Elon Presents Next Test for New-Look Cougars

Lucas Troutman (31) is averaging 12.7 points and 6 rebounds per game

College of Charleston (11-5, 3-2)
Elon (8-7, 3-1)
TD Arena
Tipoff at 7pm on ESPN3 (if it's working)


The Cougars face a quick turnaround as they must prepare for the North Division-leading Phoenix coming down to Meeting Street tomorrow night. Coach Cremins and his staff have essentially a day and a half to integrate Jordan Scott, Nori Johnson and Trevonte Dixon into their game plan and prepare the team to play inspired for a full 40 minutes.

It's going to take that sort of effort to beat Elon- one of the surprise teams of the conference this year. This will be the first time I've seen them play this season. Judging by stats alone they score and rebound very balanced amongst themselves. In Socon play they have beaten Furman, Greensboro and Citadel with a lone conference loss to Georgia Southern.

The eyes of the Cougar faithful will not be on the Phoenix though. Most of the fans will be looking to see how the little used players respond to prime time minutes. Nori Johnson has gone from unheralded garbage time performer to starter in less than three weeks time. And coach has mentioned that we will see our first glimpse of freshman Trevonte Dixon. TD was brought in to push Jordan Scott for the starting 2 guard spot. But with few ball handlers on the team, coach needs to give the kid some burn and see if he can flourish like his freshman teammates have. From what I saw of him in preseason, he has a long way to go but that was certainly a small sample size.

Defeating Elon will be a tough task. If we had a few days to practice I would feel better but I expect our offense to really be out of sync. It's going to take a don't-sleep-on-us-yet mentality from the leaders of this team (Lawrence, Wiggins, Wiedeman) to take this one. Lets hope they, and the newcomers, have some fight in them. Go Cougars!