ELON – The Elon men's basketball team takes aim at a second straight win and regular-season sweep of Triad rival North Carolina A&T on Saturday night. Tipoff between the Phoenix (14-13, 6-8 CAA) and Aggies (10-15, 3-11) is set for 7 p.m. ET with FloCollege streaming the contest.
GAME INFO – vs. NORTH CAROLINA A&T
INSIDE THE MATCHUP
- Series record: Elon trails, 8-10
- Elon is 4-3 against the Aggies since they joined the CAA in the 2022-23 season. The Phoenix most recently won a wire-to-wire 69-64 road game at North Carolina A&T on Jan. 8, with Chandler Cuthrell's 22 points leading the way.
- The past four games and five of six between Elon and North Carolina A&T have been decided by single-digit points.
- North Carolina A&T hosted College of Charleston on Thursday, losing 74-61 for its fifth defeat in the past six games. The Aggies' lone win in that span was a 71-70 effort against Hampton last Friday in the NBA HBCU Classic, played at The Kia Forum in Los Angeles.
STARTING FIVE
1. Something To Prove
Picked 12th in the CAA preseason coaches' poll, Elon surged out of the gate in league play at 4-2 through six games and 5-4 through nine before hitting a midseason skid. The Phoenix responded with a critical 81-78 road win at William & Mary last Saturday, improving to 6-8 in conference play with four regular-season games remaining. Elon is tied for eighth and remains firmly in the mix in a crowded CAA middle tier, where nine teams are separated by just two games in the standings — from Monmouth (8-5) down through Towson and Elon (6-8). After steadying itself in Williamsburg, the Phoenix looks to build on that momentum and continue climbing the table as it pursues its first winning conference record since 2016-17.
2. Cookin' With Cokley
Sophomore guard
Bryson Cokley served as the catalyst in Saturday's 81-78 win at William & Mary, delivering one of the most electric performances of the season, Cokley scored a career-high 29 points – including the go-ahead 3-pointer with just seconds remaining – to snap the Phoenix's four-game losing streak and secure a regular-season sweep of the Tribe in dramatic fashion. The outing was marked by and 7-of-11 shooting performance from beyond the arc, making him just the 11th Phoenix in the program's Division I era to make seven-plus threes in a game. Cokley has reached double figures in scoring 19 times this season and ranks second on the team at 12.5 points per game.
3. Leading Role
At the center of Elon's offense is graduate forward
Chandler Cuthrell, who has emerged as one of the nation's most productive scorers at 20.3 PPG (28th nationally). After arriving at Elon this past offseason with a career scoring average of 6.1 PPG, Cuthrell has broken out with 20-plus points in 16 games, most recently posting a career-high 32 points on 11-of-17 shooting with 10 rebounds in the Phoenix's double-overtime loss at Hampton on Feb. 5. The 6-foot-8 forward ranks second in the CAA in field-goal percentage at 50.8% and has generated significant offense at the free-throw line, going 150-of-217 (.691). His free throws made and attempted totals rank 17th and seventh nationally, respectively.
4. Aye, Aye, Isaac
Junior forward
Isaac Harrell enters Saturday's clash with North Carolina A&T on a surge, averaging 17.0 PPG on shooting splits of .592/.562/.909 and 6.3 rebounds per game over the past three contests. The hot streak started with a career-high 25 points scored against Drexel on Feb. 7, followed by 12- and 14-point efforts on the road at UNCW and William & Mary last week. Harrell is shooting 37% from deep this season and has knocked down multiple 3-pointers in seven of the last 10 games.
5. Floor General
Elon has found stability at the point guard position in graduate
Ja'Juan Carr, who helped UNC Pembroke win 74 games over three seasons (2022-25). Carr leads the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) and ranks 18th nationally with a 3.18 assist-to-turnover ratio. He has been even sharper in league play, posting a 3.7 ratio with 67 assists to just 18 turnovers. The Burgaw, North Carolina, native's 121 assists already rank seventh in Elon's Division I single-season history. He sits 23 shy of cracking the program's top 10 with at least five games remaining. More than just a facilitator, Carr has scored in double figures five times in conference action, highlighted by a season-high 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting in Elon's rally past Campbell on Jan. 10.
UP NEXT
Elon will face Towson on the road next Thursday at SECU Arena in Towson, Maryland, in the front end of its final regular-season road trip.
SUPPORT THE PHOENIX
Fans can support Elon Athletics through the
Phoenix Club. To purchase 2025-26 tickets, visit
TicketMaster.com/ElonTickets.
STAY POSTED
For further coverage of Elon men's basketball, follow the Phoenix on X (
@ElonMBasketball) and Instagram (
@ElonMBasketball).
