Furman vs. Elon: Southern Conference Basketball Play Opens Tonight

Southern Conference play begins for both Furman and Elon on Wednesday night, as the Paladins open league play with a trip to Alumni Gym to face the Elon Phoenix.

The Paladins last played Friday evening, dropping their second contest of the young season with a 59-49 setback at Clemson.

Furman and Elon both enter the contest with 3-2 records, but Elon has had one of the biggest wins of the SoCon season: a 58-53 victory over South Carolina two weeks ago.

The two Phoenix losses have come on the road: an 85-67 contest at UMass and an 82-67 decision at North Carolina State Friday night. Elon is 3-0 at Alumni Gym, with wins over South Carolina (58-53), Rutgers-Camden (87-53) and Princeton (56-55).

Furman's only loss, besides Clemson, came on its home floor, a 66-46 beatdown by Atlantic Sun member Mercer a couple of weeks ago.

Furman's three victories this season have come against Roanoke College (75-49), Columbia (62-58) and Loyola-Illinois (63-51).

The Paladins and Phoenix will be meeting for the 12th time, with the Phoenix holding a 7-4 all-time series advantage. Furman won last season's meeting 80-65 at Timmons Arena, on the strength of a 24-point effort from Amu Saaka.

Although Furman is just 2-4 all-time in Alumni Gym, the Paladins posted a 53-48 victory over the Phoenix back in January 2010.

Elon is expected to finish fifth in the SoCon's North Division by both the league's coaches and media, while Furman is picked to finish fourth in the South Division.

Scouting the Phoenix

Elon is coached by long-time Davidson assistant coach Matt Matheny, who enters his third season at the helm of the Phoenix basketball program.

Matheny is 1-2 all-time as a head coach against the Paladins, with his only victory over Furman coming in February 2010 when the Phoenix picked up a 66-55 win at Timmons Arena.

Elon was last in action on Friday night in ACC country, just up the road in Raleigh, N.C., as the Phoenix dropped an 82-67 decision to the Wolfpack at Reynolds Coliseum.

Despite the loss, it was Elon forward Lucas Troutman that stole the show, posting a game-high 22 points. In addition, Troutman snagged seven rebounds. Sebastian Koch and Jack Isenbarger contributed 12 and 11 points, respectively, in the loss.

The Phoenix shot 40.7% (24-of-59) from the field for the game, including connecting on 31.7% (7-of-22) from three-point range. Elon was out-rebounded 49-33 by the Wolfpack.

Elon will likely use Austin Hamilton (9.6 PPG, 2.6 APG, 1.6 RPG) and Drew Spradlin (11.2 PPG, 5.2 RPG) as starters in the backcourt against the Paladins. Hamilton has been one of the best newcomers in the SoCon so far this year, and the Phoenix have missed little with the graduation of Chris Long, who manned the point for the past four seasons.

Austin Hamilton has scored in double figures three times in his five games as a college basketball player, including a pair of 12-point performances against UMass and South Carolina.

Spradlin, a preseason All-SoCon selection, is the best all-around player for the Phoenix and the best pure scorer in the lineup. He comes in averaging 11.2 PPG, and the senior has started all five games this season.

Spradlin also has three double-digit scoring efforts in five outings, including posting a season-high 14 points against both UMass and Rutgers-Camden.

In last season's meeting with the Paladins, Spradlin posted 22 points in the 80-65 away loss, connecting on 7-of-10 shots from the field, including a a perfect 3-for-3 from three-point range. Spradlin is also an excellent outside shooter, and coming into Wednesday night, he has knocked down nine triples this season, going 9-of-19 (.474).

His nine threes this season rank him second among the Phoenix, behind only Sebastian Koch's 14 triples in the first five games.

The Phoenix have depth in the backcourt, with sophomore sensation Jack Isenbarger (5.3 PPG, 2.3 RPG) continuing in his role as one of the league's top sixth men.

