ELON – Elon will play against sixth-seeded William & Mary in the second round of the 2026 Air Force Reserve CAA Men's Basketball Championship on Saturday night at CareFirst Arena in Washington, D.C. FloCollege will stream the contest, which is scheduled to tip off at 8:30 p.m. ET.
Elon (14-17, 6-12 CAA) is the No. 11 seed in the tournament and is seeking its first CAA Championship victory since 2021.
GAME INFO – vs. WILLIAM & MARY
INSIDE THE MATCHUP
vs. William & Mary
- Series record: Elon trails, 11-22
- Elon secured a regular-season sweep of William & Mary (19-11, 10-8) with a 79-76 win at Schar Center on Jan. 29 followed by an 81-78 victory at Kaplan Arena on Feb. 14. It was the Phoenix's first regular-season sweep of the Tribe since 2020-21.
- Elon and the William & Mary Tribe have met four previous times at the CAA Championship, with the Tribe winning three of those matchups, most recently in the second round of the 2023 tournament. Elon's lone neutral-site victory over William & Mary came in the 2020 CAA Quarterfinals, when the seventh-seeded Phoenix defeated the No. 2 seed Tribe, 68-63.
- Elon sophomore guard Bryson Cokley caught fire in the Phoenix's road win at William & Mary on Feb. 14, drilling the go-ahead 3-pointer with two seconds remaining and scoring a career-high 29 points. Cokley finished 8-of-13 from the field while hitting 7-of-11 from beyond the arc.
- The Tribe ended the regular season with three consecutive wins against Northeastern, North Carolina A&T and Hampton.
STARTING FIVE
1. Leading Role
Graduate forward
Chandler Cuthrell has been the focal point of Elon's offense all season, ranking among the nation's leading scorers at 20.0 points per game (32nd nationally). Cuthrell has scored 20-plus points 17 times and sits just one point shy of reaching the 1,000-point milestone for his NCAA career. While he has scored steadily at all three levels, Cuthrell has been especially effect at getting to the free throw line, where he's converted 184 of 253 attempts (72.7%), including 34 of his past 36 (88.9%). Cuthrell's 619 points rank ninth on Elon's all-time single-season scoring list.
2. Cookin' With Cokley
Elon will need
Bryson Cokley to continue his ascension as one of the CAA's top perimeter shooters to make a run through the CAA Championship, and the sophomore is plenty capable. Cokley, who averaged 13.7 PPG in conference play, shot 43.6% from deep across 18 CAA contests and has been a double-figure scorer for the Phoenix 22 times this season. He's started the past 11 games after coming off the bench in the first 20 and is Elon's leader in minutes played per game at 30.4.
3. Find The Groove
Elon hopes to reestablish continuity in its rotation with graduate forward
Kacper Klaczek after he missed eight of the final 11 games during CAA play. Klaczek, who averages 11.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.0 block and steal per game, was sidelined for seven straight contests from Jan. 24-Feb. 14 due to injury and missed one more game at Monmouth on Feb. 28 with an illness. The 6-foot-8 native of Poland provides versatility on both ends, shooting 53.2% from the field and 44.8% from 3-point range. He has recorded multiple assists in 20 of his 23 appearances and owns two 20-point performances in CAA play.
4. Floor General
Elon has used different looks at the point guard position down the stretch – including stretches with Cokley serving as the primary ball handler – but graduate
Ja'Juan Carr remains the steadying presence for the Phoenix offense. A former UNCW Seahawk who redshirted during the 2020-21 season, Carr later helped UNC Pembroke win 74 games over three seasons (2022-25). He leads the CAA and ranks 16th nationally with a 3.33 assist-to-turnover ratio and has been even more efficient in league play with a 4.0 mark (79 assists, 20 turnovers). The Burgaw, North Carolina, native dished out 18 assists to just three turnovers across Elon's final six CAA contests of the regular season.
5. Four Days, Four Wins
Elon is seeking its first win at the CAA Championship since 2021, when it defeated Towson, James Madison and Hofstra in three straight games before falling to Drexel in the title game. The Phoenix has lost five consecutive tournament games and is 6-11 all-time at the CAA Championship. Optimism remains, however, as Elon went 2-0 against second-round opponent William & Mary and earned an 89-85 win at Hofstra – which awaits the winner of the Phoenix and Tribe in the CAA Quarterfinals – in their lone meeting this season on Jan. 17.
UP NEXT
The winner of Elon and William & Mary advances to the CAA Quarterfinals to face No. 3 seed Hofstra on Sunday at 8:30 p.m. ET.
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