William & Mary (11-4, 3-1)
Elon (11-6, 2-2)
TD Arena, January 14 and 16
After starting conference play with three of their first four games on the road, the Cougars have a chance to rest in their own beds and play within the friendly confines of TD Arena for this week's game pairing. The William & Mary Tribe make the trip to Charleston after defeating the Cougars earlier this year (the game where Canyon injured his shoulder) on Thursday. Saturday afternoon sees former SoCon opponent and mass student brochure distributor Elon travel one state south for their first crack at Charleston.
The Tribe are coming off a thorough butt kicking of a strong Northeastern team in Williamsburg, 78-60. The win separated Tony Shaver's squad from the CAA quagmire and put them in a tie with Hofstra and the Huskies for first place in the league.
The last time these two teams met, CofC was coming off a big CAA-opening victory over JMU...and promptly got jumped on by a hungry W&M team playing at home. Behind the efforts of Omar Prewitt, the Tribe built an early double digit lead. Then Canyon Barry got hurt, the Cougars rallied for an encouraging comeback but ultimately came up short.
That game was also a Saturday road game, similar to the most recent scenario in which the Cougs lost to Drexel. The quick turnaround and lack of prep is damaging to the visiting team, and it's something the Cougars need to remedy quickly, fortunately they have an opportunity this week to right the ship with both games in Chucktown.
Saturday's contest is against a familiar opponent, but one the Cougars have not yet faced this season. Elon University was a longtime Southern Conference rival before following CofC to the Colonial Athletic Association last season. The Phoenix were picked alongside their Southern brethren as bottom-feeders in the division this year, but just like Charleston they have looked better than expected. They are tied with most of the teams at 2-2.
The Phoenix have been in every CAA game so far, defeating Drexel and JMU and falling to Northeastern and Hofstra. Tanner Sampson is the guy most CofC fans will recognize, as the senior guard has been a familiar face dating back to the SoCon days. He leads Elon in scoring with 15.6 points per game and is hitting 44% from long range.
This game will very much have a SoCon type of vibe, as Matheny's team is centered around scoring and guard play. Don't expect it to look much like the big and bruising rock fight that Charleston got into with Drexel last weekend. Elon has one of the weaker defenses in the league, and Charleston should be able to deter them from getting open shots behind the arc.
This pair of games is a prime opportunity to get back on track and keep pace with the CAA front-runners. The big question mark is Canyon Barry's availability (still day-to-day as of this posting). If he's a go, the Cougars could have the offensive spark that they desperately needed their past two road games. A 2-0 week would have the Cougars sitting pretty at 4-2, another split keeps them stuck in the middle. So let's use that home court to our advantage!
No comments:
Post a Comment