Still A Game to Play Tonight

Elon University (5-2, 1-0)

College of Charleston (4-2, 0-0)

Alumni Gym

Tipoff at 7 pm, video available here

Lost amidst all of the Colonial Athletic Association talk, there's still a Southern Conference game to be played tonight between the Cougars and the Elon Phoenix: and it's a good one at that. Battle of North vs South Division leaders, Monster Game of the Week, first conference game for the Cougars and Coach Wojcik, however you spin it this is an important game for both teams. 

Elon has been the cream of the North division so far and a bit of a surprise in the SoCon as a whole. They once again defeated South Carolina for one of the league's early marquee victories and at 5-2 they're ahead of preseason favorite UNCG in the division. The Phoenix have already played a conference game; on Wednesday they dispensed Georgia Southern in Statesboro. The Phoenix built a comfortable lead but were sloppy down the stretch closing out the Eagles. 

The Cougars are riding a three game winning streak and Coach Wojcik gets to take on his first SoCon team with the Cougars. Trent Wiedeman is still out with the ankle injury (please be back in time for Louisville) which means more hustle plays for Willis Hall to make down low. Andrew Lawrence must still have fever-like symptoms in his right arm because ever since he came back from that viral infection he's been white hot from three. The Phoenix are allowing opponents to shoot 38% from deep which bodes well for the Cougars and their recently balanced inside-outside offense.

But CofC will have their hands full with this Elon team. Lucas Troutman is the reigning SoCon Player of the Week and one of the league's best big men. The 6'10 junior averaged 16.5 points and 7 rebounds per contest over two games against South Carolina and VMI to receive the honor. The other guy to look out for, one who had his way with us in the 2OT game last year, is guard Jack Isenbarger. He had 25 points in that last game and is one of the SoCon's best scorers. Neutralizing both those guys will be a tall order for the Cougs but it should go a long way in controlling the game.

Another stat that seems to favor the Cougars is the rebounding differential. College of Charleston out rebounds opponents by over 6 per game while the Phoenix, despite their size up front, lose the rebounding battle by an average of 4 per game. The teams are on opposite ends of the SoCon stat board in that department.

The biggest advantage Elon will have will be playing at home. It's the third straight road game for the Cougars and the Phoenix phaithful (see what I did there?) will be fired up to take on the Cougars and jump out to an impressive 2-0 start to conference play. Unfortunately I can't watch the game live tonight but I'll have a recap as soon as I can watch it tomorrow. Go Cougars!