Elon MBB Hosts Delaware on Senior Night Saturday

ELON, N.C. – The Elon University men’s basketball team closes out the regular season with Senior Night on Saturday, Feb. 25, against the Delaware Blue Hens inside Alumni Gym. The Colonial Athletic Association matchup will tip off at 7 p.m.

GAME NOTES

COVERAGE
You can also watch online on Phoenix All-Access at elonphoenix.com and on Facebook Live on the Elon Men’s Basketball Facebook page. Matt Krause and Brian Morris will have the call.

Listen to the action on the Elon IMG Sports Network on 104.5 FM, 1200 AM or on the TuneIn app. Taylor Durham and Ryan Meizinger will have the call from Alumni Gym and the pregame show begins at 6:30 p.m.

SENIOR DAY
• Elon’s will honor its four-member senior class of Luke Eddy, Christian Hairston, Ryder Bowline and Patrick Ryan against the Blue Hens inside Alumni Gym. The group currently has 67 wins since their first year with the program in 2013-14. This year’s class has a combined mark of 67-60 thus far in four seasons.
• They need three more wins to match the 2016 senior class (Tanner Samson, Sam Hershberger, Tony Sabato and Wes Brewer) mark of 70 victories, the most wins by a senior class in Elon’s Division I era.

NEW BAG POLICY AT ALUMNI GYM
Elon University has implemented a new policy for bags entering Alumni Gym. All bags entering the arena will be checked before fans reach the ticket booths at the facility. Multiple lines will be available and there will be specific lines for fans entering with no bags.

The following items will be prohibited from Alumni Gym:
• Weapons
• Explosives
* Alcoholic beverages
• Outside food and beverages
• Smoking and tobacco products
• E-cigarettes
• Containers or coolers
• Flags on poles
• Hoverboards
• Pets (except service animals)

BASKETBALL GAME DAY
For more information on ticketing, parking and directions to Alumni Gym, please visit the Basketball Game Day web page.

SERIES HISTORY
• Saturday will be the seventh all-time meeting between the Elon Phoenix and Delaware Blue Hens and the sixth time the
sides have met since Elon joined the CAA in 2014-15. Elon leads the all-time series 5-1.
• Delaware earned its first victory of the series earlier this month on Feb. 9, 2017, in Newark, Del. The Blue Hens came out victorious, 76-74, after overtime.
• Prior to this season, Elon won the previous five meetings.
• Last year, the Phoenix swept the season series against the Blue Hens in 2015-16, winning by 18 or more in both games.
• The last time both teams met in Alumni Gym, the Phoenix earned the 83-56 victory on Feb. 4, 2016. Four players finished in double figures and 12 Phoenix got on the score sheet.
• Both teams have faced each other four times during Elon’s Division I era. The only time the teams met prior to Elon’s
Division I era was the first all-time meeting. Elon defeated Delaware 45-22 on Feb. 8, 1934 in the first meeting.

PHOENIX FILES
• Elon played its second double-overtime game of the season against Northeastern on Thursday. It was Elon’s first conference double-overtime game since 2012.
• Tyler Seibring became the second Elon player to score 30 or more in a game this season. He finished with 30 against the Huskies on Thursday night.
• Seibring recorded his first double double of the season with 30 points and 12 rebounds. It is the third of his career. Dmitri Thompson recorded his first-career double-double, finishing with career highs in points (23) and rebounds (10).
• The Phoenix has stepped up defensively during conference play, leading the league in field goal percentage defense (42.1%) in CAA games. Elon has held 10 of its last 12 opponents to under 45% shooting from the floor.
• The Phoenix eclipsed the 15 or more win total for the fifth consecutive season for the first time since the 1987-88 season.
• The maroon and gold has won six straight in Alumni Gym since falling to College of Charleston on Dec. 31.
• Six different Elon players have scored 20 or more in a game this season. Thompson finished with 23 against Northeastern on Feb. 23.
• Elon is 9-1 when holding teams to under 40% from the field.
• The matchup at Northeastern on Jan. 26 was the first time Elon has held an opponent to 50 points or less since holding Furman to 49 points on Feb. 24, 2014.
• Elon won three straight conference games at home by 10+ points from Jan. 7-19, the first time the Phoenix has done so in the program’s Division I era (since 1999-00).

