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ELON, N.C. – The Elon University men's basketball season is just around the corner as the 2017-18 season tips off on Friday, Nov. 10, against the Duke Blue Devils. The Phoenix begins its final season inside Alumni Gym with its home opener the next day on Saturday, Nov. 11, against the William Peace Pacers.

Elon has 13 non-conference games slated at the start of the 2017-18 season before heading into its fourth season as a member of the Colonial Athletic Association. The Phoenix faces a mix of familiar faces, renewing of old rivalries, and a couple of new opponents this season. Eight of the 13 non-conference foes had winning seasons in 2017-18 and five opponents played postseason basketball during the 2016-17 season.

Here's a short breakdown of each of Elon men's basketball's 2017-18 non-conference opponents:

 

Duke Blue Devils  Friday, Nov. 10  |  7:00 p.m.  |  Cameron Indoor Stadium  |  Durham, N.C.

2016-17 Record 28-9 Overall 11-7 ACC

• The Phoenix and the Blue Devils will meet for the 30th time inside Cameron Indoor Stadium. It will also be the first time the two teams have faced off to open a season. Duke is coming off yet another successful season reaching the second round of the NCAA Tournament before falling to final four participant, South Carolina. • Duke's freshman class was recognized as the nation's best, featuring three players ranked in the top 10 of the final 2017 ESPN 100. Highlighting the class is Marvin Bagley III, who was the consensus No. 1 player in the high school class of 2018 before reclassifying to the class of 2017 and assuming the same position atop the player rankings. • The Blue Devils have seven returners from last season, including the team's third leading scorer from 2016-17, Grayson Allen. Duke lost five starters from last year, but reload with the No. 1-ranked recruiting class. • Entering his 38th season at Duke and 43rd season of coaching, Mike Krzyzewski will be seeking his 999th victory as a Blue Devil when Elon comes to town on Nov. 10.

 

William Peace Pacers  Saturday, Nov. 11  |  7:00 p.m.  |  Alumni Gym  |  Elon, N.C.

2016-17 Record 15-11 Overall 8-6 USA South (DII)

• William Peace will face the Phoenix for the second time ever in Elon's first home game of the final season in Alumni Gym. • The Pacers graduated three seniors from the 2016-17 season, including the program's first 1,000 point scorer, USA South All-Conference honoree Chris Thomas. That group also includes the team's top scorer from last season, Ryan Emfinger. • The squad lost its top four scorers, which included seniors Thomas, Emfinger, and Jalen Vince, as well as Jay Hicks, who transferred to NCAA Division II UNC-Pembroke. • The Pacers finished tied for second, and officially in fifth in the USA South Conference, posting a 15-11 overall record and 8-6 mark in the conference. William Peace fell to LaGrange College in a heartbreaker 80-78 in the first round of the conference tournament. • Head coach Claude Shields, heading into his seventh season at William Peace, played for the junior varsity team at North Carolina with current Elon assistant coach Jack Wooten.

 

Furman Paladins Tuesday, Nov. 14  |  7:00 p.m.  |  Timmons Arena  |  Greenville, S.C.

2016-17 Record 23-12 Overall 14-4 SoCon

• Elon will face off against Furman, a former Southern Conference rival, for the 16th time on Nov. 14. Elon hold an 11-4 lead in the all-time series It will be the first time the two teams have met since Feb. 24, 2014, during the last season the Phoenix was a member of the SoCon. Elon won the matchup 78-49 in Greenville, S.C. • The Paladins won 23 games during the 2016-17 season, including a 14-4 mark which earned them a share of the Southern Conference regular season title. Furman also reached the semifinals of the CollegeInsider.com (CIT) Postseason Tournament last season and had an RPI in the top-100 (90) last year. • Furman brings a veteran roster into the 2017-18 season, with eight of its 15 players currently at upperclassmen status. • Devin Sibley, the reigning SoCon Player of the Year and Furman's top scorer from last season, returns for his senior season with the Paladins. The guard averaged 17.1 points per game last season, scoring in doubles figures in all but three games. Furman lost senior All-Conference selection Kris Acox to graduation, but returns sophomore guard Jordan Lyons, an SoCon All-Freshman team honoree last season. • Bob Richey begins his first season at the helm after being elevated to head coach of the Paladins after the departure of SoCon Coach of the Year Niko Medved for the head coaching job at Drake. He helped Furman reach a school-record tying 23 victories as an assistant on the staff last season.

 

Florida International Panthers (Black & Gold Shootout) Friday, Nov. 17  |  5:30 p.m. CST  |  UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena |  Milwaukee, Wis.

