Even though his team has lost two games in a row after an exciting three-game home winning streak, Elon men’s basketball head coach Matt Matheny remains upbeat.
"I am encouraged," Matheny said. "We've got a chance to do something special this year because we're starting to play a little better each night and that's what we want to do.
The Phoenix did not play all that terrible in its consecutive losses to the University of Tennessee at Chattnooga Feb. 9 and Samford University Feb. 11.
With their first-place standing in the Southern Conference’s North Division now lost to UNC Greensboro after the two defeats, the Phoenix will take on Wofford College tonight in Spartanburg and Western Carolina University in Alumni Gym Feb. 18.
In their game against Samford, an 87-78 loss in Birmingham, four Phoenix scored in double-figures, including a career-high 19 points from junior forward Brett Ervin. The team as a whole shot 49.1 percent from the field, including a stifling 17-of-26 in the second half, and 51.9 percent from three-point range.
“Samford played pretty well in the first half, punched us in the face, pummeled us a little bit,” Matheny said. "Then, in the second half, we fought and fought and fought, but we dug ourselves a hole.”
Against Chattanooga, Elon had five players in double-figure scoring, led by sophomore guard Sebastian Koch’s 20 points, in their 83-75 loss. The shooting numbers were significantly less impressive, 43.3 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from behind the three-point arc. The Phoenix led for the majority of the game but was hampered by a six minute stretch in the second half with only one field goal.
“Even though we had leads, we played a team like Chattanooga playing with an edge,” Matheny said. “(Chattanooga) won the game. What our players need to understand is that whether you’ve won a few in a row or lost a few in a row, you always have to play with an edge.”
This will be the first game this season for the Phoenix against Wofford, who currently sit in third place in the SoCon’s South Division, four games behind conference powerhouse Davidson College. The Terriers are the two-time defending Southern Conference champions. And while most of the players on those teams are gone, Wofford will be a tough matchup, Matheny said..
“They’ve got pieces from those championship teams and they’re playing like they’re the defending champs,” he said. “They’re competing for 40 minutes. They have an understanding about playing with an edge. They’re tough. So we have to match that.”
The Phoenix defeated Western Carolina 71-63 Jan. 26 in Cullowhee, N.C., on the back of 26 points from sophomore guard Jack Isenbarger and 13 points from freshman guard Austin Hamilton.
“It’s a great game,” Matheny said of the Western Carolina contest. “It’s a home game, it’s a conference game, it’s a division game. It’s a team that we were successful against earlier in the year. And we want to play well.”
Hamilton, third on the team with 10.8 points per game, remains out with mononucleosis. Matheny said he is improving, but it would be a long shot to see him in the game against Wofford.
After this week, there will be only two games remaining in the schedule before the SoCon Tournament in Asheville March 2-5, tough games against South Division leader Davidson Feb. 23 and division rival UNCG Feb. 25 in a potential North Division championship game.
As has been team policy all season, Matheny refuses to look too far ahead.
“The only thing we can control is ourselves,” he said. “We can’t control what other teams do and who they’re playing and where they rank. If we win, we have a chance to move up in the standings. If we don’t win, it’s going to hurt us. And we'd like to control our own destiny.”