Elon Preview: Legendary

It's Legends Weekend. And in honor of the 1996-97 Sweet Sixteen team, here's the song that reminds of that year. I think it is mostly thanks to Chris Mims.

This weekend will be legendary if for no other reason than the Mocs will be welcoming back so many of their all-time greats. I hope that the current Mocs will be able to play like legends in front of the old legends and give us all new memories to go home with.

Elon started conference play 0-3 with losses to Furman, Wofford, and Chattanooga. Since that time, they have gone 4-3, with a 3-0 record at home, and just a 1-3 record on the road. The lone win came over UNC-Greensboro, while the losses were to Western Carolina, Appalachian State, and Samford on Thursday night.

But while Elon was losing a gut-wrenching one to Samford 69-67 on Thursday night (on a missed three by Jack Isenbarger at the buzzer), the Mocs were coming from ahead to beat UNC-Greensboro 111-110 in double overtime. Both teams will be scrambling a bit emotionally. The Mocs may be a bit tired as well after having to play ten extra minutes.

Elon and Chattanooga's first meeting was very similar to a lot of the Mocs wins this year. Elon jumped out to a double digit lead, but the Mocs fought back. They dominated the glass, and Keegan Bell scored 23 points. Omar Wattad had 16 and DeAntre Jefferson had 10 and 10, a double-double. Isenbarger was the only Phoenix player in double figures with 22. Drew Spradlin collected ten rebounds, the only Phoenix player with more than three. Chris Long only made 2 of 10, 1 of 6 on threes, and had nine points. Not a- wait for it- legendary day for Long.

It was not a great night for the Mocs, but they pulled out a win on the road to move to 3-0 in the SoCon, and the Phoenix dropped to 0-3.

Lucas Troutman had only scored double digits in three games prior to the previous five. In the last five games, he has scored 11.8 points per game, scoring in double figures four times. He had just one point and three rebounds against the Mocs the first time around. He has started playing much better.

Roger Dugas is the leading rebounder for the Phoenix. He had played well, but did not play much in the three games against Davidson, Appalachian State, and Georgia Southern, playing a total of 20 minutes. He played 23 again against Samford, and was back to getting boards, collecting five, but scored just three.

The Phoenix feature three players that score in double figures. Drew Spradlin is averaging 14.5 points per game, Chris Long 13.8, and Jack Isenbarger with 12.2. Isenbarger has hit a bit of a wall, scoring just 8.7 points per game in the last seven games, all SoCon games, scoring in double figures just twice. He also scored zero against Davidson. He made 6 of 11 three pointers the first time he played the Mocs.

Chris Long is averaging 5.4 assists per game. He is averaging 7.8 assists over the last five games. That is a really good stretch for Long. He scored 21 at UNCG and at Samford in recent weeks. He did it two different was. He shot 6 of 12 from three against Samford. He shot 16 of 20 from the free throw line against UNCG.

Drew Spradlin has not scored in single digits since the Duke game when he scored six- the game after he scored just six against Chattanooga. He is averaging 19.4 points per game in the seven games since SoCon play restarted. He is averaging 18.2 points per game in all SoCon games. He might just be the elite scorer that the Phoenix need to be a really serious player in the SoCon Tournament.

Spradlin vs. Wattad? Isenbarger vs. Taylor? Long vs. Bell? Now this could be interesting.

The Phoenix are 56th in the nation in scoring, and 240th in field goal percentage. The Mocs rank very well in assists, scoring per game, and rebounds per game. But they are awful in field goal percentage.

KEYS TO THE GAME
--Rebounding. Always. Rebounding. The Mocs dominated the glass against the Phoenix the first time, and that's why they won.
--Wattad's health. Will he be able to shoot consistently? If he can, then great. If he can't shoot consistently, Ricky Taylor will have to take over again, just like he did on Thursday night.
--Shutting down Spradlin. Spradlin has been exploding. It's time to shut him down. And the Mocs haven't played great defense lately and they will need to come up with a plan to stop Spradlin and Isenbarger.
--Bell vs. Long. Which point guard does a better job controlling the game?

WHAT I'LL DO IF THE MOCS WIN
--I'll consider it legen-dary.
--Yes- legendary.
--Celebrate sweeping Elon- which never seems to happen. I do not like Elon.
--Be glad that the Mocs will finish no worse than .500 in the SoCon.

WHAT I'LL DO IF THE MOCS LOSE
--Wonder if we will EVER sweep Elon again. Will we ever beat Elon again?!?!? Will we ever be able beat Elon when I think we should?
--Doubt that the Mocs will be able to win the North...but probably just for the night.
--Sigh, take a deep breath, and try to remember that tomorrow is another day.

LEAD PIPE LOCK PREDICTIONS THAT ARE SURE TO GO WRONG
--Wattad will play about 20 minutes and will be relatively ineffective. Uh-oh.
--Taylor will not score 41 again.
--Spradlin or Isenbarger will go off.
--Mocs 78, Elon 73. This feels like the sort of game that Bell will go off in, and the Mocs probably need him to. With Wattad struggling and Taylor using up a lot of made shots on Thursday night, Bell will need to have a big one. It wouldn't hurt my feelings any if Jefferson also had an explosive game. And just as this post started by talking about Chris Mims, I'll end with this. Jefferson can be this team's version of Mims. And he needs to start doing that train dance now.

GO MOCS!