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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2014 10:02:41 GMT -5
Hopefully we find the Key tonight. Elon is on Fake Break, so come to the game if you're around he Elon Area.
Here's the Times-News article:
ELON — Coming off a winless two-game road trip and in the process of a thorough self-examination, some tweaks are in the works for the Elon men’s basketball team.
Coach Matt Matheny said elements that range from offensive and defensive schematics to starting lineup combinations and player rotations off the bench have come under the microscope.
“We’re analyzing every aspect as a staff and we’re making suggestions on changing everything,” he said. “Now, at the end of the day, we’re going to stay the course with our core values, with what we emphasize. But we’re going to tinker a little bit. We’re going to tinker and change some things.”
As Elon has prepared for tonight’s visit from Western Carolina, Matheny said the most pressing adjustment for the Phoenix needs to be improving the consistency of its help-oriented, five-guys-operating-together, team style of defense.
Samford shot 52.3 percent from the field in defeating Elon 62-59 on Saturday. Two nights before that, Chattanooga routed Elon and piled up 84 points, the highest scoring total the Phoenix has yielded in a regulation Southern Conference game this season.
While Elon encountered a veritable buzz saw at Chattanooga and lost in lopsided fashion by 21 points to the league’s only unbeaten team, Elon guard Jack Isenbarger said Saturday night might have been different had Samford not found “Tom Brady” mode.
That’s Elon’s terminology for allowing an opposing team an unwanted level of comfort on offense — a reference to the bad stuff that can happen to an NFL defense if Brady, the New England Patriots quarterback, is passing with ease from a clean pocket.
“We could’ve won that game if we would’ve been more aggressive defensively,” Isenbarger said. “We played our system right, but we had no attack and no bite to it. We were there, but we weren’t putting any extra pressure on guys. Guys were able to make plays as if they weren’t being pressured.”
The quirks of the Southern Conference schedule have Elon and Western Carolina meeting tonight for the second time in 27 days, when Elon has yet to play UNC Greensboro, Furman, Georgia Southern and Wofford.
It figures to be another test for the Phoenix against one of the league’s top teams. Western Carolina is third in the conference standings. Elon fell 84-63 at first-place Chattanooga a week ago tonight, after beating second-place Davidson 87-85 in overtime two weeks ago tonight.
Elon lost 74-62 at Western Carolina earlier this month in the league opener for both teams.
Elon coughed up a season-worst 23 turnovers that afternoon in Cullowhee, and Matheny said this week that the Phoenix didn’t make Western Carolina pay enough for taking risks on defense, such as overcrowding Elon’s dribblers or trapping leading scorer Lucas Troutman in the post. (Troutman was charged with eight turnovers in that game).
“They’re a physical team. We played them pretty physical,” Elon forward Ryley Beaumont said of Western Carolina. “But I just feel like the whole game we were not really dictating. We were taking what they gave us. We need to dictate and we need control the game more and make it more of our type of game.”
Above all else, Beaumont, the team’s vocal leader, said: “We’ve just got to get back to playing confidently and aggressively.”
Tip-off
Who: Western Carolina (12-10, 5-2) at Elon (10-11, 3-3)
When: 7 tonight
Where: Alumni Gym, Elon
Series: Elon leads 54-40 after Western Carolina won 74-62 on Jan. 4 in Cullowhee
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Post by mrbball on Jan 30, 2014 10:16:00 GMT -5
Hopefully other players will be given the opportunity to perform. I think the freshmen will deliver if allowed to play together. Hopefully we compete better tonight.
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Post by mrbball on Jan 30, 2014 10:16:25 GMT -5
Hopefully other players will be given the opportunity to perform. I think the freshmen will deliver if allowed to play together. Hopefully we compete better tonight.
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Post by mrbball on Jan 30, 2014 11:19:29 GMT -5
Hopefully we compete better tonight. I think the freshmen will deliver if given the opportunity. We need this one.
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Post by elon78 on Jan 30, 2014 21:37:36 GMT -5
Great win by the team tonight. The team hustled and shot well.....except for FT shooting. Kevin was aggressive especially in the second half, Tanner has his shooting stroke back and Jack and Austin did a wonderful job at the point. Lucas and Riley played tough on the boards. Liked the idea of Tanner and Austin coming off the bench.....they played hard and gave some great minutes. Good team win.....now lets do the same on the road at App St. on Saturday.