2016-17 Record 7-24 Overall 3-15 C-USA

• The Phoenix will face the FIU Panthers for the third straight season to open the Black & Gold Shootout in Milwaukee. It will be the third all-time meeting between the two teams and Elon has a 2-0 lead in the series. The Phoenix and Panthers met in Alumni Gym last season on Nov. 30, 2016, as Elon pulled out an 84-81 overtime victory. • FIU has a veteran-led group going into 2017-18 with nine of its 13 players on the rosters listed as upperclassmen. The Panthers finished 3-15 overall in Conference USA last season, a 13th place finish.  • The Panthers lost their top five scorers from last season, including senior guard Donte McGill, who averaged a team-high 18.3 points per game. Junior guard Eric Lockett returns after playing in all 31 games last year and made 13 starts. He finished the 2016-17 campaign averaging 5.1 points per contest.  • Anthony Evans begins his fifth season with FIU and owns a 51-76 record during his tenure. He earned his 150th victory in his 10 years as a head coach on March 4, 2017, in a 68-56 victory at UAB.

 

Concordia Saint Paul (Black & Gold Shootout) Saturday, Nov. 18  |  3:00 p.m. CST  |  UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena |  Milwaukee, Wis.

2016-17 Record 6-25 Overall 2-20 NSIC (DII)

• The Golden Bears return 10 of 11 players from 2016-17 and have half of its 12-man roster made up of upperclassmen. Fouth-year head coach Joey James, the sixth winningest head coach in program history, looks to use the talent to propel the team forward in the NSIC. • Concordia Saint Paul returns its top scorer from last season, Bryndan Matthews, which was the 18th-best in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. The Golden Bears lose Diallo Powell, who graduated after scoring 11.7 ppg and was one of two players on the team to score in double figures last season. • Concordia University, St. Paul, is located in St. Paul, Minnasota, which is about a 5 hour drive northwest of the site of the Black & Gold Shootout in Milwaukee, Wis. • The matchup will be the first all-time between the Elon Phoenix and the Concordia Saint Paul Golden Bears.

 

Milwaukee Panthers (Black & Gold Shootout) Sunday, Nov. 19  |  3:30 p.m. CST  |  UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena |  Milwaukee, Wis.

2016-17 Record 11-24 Overall 4-14 Horizon

• University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, also known as Milwaukee, is the host of the Black & Gold Shootout and is a member of the Horizon League. The first-ever matchup between the Phoenix and the Panthers will take place on Sunday, Nov. 19, and will be aired live on ESPN3. • The Panthers were picked to finish eighth of 10 teams and received one first-place vote in the 2017-18 Horizon League Preseason Poll, which was released on Oct. 6.  • Don't be fooled by the team's record last season, as the Panthers made it to the Horizon League Championship game last season as the the No. 10-seed. They not only became the first No. 10 seed in Horizon League history to win a tournament game, but the first to reach the league championship game. Milwaukee's journey through the tournament included upsets of No. 2-seed Valpo, No. 7-seed Detroit Mercy, as well as No. 6-seeded UIC, before the Panthers fell to the No. 4 seed Northern Kentucky in the championship game, 59-53, on March 7.  • Former head coach LaVall Jordan left to take over the helm at Butler. Milwaukee announced the hiring of Patrick Baldwin on June 20, who joins the team after spending the last seven seasons as an assistant coach at Northwestern. He became the seventh head coach since Milwaukee became a Division I program in 1990. • Milwaukee returns its top scorer from last season in Brock Stull, who averaged 13.5 ppg for the Panthers. Despite graduating second-leading scorer Cody Wichmann, the Panthers bring back its next top four scoring leaders, who all averaged over six points a game in 2016-17.

 

Radford Highlanders Wednesday, Nov. 22  |  7:00 p.m.  |  Alumni Gym |  Elon, N.C.

2016-17 Record 14-18 Overall 8-10 Big South

• The Phoenix and the Radford Highlanders will meet for the 13th time on Nov. 22 and the first time in Alumni Gym since 2003. Last season was the first time the two teams met since 2003. • Radford defeated Elon 68-56 in last season's matchup on Dec. 10, in Radford, Va. • The Highlanders won their quarterfinal contest in the Big South tournament against Liberty before falling to Campbell in the semifinals. • Ed Polite, Jr. and Justin Cousin are Radford's top returning scorers from last season as they averaged 11.8 ppg and 11.0 ppg, respectively. The Highlanders bring back all of their top five scorers from 2016-17. • Radford finished first in the Big South in rebounding margin, first in offensive rebounding, third in defensive rebounding, and fourth in scoring defense during the 2016-17 season. Polie, Jr. also earned All-Big South Honorable Mention for the Highlanders.

