU on Saturday, Jan. 23, was the first loss of the season when leading at the half.
321 AND COUNTING
The Elon men’s basketball program has made at least one three-point field goal in 321 consecutive games (not including exhibition games). The Phoenix currently averages 9.6 mades three pointers a game this season. The last time Elon did not make a three in a game was Jan. 30, 2006, at Georgia Southern when the team went 0-of-14 from deep.
LET IT FLY
This season, 35.1 percent (260-of-740) of Elon’s made baskets have come from behind the three-point line. The Phoenix is shooting 34.3 percent from deep and are averaging a CAA-best 9.6 triples a game. Elon’s 18 3-pointers against the Alabama State Hornets on Dec. 16 was the most a Phoenix team has made in a game during the coach Matheny era. Tanner Samson has a team-high 71 made treys this season, while Dainan Swoope and Tyler Seibring are behind him with 52 each. A total of 10 Phoenix has made a bucket from deep this season.
UP NEXT
Elon heads to Towson for a noon tipoff on Saturday, Feb. 20, which will be aired on Comcast Sports Network (CSN). Next week, Elon will host William & Mary for Senior Night on Thursday, Feb. 25 at 7 p.m., followed by the regular season finale on the road at Delaware on Saturday, Feb. 27, at 2 p.m.