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Post by fc4life on Jan 30, 2014 21:49:16 GMT -5
Ugly, ugly game. We almost blew a 17pt second half lead. It was down to four before Samson rescued us.
There is no reason we should - with a senior laden team - give up a lead like that. I'm still very, very concerned.
Western won most of the hustle battles. The shocking thing was that WCU did not go to the line.
We still have a long way to go. Our team gets nothing from the bench outside of the usual suspects. Blake played well tonight but we have to get more from our bigs from the bench.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 30, 2014 22:00:49 GMT -5
Much better defense and intensity. When we push we win. When we slow it down we play lackadaisically. Hopefully lesson learned with that. I do not understand why Sabato plays versus Dawkins and Hairston.
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Post by bhill483 on Jan 30, 2014 23:20:48 GMT -5
Was looking at the stats and was surprised that Western didnt even go to the line once.
I think people seem to be fairly critical of the team. It's a long season that has ups and downs - I am just hoping the team and staff can learn from some of the downs and turn the corner and get a streak going. To be honest this wasn't a team that was going to ever get an at-large bid, so the best thing they can do is keep fighting and position themselves as best they can for the SoCon tournament and try to win a few in a row at the right time.
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Post by mrbball on Jan 31, 2014 0:21:48 GMT -5
I'll take the win, but we are in trouble. Rather than show that some lessons have been learned, Matheny doubles down on a flawed strategy. We cannot keep a lead nor do we have a killer instinct to close teams out. Marginal players are given PT with BETTER players buried on the bench. Fans would love to be more supportive, and can even live through some growing pains if the team were getting better. Can anyone say that this team is any better than they were earlier in the year?
The team and its future are at stake now. Based on the team's current performance, is it logical to think that we will win 3 or 4 games in the tournamment to get the automatic bid? This time last year we had players signed (Class 2017) to help the team. We only have 1 verbal commit now. Four open offers are out. It is no accident that we have no one signed. Why would anyone sign knowing that they would not get an honest chance to play as a freshman?
IMO the class of 2017 will be the best class to date. Google the players and review their info. The class will be very good, but they must have help to continue growing a winning tradition. Additional good classes will be needed. We cannot continue growing without getting better players in the 2018 class and beyond. What is a shame is that the 2017 class has been buried on the bench and not allowed to contribute to the team.
Rhetoric is fine, but actions speak louder than words. Will this team's actions make us proud? Only time will tell.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2014 6:45:31 GMT -5
I would like to see the frosh play more too. The only reason I can see for players like Hairston and Eddy to remain on the bench is because they don't know the system well enough, or they might be injured, who knows. I still think they need more PT to get them game game ready. Hairston is at least our 2nd most athletic player. He reminds me of DeMon Brooks. With confidence, he will be the type of player that can take over a game. Eddy pushes the ball and is the fastest point guard we have. He isn't afraid to drive the lane. Kevin Blake is the only other player we have that will do that. Oh well, I'm still very happy for the win. Congrats to Lucas on his 8th double double. Awesome play down low by him tonight.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2014 8:12:41 GMT -5
It was really good to see that Jack went 3 for 3 in 3 pointers last night. Jack is a great leader & has the ability to raise the team up in intensity. Hopefully his presence in the starting line up will create an epiphany for these guys.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2014 11:29:38 GMT -5
For those of you that don't have access, Here is the Times news article on last night's game:
Phoenix makes changes, finds attack mode in beating Western Carolina Elon-WCU
Elon's Lucas Troutman, right, dunks over Western Carolina's James Sinclair on Thursday night at Alumni Gym. Scott Muthersbaugh / Times-News By Adam Smith / Times-News Published: Friday, January 31, 2014 at 00:22 AM.
ELON — With an altered starting lineup for the first time this season and an increased, team-wide defensive effort, the changes that Elon and coach Matt Matheny had promised were immediate and in plain view.
And there was another, perhaps less outwardly noticeable difference-maker that also fueled Elon’s 74-60 defeat of Western Carolina in Southern Conference men’s basketball Thursday night at Alumni Gym.
“We attacked. That’s something we haven’t done the past couple of games,” Elon forward Lucas Troutman said. “We haven’t been aggressive. We haven’t attacked. And this game, we were up on them. … That was kind of the biggest change.”
