Once Upon A Time In Las Vegas – Wildcard Edition
Elon (2-15 SU, 5-10 ATS, 0-4 CAA) has a herculean task of facing No. 22 Charleston (17-1 SU, 11-0 home, 10-6-1 ATS, 5-0 CAA) from TD Arena on Saturday from South Carolina at 4pmET.
Last season, the Cougars won both games, but by a combined seven points as Elon covered both games.
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Elon went 10-22 last season and 7-11 in the CAA. They'd love to have that conference record at this point. The Phoenix have lost seven straight games after beating non-Division I Johnson & Wales Charlotte on Dec. 11. They opened the season with a win over Erskine, which means Elon does not have a Division I win this season. KenPom has them ranked 347th overall and they have a schedule strength of 254. In their last game, the Phoenix fell to North Carolina A&T 80-71 at home. They shot just 37% from the field though Torrence Watson had a strong game with 15 points and nine rebounds on 5-of-8 shooting in 25 minutes. They allowed the Aggies to shoot 48% but did force 15 turnovers. The score could have looked a lot worse had NC A&T converted their free throws (13-of-26).
“I was really pleased with the way this team played the first twenty minutes of this game,” head coach Billy Taylor sa id to Elonnewsnetwork.com. “The offense was clicking. A lot of different guys got good touches. We played with confidence.”
Elon desperately needs a win and maybe they can catch Charleston on a letdown. The good news is that they are getting some injured players back including Jerald-Gillens-Butler, a transfer from Butler. He struggled shooting the ball (1-for-7) against the Aggies, but he's capable as a 6-5, 225-pound wing of scoring if he's healthy. The woes start on the offensive end where the Phoenix average just 66.8 points per game (307th) on 41.6% shooting (316th) and 29.9% three-point shooting (327th). They are also getting pounded on the boards by -5.35 per game to rank 11th in the CAA (out of 13 teams). They rank 10th in field goal defense at 45.5% and seventh in turnover margin (+0.41).