SPORTS
Elon men off to best start in D1 era
Phoenix sweeps NIU
Thanksgiving Classic,
starts year 5-1
Alex Simon
Sports Director
@alexsinion99
Senior guard Luke Eddy was a sophomore
when the Elon University mens basketball
team played in a Thanksgiving tournament in
Cancun, Mexico in 2014, a trip he called “ab
solutely amazing.”
But this past week, the team spent six days
in Dekalb, Illinois. Though rural Illinois is a
less exciting destination than Cancun, this trip
ended with the Phoenix winning Northern Il
linois University’s NIU Thanksgiving Classic.
“This one was very unique,” Eddy said.
“I like anywhere that we go 3-0 at. I’ll tell
you that.”
The tournament win was Elon’s first since
winning the Maui Invitational mainland
toournament in 2012. It also gives Elon its best
start to a season since 1987-1988, when the
then-Fightih Christians played in the NAIA
and started the season
with six straight wins.
The strong start also
garnered some national
attention, as Collegelnsid-
er.com ranked Elon 23rd
in its weekly Mid-Major
Poll, a ranking of the top
teams from outside the
major conferences. It’s
the first time since Feb. 4,
20.13, that Elon has been
ranked in Collegelnsider.
corn’s poll — before any
one on the team currently
was on campus.
The four-team NIU
Thanksgiving Classic tournament was played
round-robin style, with each team facing each
other once. Each Elon win featured differ
ent set of challenges and styles of play, which
Matheny was happy to see.
Sophomore forward Tyler Seibring (1) was named CAA Player of the Week Nov. 28.
JACK HARTMANN | Staff Photographer
The NIU
Thanksgiving
Classic was
Elon’s first
tournament
I victory since
Iwinning
Ithe Maui
r/nvitational
mainland
tournament
in 2012.
“It’s pleasing that we were able to win
against different fashions and against differ
ent styles of play’ Matheny said. “To do it in a
tournament format with very little preparation
time is another thing we can build on. We won
close games, we got better from the experi
ence. There’s still room for improvement, but
it’s something we can build on.”
Eddy, who was named Colonial Athlet
ic Association (CAA) Player of the Week
Monday for his play in the tournament,
also believed that the team, “maintained the
highs and the lows — [they] kept steady and
ran [their] system.”
The Phoenix started the tournament by
jumping out to a double-digit lead against
the University of Illinois-Chicago and led by
as much as 21 points in a 91-80 win Nov. 23.
Sophomore point guard Dainan Swoope led
the Phoenix with a career-high 26 points off
the bench, and redshirt junior forward Brian
Dawkins added a career-high 19 points.
Then, after taking Thursday off for the
holiday, Elon battled Northern Illinois into
double overtime before pulling out an 85-80
victory Nov. 25. It was the first two-overtime
game Elon had played in since Feb. 2, 2012,
when Elon beat the College of Charleston.
Sophomore guard Steven Santa Ana had a
team-high 20 points.
Then Eddy took over Saturday against Cal
ifornia Polytechnic State University-San Luis
Obispo Nov. 26, shooting a perfect 6-for-6
from the field with four 3-pointers and going
9-of-lO at the free throw line for 25 points.
Elon was down by 11 midway through the first
half, but stormed back to win 72-66.
The team’s offensive capabilities were as
strong as ever, with six different players scor
ing double-digit points during the tourna
ment. Matheny was impressed when he heard
about the distribution of scoring.
“I think it shows that we’re a balanced
scoring team,” Matheny said. “We’ve always
run an equal-opportunity offense as a mo
tion offense, but this year, we’ve got several
guys that can score. I think more guys are
understanding where shots come from in
our offense, and in turn, it should make us
more difficult to guard.”
Eddy added, “We’re a very talented offen
sive team. We have so many options that it’s
tricky to decide who to put your best defender
on. We can go to our second, third or fourth
guy, and if one guy is hot, we can ride him. If
another guy is not hot, we still trust them to
make their shot.
“Trust is a big thing — if somebody is
shooting a three on this team, I believe they
can make it. I believe anybody that we play
can make a 3-point shot.”
In the next week, Elon hosts two teams
it beat on the road last season. The Phoenix
beat Florida International University 77-71
last year and plays the Panthers at 7 p.m.
Nov 30. Then the University of North Car
olina at Asheville, who Elon beat 86-81 last
year, comes to town Dec. 6. While some may
expect Elon to beat these teams, Matheny
cautions against assuming victories.
“We won at [the University of North
Carolina at] Charlotte, and they came in
here and beat us,” Matheny said, referencing
Elon’s lone loss of the season. “We just have
to do what we always do and focus on the
here and now. We played a really close game
at FIU last year, and we had to score a lot of
points in round 10 to come out with a victo
ry. We know it’s going to be a tough game.”
In between the last two home games
before the semester ends, Elon will take a
quick road trip to Washington D.C. to face
perennial power Georgetown University at
1:30 p.m. Dec. 4. The Hoyas finished under
.500 last year and currently stand at 3-4 for
the 2016-17 season, making this as good of
a chance as any to take down a traditional
power.
But regardless of the results that come
in the run-up to conference play, both
Matheny and Eddy see the short burst of
success and know there is improvement still
to be had.
“The run’s great, and we’ve got a little buzz
to it, which I think we deserve it,” Eddy said.
“But we’ve got to remember that four straight
games is not going to win you one game in
the CAA. We’ve just got to come out every
day and just get better, work on what we do
well and what we miscued in the game.”
FOOTBALL
RESULTS
Nov. 19
14-63
rfTzm
r MEN’S BASKETBALL
RESULTS & SCHEDULE
Nov. 17
74-61
Nov. 23
91-80
Nov. 25
85-80
Nov. 26
72-66
CAL^POlY
lllf irCTIALL
Home
Nov. 30
7 p.m.
Riuay
Dec. 4
1:30 p.m.
G
Home
Dec. 6
7 p.m.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL]
RESULTS & SCHEDULE
Nov. 18
76-55
Nov. 19
71-57
Nov. 22
64-58
Buckn^I£