 

South Florida Bulls Thursday, Nov. 30  |  7:00 p.m.  |  Alumni Gym |  Elon, N.C.

2016-17 Record 7-23 Overall 1-17 American

• The Phoenix and the Bulls will meet for the second time on Nov. 30 and for the first time inside Alumni Gym. Elon defeated USF, 74-61, at the Sun Dome last season on Nov. 17, 2016. Dmitri Thompson's putback dunk was highlighted as the No. 2 play on Sportscenter's Top-10 Plays. • The 2017-18 season will begin a new era in USF men's basketball under the direction of first-year head coach Brian Gregory. • Coach Gregory owns nearly 250 head coaching victories from his time at Dayton (03-11) and Georgia Tech (11-16). n Gregory assembled his assisting coaching staff with a talented local recruiter in Scott Wagers (two regional championships as head coach of Robinson HS), a former Bull (90-93) and former Auburn assistant in Chad Dollar, and a former head coach and 2017 NIT Champion in Tom Herrion (Marshall and College of Charleston). • The Bulls added 10 new players in the 2017 signing class including three graduate transfers (Payton Banks, Terrence Samuel, Stephon Jiggetts). • USF also gained two valuable transfers in Auburn guard T.J. Lang and Gardner-Webb guard Laquincy Rideau. • The Bulls add JuCo National Champion, Nikola Scekic and four freshman - Justin Brown, David Collins, Joey Coffaro and Alexis Yetna. • USF returns just 28 percent of its scoring and 26 percent of its rebounding from the 2016-17 season.

 

Saint Peter's Peacocks Saturday, Dec. 2  |  7:00 p.m.  |  Alumni Gym |  Elon, N.C.

2016-17 Record 23-13 Overall 14-6 MAAC

• The Peacocks had a successful season in 2016-17 winning 23 games and claiming the CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT) title in the postseason. • Saint Peter's also finished with an RPI in the top-100 with a 95 rating at the end of the season. The team finished second in the MAAC during the regular season with a 14-6 mark. The Peacocks reached the tournament semifinals before falling to Iona. Saint Peter's would then accept a bid to the CIT postseason tournament. • The Peacocks defeated Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the championship game to claim the CIT title. They also defeated Furman, Texas State and Albany on the road to the postseason title. Saint Peter's became the first team from New Jersey to win a national postseason tournament title since Princeton in the 1975 NIT with its CIT championship. • The Phoenix will face the Peacocks for the second time in program history on Dec. 2 and for the first time in Alumni Gym. Elon leads the series 1-0 after the maroon and gold earned a 68-53 victory in Jersey City, N.J. on Dec. 18, 2016. • Saint Peter's led the MAAC last season in scoring defense, only allowing 60.8 points per game in 2016-17. They also ranked second in the conference in field goal percentage defense and first in three-point field goal percentage. • Quadir Welton is the biggest loss for the Peacocks heading into the 2017-18 season. The first team All-MAAC selection was first on the team in scoring and rebounding last season. Saint Peter's also loses second team All-MAAC selection Trevis Wyche, who was second on the team in scoring in 2016-17.

 

UNCG Spartans Thursday, Dec. 7  |  7:00 p.m.  |  Greensboro Coliseum |  Greensboro, N.C.

2016-17 Record 25-10 Overall 14-4 SoCon

• The Spartans are coming off a successful season under head coach Wes Miller, who is entering his sixth season with the program. UNCG earned a share of the Southern Conference regualr season title and was the league's selection to the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) last season. • In the Southern Conference tournament, UNCG defeated The Citadel and Wofford before falling to ETSU in the championship game. The Spartans fell to Syracuse in the first round of the NIT and finished with a 98 RPI last season. • UNCG returns three of its five starters and 11 of its 13 letter winners for the 2017-18 season.  • Francis Alonso, UNCG's top scorer in 2016-17, returns for his junior season after scoring 14.9 points per game, which ranked ninth in the SoCon last season. Alonso was also tops in the SoCon in three-point field goal percentage, making 46.2% of his shots from deep. The Spartans also return its top rebounder in James Dickey III, who averaged 7.2 a game as a freshman, which ranked third in the league. • Alonso was a First Team All-SoCon selection, while Dickey III was an All-Freshman team honoree. • The matchup between the Phoenix and the Spartans on Dec. 7 will be the 40th all-time meeting between the two schools. Elon leades the series 26-13 and has won 11 straight against its Triad rival. Elon head coach Matt Matheny owns an 11-1 record against UNCG.