LUKE EDDY MILESTONE
• Luke Eddy finished with six assists against Northeastern on Feb. 23 and now has 290 for his career, moving him into the top 10 in program history. He is tied with Jack Isenbarger for ninth-most all time. Eddy needs seven more assists to move past Ross Sims (296) for eighth place.
• He reached 200 assists in his career with three against South Florida on Nov. 17. He currently 11th in program history at 284 career assists. Eddy is six assists away from moving past Steven Harvin ’05 into sole possession of 10th all-time.
• He needs 10 more assists to become the eighth player in program history to record 300 career assists.

GETTING DEFENSIVE
• Elon leads the league in field goal percentage defense (42.1%) during CAA games. Elon has held 10 of its last 12 opponents to under 45% shooting from the floor.
• Elon is averaging 28.6 defensive rebounds per game, which ranks 14th in NCAA Division I and first in the CAA.
• The maroon and gold ranks second in the league in 3-point field goal percentage defense (33.5%), just behind College of Charleston (31.8%).

355 AND COUNTING
• The Elon program has made at least one three-point field goal in 355 consecutive games (not including exhibition games). The matchup on Feb. 4 at College of Charleston marked the 350th consective game.
• 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.
• Elon is currently averaging 9.6 triples per game, which is tied for first in the CAA and 14th in the NCAA. The Phoenix averaged 9.5 made three pointers a game last season.

ACADEMIC HONORS
• Sophomores Tyler Seibring and Steven Santa Ana earned CoSIDA Academic All-District honors this week.
• Elon was the only Division I program to place two on the All-District teams this year. A total of 42 student-athletes were selected.
• It’s just the second time in program history the program has had multiple players honored in the same season. Last time Elon had multiple selections was in 1988 when Brian Branson, Tony Chavis and Steve Page earned Academic All-District and All-America honors.

HEAD COACH MATT MATHNEY
• Head coach Matt Matheny won his 124th game at Elon on Saturday, Feb. 11, against UNCW. He won his 125th game at Drexel on Feb. 18, and is ranked third all-time for coaching victories in program history. Matheny needs 37 wins to surpass Graham L. “Doc” Mathis (1949-59) to move into second all-time.

FREE THROW SUCCESS
• In conference games only, Elon is second in the league shooting 73.6% from the line through 17 games. Elon has made 80% of above from the line in six of those contests.
• The Phoenix had its best shooting performance from the line on Thursday, Feb. 2, against James Madison, finishing 22-of-23 (95.7%) from the stripe.

CAA TOURNAMENT SEEDING
• Elon has clinched a bye to the quarterfinals of the CAA Championship on March 4. The Phoenix can finish as high at the No. 4 seed or a low as the No. 6 seed.
• The Phoenix will either play in the #4 vs. #5 matchup at 2:30 p.m. or the #3 vs. #6 contest at 8:30 p.m.

DELAWARE STORYLINES
• The Blue Hens will be the ninth seed in next week’s CAA Tournament, and will take on eighth-seeded Hofstra in the first round next Friday at 6 p.m. in the North Charleston Coliseum. The winner of that game will face top-seeded UNCW in the quarterfinals on Saturday at 12 noon.
• Delaware dropped its second straight game by falling at Charleston, 78-65, Thursday at TD Arena.
• Cazmon Hayes led the Blue Hens with a season-high 20 points, and needs just five more points to become the 33rd player in school history to reach the 1,000-point mark.
• Eric Carter added 14 points and eight rebounds for the Blue Hens, while Ryan Daly contributed 10 points and nine boards. Daly reached double figures for the eighth consecutive game, tied for the second longest streak by a freshman in school history.

UP NEXT
The Elon Phoenix will return to action in Charleston, S.C. on Saturday, March 4, in the quarterfinals of the CAA Championship. Depending on the final standings, Elon will either play at 2:30 p.m. or 8:30 p.m.