Isenbarger has struggled shooting the basketball out of the gates this season, especially from the perimeter, as he has connected on just 4-of-16 shots from long range so far.

However, he's still considered one of the team's best pure shooters from long range, and he'll likely find his shooting touch from the perimeter at some point this year. Isenbarger has battled some injuries this season, which forced him to miss a couple of games, but posted his first double-figure scoring performance, 11, last week at NC State.

Sebastian Koch (10.8 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 2.4 APG, 45.2% from 3-point range) is a player that causes matchup problems in the backcourt because of his size and his ability to step out and hit the outside shot. Koch's 14 triples lead the Phoenix this season, and he's a player that gives Matheny instant offense coming off the bench.

He's Elon's third-leading scorer, and one of three Phoenix averaging in double figures, at 10.8 PPG. Koch enjoyed his best performance of the season so far against Rutgers-Camden, scoring 20 points in the 87-53 win. He's now scored in double figures in three straight games.

Starting in the frontcourt for Elon this season have been Lucas Troutman (14.2 PPG, 5.8 RPG) and Ryley Beaumont (4.4 PPG, 4.8 RPG).

Troutman has a good inside-outside game and has proven to be Elon's go-to-player early on in the campaign. He's coming off his best game of the season, as he posted a team season-high 22 points in the 82-67 loss at NC State on Friday night.

Troutman also recorded seven rebounds in the loss in Raleigh. Beaumont is not a player the Phoenix rely on for point production, but he's proven to be a solid physical presence in the paint.

Coming off the bench in the frontcourt have been Brett Ervin (3.0 PPG, 1.2 RPG) and Egheosa Edomwonyi (3.8 PPG, 1.8 RPG). Both are scrappy players and have provided good minutes off the bench for Matheny this season, with Ervin providing a key nine points in Elon's big win over South Carolina.

Elon enters their SoCon opener ranking fifth in the conference in scoring offense (67.0 PPG), tied for fourth in scoring defense (64.6 PPG), eighth in field goal percentage (41.5%), first in field goal percentage defense (37.6%), second in three-point field goal percentage shooting (35.7%), first in three-point field goal percentage defense (25.6%), ninth in rebounding margin (-1.6) and second in three-point field goals made (41 threes, 8.2 three-point FGs per game).

Scouting the Paladins

Furman has had to replace four starters from a team that last season won 20 games for the first time in two decades..

To their credit, the Paladins have done a nice job early on of managing the massive losses, getting excellent play out of players that mostly saw action as reserves last season.

They were by no means bad players, but Furman was just that deep last year.

The Paladins, off to a 3-2 start this season, have played well on the defensive end of the floor, but have struggled to find their shooting touch through the first five ball games.

Furman was last in action on Friday night, dropping a 59-49 decision at Clemson, in a game that saw the Paladins race out to a 9-0 lead. However, a Clemson 23-6 run, from 6:30 in the first half to 14:28 in the second, helped the Tigers take control of the game en route to a 10-point win. 

Furman was led by junior forward Bryant Irwin, who posted 13 points and seven boards in the effort. He was the only Paladin in double figures.

Furman shot the basketball at a 41.5% clip (17-of-41) from the field, while connecting on 35.7% (5-of-14) from three-point range. Furman was out-rebounded, 32-25, by Clemson.

The Paladins have been led by their floor general, Richard Brown (10.0 PPG, 1.6 RPG, 12 Assists, 13 TOs), through the early part of the schedule. Brown’s quickness has been a real benefit to their backcourt, and his ability to create off the dribble with that quickness gives the Paladins versatility on offense. 

Brown consistently caused problems for Clemson’s stingy matchup zone defense, as he was able to penetrate and break down the zone early, by either getting layups or kicking it out for three-point opportunities.

Brown played very sparingly as the backup point guard for Furman last season, but he's been one of the real impact players this season. He enjoyed his best game this year against Columbia in the 62-58 road win, scoring a career-high 15 points.