 

Boston University Terriers Sunday, Dec. 17  |  1:00 p.m.  |  Case Gym "The Roof" |  Boston, Mass.

2016-17 Record 18-14 Overall 12-6 Patriot

• The Terriers begin its 109th season as a program after finishing second-place in the Patriot League standings last season. • BU loses its two senior All-Patriot League honorees in Eric Fanning and Justin Alston from last season, who were the team's top two scorers. However, Tyler Scanlon returns after earning a spot on the All-Rookie team. • Boston University won its quarterfinals matchup against Loyola (Md.) before falling to Lehigh in the semifinals of the Patriot League tournament. • The Terriers was one of the best defensive teams in the Patriot League last season, ranking first in field goal percentage defense (.425), second in steals per game (8.3), and second in three pointers made a contest (8.6).  • Joe Jones enters his seventh season as head coach of the program and has compiled a 107-86 record with the Terriers. He has also led Boston University to three postseason tournament appearances in six seasons, including a selection to the NIT in 2014 and has guided BU to two trips to the CIT (2016, 2013). • The matchup on Sunday, Dec. 17, will be the first-ever meeting between the Boston University Terriers and the Elon Phoenix.

 

Canisius Golden Griffins Tuesday, Dec. 19  |  7:00 p.m.  |  Koessler Athletic Center |  Buffalo, N.Y.

2016-17 Record 18-16 Overall 10-10 MAAC

• Won 18 games and accepted bid to play in the CIT tournament during the 2016-17 season. • Jermaine Crumpton, the team's second scorer last season, became the 37th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point plateau. His 15.9 points per game ranked ninth in the MAAC. Increased his scoring average by 5.5 points per game, the fourth biggest scoring increase from 2015-16 to 2016-17 among all MAAC players. • Kassius Robertson led the team in scoring at 16.1 points per game and made 98 three pointers in 2016-17. • The Golden Griffins participated in a foreign tour to Canada in August for a five-day  tour which saw Canisius play five Canadian schools in exhibition action. The team finished with a 3-2 record during the trip. • Canisius finished the 2016-17 season with an 18-16 overall record and played in the 2017 CIT tournament, the fourth postseason appearance in the last five years for the Blue and Gold. The Golden Griffins will begins its 114th season in program history in 2017-18. • The Golden Griffins and Elon have met twice previously, with the most recent contest coming in the second round of the 2013 Preseason NIT, Elon's lone trip to the postseason as a Division I program. • The team adds four newcomers to the 2017-18 squad. All three of Canisius' All-MAAC honorees last season, seniors Kassius Robertson and Jermaine Crumpton, as well as sophomore Malik Johnson, will return for the 2017-18 season.

 

Indiana State Sycamores Friday, Dec. 22  |  6:00 p.m.  |  Hulman Center |  Terre Haute, Ind.

2016-17 Record 11-20 Overall 5-13 MVC

• The Sycamores, members of the Missouri Valley Conference and home of basketball legend Larry Bird, returns seven letterwinners from the 2016-17 season and senior starter Brenton Scott, who led the team and finished second in the MVC in scoring with 15.9 ppg.  • The Phoenix and Indiana State will meet for the first time ever on Dec. 22. The Sycamores finished the 2016-17 season in a tie for ninth in a challenging Missouri Valley Conference. The team lost to Evansville in the first round of the conference tournament last year. • Greg Lansing begins his ninth season at Indiana State and led Indiana State to an NIT appearance in 2014. • Indiana State brings in five newcomers for 2017-18, which includes four freshmen and graduate transfer Qiydar Davis, who joins the team from Louisiana Tech. • The Sycamores showed presence in the paint defensively last season, finishing second in the MVC in blocks averaging 4.1 per game. • Senior Brenton Scott and sophomore Jordan Barnes picked up Missouri Valley Conference postseason honors, earning spots on the Third Team and All-Freshmen Team, respectively.

Season tickets for the 2017-18 campaign, the final season in Alumni Gym, are on sale now through the Elon Ticket Office. Tickets can be purchased online, over the phone at 336-278-6750, or in person at the Elon Ticket Office located inside the Koury Athletic Center on Elon's campus. For additional information, please contact the Elon Ticket Office at 336-278-6750 or email athtickets@elon.edu.