Men's Basketball 2/25/2009 10:06:00 AM

Elon Begins Home Stretch by Hosting Georgia Southern

ELON, N.C. -- After stepping out-of-conference to take on UNC Wilmington in a BracketBusters game, the Elon men's basketball team returns home to begin the home stretch of the 2008-09 regular season by hosting league foe Georgia Southern at 7 p.m. on Thursday night. The Phoenix sits at 9-17 overall and 6-11 in SoCon action while the Eagles are 8-18, 5-12 on the year.

Thursday's game can be heard live on 920 AM WPCM and will be available to watch on Phoenix All Access.

This will be the 13th all-time meeting between Elon and Georgia Southern. Elon trails the all-time series by a 7-5 margin after a 57-54 Phoenix victory in Statesboro, Ga. earlier this season. The Eagles won both meetings a year ago - 67-57 in Elon and 59-44 in Statesboro. Six of the last eight games have been decided by 10 points or fewer. Since joining the SoCon, Elon is 0-3 at the "Nest" against GSU.

Despite ranking ninth in the Southern Conference in scoring offense (64.7 ppg), the Phoenix rates fourth in the league in assists, averaging 13.8 helpers per outing. The Phoenix also rates third in the SoCon with 7.7 steals per contest, third with 3.4 blocks per game and fourth in three-point defense allowing opponents to shoot just 34.3 percent from long range.

Through 26 games, Chris Long has a team-best 112 assists. In the most recent NCAA rankings, Long rated 36th nationally with a 2.29 assist/turnover ratio.

In those same rankings, Ola Atoyebi ranked 26th nationally with a 58.2 field goal percentage. As a squad, Elon placed 74th nationally in steals per game (7.7).

The Phoenix is led in scoring by Atoyebi who is averaging 14.4 points per outing. Brett James is adding 13.3 markers per outing. Atoyebi leads the team with 6.0 rebounds per game.

James, a senior guard, netted 16 points against Lees-McRae to eclipse the 1,000-pooint mark for his career. James became the 32nd member of the 1,000-point club in the 100-season history of the Elon program and the first since Chris Chalko eclipsed the 1,000-point mark on Feb. 19, 2007 against Chattanooga. His 1,256 career points place him 16th on the school's all-time list, 39 points shy of the 1,295 netted by Ed Juratic (1954-57) for 15th.

In six career games against GSU, James has averaged 11.2 points and 5.0 rebounds. Long has added 7.7 points, 2.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists in his three games vs. the Eagles. Atoyebi, in five games, has put up averages of 9.0 points and 5.0 rebounds.

TJ Douglas averaged one turnover for every 46.7 minutes played a year ago. This season, Douglas has 15 turnovers in 548 minutes, or one per every 36.5 minutes on the floor.

In the most recent SoCon release, James, Atoyebi and Long all rank among the active SoCon leaders in a few categories. James rates third in scoring (1,256), third in steals (130), first in blocks (103) and tied for fourth in games started (82). Atoeybi rates eighth in scoring with 937 points while Long is fourth with 195 career assists.

This season, 11 different Phoenix players have appeared in one of the nine different line-ups used by head coach Ernie Nestor. No player has started every game.

A year ago, Elon surrendered 80+ points in just four outings (91 at Virginia, 89 at UNC Greensboro, 86 vs. College of Charleston in overtime and 81 vs. UT Martin). Elon won one of those games (CofC). This year the Phoenix has allowed 80+ five times. The team lost four of those games as it allowed 92 at West Virginia, 82 at UT Martin, 83 at Davidson and 89 vs. UNC Greensboro. The Phoenix allowed 85 points in a double overtime win vs. Chattanooga.

The 2008-09 season represents the 100th season in the history of the Elon program. The program has not run for 100 consecutive seasons, however, as the school suspended its athletics programs during World War II. The men's basketball team is the second Elon program to reach 100 seasons. The Elon baseball team played its 100th season in 2002 – the first year it made the NCAA Baseball Regionals.

-- ELON --

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