Joining him as a starter on the backcourt tonight will be Bobby Austin (8.6 PPG, 3.2 RPG). Austin has battled injuries throughout his career, and the once highly-sought-after recruit is back to 100% for his senior season.

Austin is a good athlete and strong on the defensive end of the floor. At times, he's been effective at shooting the outside shot, but he's most effective as an offensive threat, as a slasher. 

Austin has reached double figures twice this season, posting a season-high 13 points in the win at Columbia and scoring 10 points in the win over Loyola of Chicago. He's one of the better rebounding guards on the Paladins' roster, recording a season-high seven boards in the opening win over Roanoke. 

The Paladins have some solid backcourt depth off the bench, with Charlie Reddick (5.6 PPG, 3.4 RPG), David Brown (3.8 PPG, 0.8 APG) and Jordan Lloyd (2.0 RPG) the main understudies this season.

With Lloyd and Brown battling injuries early in the season, the Paladins have been a little thin in the backcourt, but they should be at full strength tonight. Charlie Reddick had three triples in the loss to Clemson, a career high for him.

Furman’s depth and strength this season might be in its frontcourt. Leading the way in the paint is junior Bryant Irwin (10.4 PPG, 6.0 RPG). He transferred into Furman from St. Joseph's, and has led the Paladins in scoring and rebounding so far this year.

Irwin has scored in double figures in four out of five games for the Paladins, with his best performance coming in a 66-46 home loss to Mercer, where he scored 11 points and grabbed 11 boards. In Furman’s most recent outing, Irwin led them again in scoring, posting 13 points and seven boards. He scored his season and career highs in the season opener against Roanoke College.

Irwin has a nice inside-outside game, and comes into tonight’s league clash having connected on 9-of-31 (29.0%) from three-point range so far this season.

He'll be joined down low by veterans Brandon Sebirumbi (9.2 PPG, 5.8 RPG) and Chris Toler (5.0 PPG, 3.2 RPG), with Colin Reddick (4.4 PPG, 4.8 RPG) coming off the bench. Sebirumbi was last year's top returning scorer, averaging 7.5 PPG. He's played well early on this year, but he's been limited by foul trouble.

Sebirumbi was saddled with two quick fouls in the first 45 seconds in the 59-49 loss to Clemson, and he ended up fouling out with 4:45 remaining in the game.

Sebirumbi has committed at least four fouls in four of five games this season. He has two double-figure scoring efforts so far, posting 15 points and grabbing 11 boards in the opener against Roanoke, while scoring 14 points and grabbing seven boards in the win over Loyola of Chicago. Sebirumbi is connecting on 41.4% (12-of-21) from the field so far this season.

Chris Toler was another experienced player for the Paladins last season, as they claimed the second-most wins in their history. Toler is not a player that Furman is going to rely on for scoring purposes, but he's a scrappy performer for the Paladins and does all the dirty work down in the paint. 

Reddick is a big physical presence, too, in the paint and on the defensive end, both as a rebounder and a shot-blocker. Reddick also passes the ball well out of the post, as evidenced by his four assists in the Roanoke win.

Dominic Early (2.2 PPG, 2.0 RPG) is another guy who's seen minutes this season underneath for the Paladins, and is a rangy, athletic player who's especially beneficial on the defensive end of the floor. 

Coming into the SoCon opener tonight, the Paladins rank 11th out of 12 teams in scoring offense (59.0 PPG), first in scoring defense (56.6 PPG), 11th in field goal percentage (37.5%), fourth in field goal percentage defense (39.3%), 10th in 3-pt. FG% (29.5%), fifth in 3-pt. FG% defense (28.9%), fourth in rebounding margin (+2.4), second blocked shots (3.8 BPG) and 11th in three-pointers made (28, 5.6 PG).

Final Score Prediction

Elon 72, Furman 66.