Troutman collected 17 points and 10 rebounds and Tanner Samson, coming off the bench as part of the Phoenix’s makeover, hit four 3-pointers and scored 15 points to help halt a three-game losing streak.
Elon had used the same starting lineup for 21 games, but last week’s winless two-game road trip became something of a breaking point. So in went guards Jack Isenbarger and Kevin Blake, out came guards Austin Hamilton and Samson, for what amounted to a new backcourt with the team’s first unit.
The result Thursday night was encouraging — Elon (11-11 overall, 4-3 Southern Conference) built a lead as large as 18 points against one of the league’s better teams — and the spark that Matheny sought was instantaneous, as Blake cranked up his athleticism, soaring toward the rim for a bucket on the game’s opening possession.
“All five guys were attacking,” Isenbarger said.
Sebastian Koch (13 points), Blake (12 points on 5-for-5 shooting from the field) and Isenbarger (11 points) also reached double digits for Elon, which avenged its loss at Western Carolina (12-11, 5-3) from four weeks prior.
On defense, Elon’s containment of Catamounts guard Trey Sumler, the league’s fourth-ranked scorer at 18.3 points per game, emerged as another critical development. He went scoreless in the first half and never found his typical gear.
Sumler finished with six points, his second-lowest output of the season, on 2-for-10 shooting from the field and looked disengaged, other than the 48-second span early in the second half, when he drilled back-to-back 3s that created the feeling an eruption was in the works.
“For us to hold him to six was a big deal,” Matheny said. “He has the ability to take over games with his offense. We really tried to prevent him from doing that.
“We played much better defensively than we’ve been playing. I think that’s a key to the performance. That’s something that we talked a lot about, that we have not consistently played well enough defensively to expect to win games.”
The Phoenix, up 17 three minutes into the second half and seemingly poised to deliver a blowout, instead had to hold off the rallying Catamounts, who got 19 points from Brandon Boggs and 18 points from James Sinclair, and pulled as close as 58-55 with 6½ minutes remaining.
Sinclair’s third 3 of the second half — he knocked down four on the night — chopped Elon’s lead to three. And provoked a response.
Samson answered with six straight points, curling to the foul line for a jumper, then burying a catch-and-shoot 3 in transition to send the Phoenix surging back toward safe territory.
Later, Isenbarger dribbled behind a screen to nail his third 3 of the game and Koch hustled for a loose ball that became a sweet fastbreak layup, putting Elon up 72-57 with 1:38 left.
“We had the lead. I thought at times we were playing to protect the lead, rather than to attack and to score,” Isenbarger said. “At that point, we just said, ‘Let’s get going. Let’s do what we were doing in the first half and just attack and play.’ ”
The Phoenix led 12-4 during the first 6½ minutes, moved ahead 31-13 later in the first half, with Western Carolina reeling amid a funk, and held a 35-20 edge at halftime.
When Isenbarger connected on a 3 and then fed Troutman underneath for a bucket, Elon had opened a pair of 17-point leads early in the second half.
“Elon did a good job of coming out and getting the lead early,” Catamounts coach Larry Hunter said. “They put themselves in really good position. I thought in the first half, to Elon’s credit, our offense was just atrocious. We didn’t share the ball. We weren’t moving without the ball, played a lot of 1-on-1. We were kind of easy to guard.”
? TIP-INS …: Western Carolina’s free-throw attempts — zero — almost looked like a misprint. … Samson was charged with four of Elon’s seven total fouls. … Samson (4-for-6), Isenbarger (3-for-3) and Koch (2-4) shot a combined 9-for-13 on 3s. Meanwhile, Boggs and Sinclair made seven of Western Carolina’s 10 buckets from beyond the arc. … Blake, a junior, received the fourth starting assignment of his Elon career in his 76th college game. … Blake, suffering from legs cramps, spent the final 1:38 on his back on the floor at the end of the Elon bench, getting worked on by athletic trainer Eric Storsved.
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Post by phoenix28036 on Jan 31, 2014 21:15:22 GMT -5
FC, thanks for posting these articles for those of us who are not subscribers. We seldom see quotations from the players anywhere else. I think the lineup change had the desired result, beginning with Kevin's aggressive move on the first play of the game. It looked to me like the team was determined to take the ball to the rack much more aggressively, and it paid off. Credit to Austin and Tanner for their fine play off the bench.
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Post by elon_phan on Feb 1, 2014 11:23:21 GMT -5
Thanks for posting.
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