Despite having only played five games so far, the Elon University men's basketball team begins conference play at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Alumni Gym against Furman University, which defeated the Phoenix a year ago.

"We got our butts kicked," said senior guard Drew Spradlin of the 2010 matchup, which the Paladins won 80-65. "We got out rebounded. They physically took it to us."

For the Phoenix to achieve a different result this year, it will have to have better luck on the glass. Furman outrebounded Elon 40-27 in the lone matchup last year, a theme that has been common in the early part of the 2011 campaign.

Through five games, Elon has had the rebounding edge in just one matchup, an 87-53 win against Division III Rutgers-Camden. The Phoenix got beat on the glass in both of its games last week, a 56-55 win against Princeton University and an 82-67 loss against North Carolina State University.

"Rebounding has been an Achilles' heel for us for three years now," said Elon head coach Matt Matheny. "Princeton hurt us on the offensive glass and we were fortunate enough to escape with a victory. NC State really hurt us on the offensive glass. We don't have any guys who were born as rebounders."

Against the Wolfpack, NC State jumped out to an early lead. Compounding the problems the Phoenix had rebounding were the difficulties Elon had defensively. NC State sophomore guard Lorenzo Brown had 21 points, 14 of those coming in the first half, and junior forward Scott Wood hit five 3-pointers to propel the Wolfpack to a victory.

"We just didn't do the things we needed to do well enough to play with a team like that," Spradlin, who had nine points, said.

The defeat by NC State came just three days after a road victory against Princeton.

Despite being outrebounded 41-34, Elon stepped up defensively. The Phoenix were able to prevent the back cuts that Princeton is known for, resulting in few easy buckets. The Tigers shot 33 percent from the field in Elon's 56-55 win.

"It was a team defensive effort to defend Princeton, as it always is," Matheny said. "They have a lot of guys who can handle the ball. The victory was a defensive win."

For Spradlin, the team's lone senior, time is running short. After Wednesday's game, Spradlin will have just 17 conference regular season games left in his college career.

"There's definitely a sense of urgency for me," Spradlin said, who became the 34th player in school history to score 1,000 career points in the team's win against Rutgers-Camden. "It's the last year I'm going to be here. There's no way you can really simulate that."

The Phoenix will host the Naval Academy at 2 p.m. Dec. 3 in Alumni Gym. Elon beat the Midshipmen in Annapolis 73-58 a year ago.

This year, the Phoenix will attempt to have a similar result against a new head coach. But Ed DeChellis isn't a new face to Matheny. DeChellis coached East Tennessee State for seven seasons. At the time, the Buccaneers were in the Southern Conference, where Matheny, an assistant coach at Davidson College at the time, saw him on a yearly basis.

"We know a lot of their personnel," Matheny said.