College basketball is back.
For the Elon University men's basketball team, the season begins with a handful of changes. Fresh uniforms, including names on the back, new bodies on the court and new hecklers in the crowd with updated chants anticipating opposing teams' arrivals starting Nov. 15.
The Phoenix will open its regular season schedule with a stretch of non-conference games starting with a 9 p.m. matchup Friday, Nov. 11 against the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
"It's a great opportunity to start the season for us," head coach Matt Matheny said. "It's an Atlantic 10 team with a great basketball history."
Elon will face UMass in an arena known as "The Cage" and is expecting a sellout crowd, Matheny said.
"To put our guys in a situation where they're gonna play in a hostile environment against an Atlantic 10 team that has an extraordinary history is what we want for our program," he said. "We want to play in those kind of environments against those teams because we know we'll get better."
The team will return to Alumni Gym for its home opener at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 15 against the University of South Carolina. The game marks the first time a team from a Bowl Championship Series Conference will play in Alumni Gym for what Matheny expects to be a "major challenge."
Phoenix hoops fans caught their first glimpse of the team in game action Nov. 3 when Elon blasted Washington and Lee University by 48 points in a 96-48 win in the team's only exhibition game this season.
Sophomore guard Jack Isenbarger led all scorers with 20 points and also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds. Senior guard Drew Spradlin and sophomore forward Lucas Troutman each added 14 points. Troutman also had nine rebounds and three blocks in the win.
Matheny played every man on the roster and experimented with different combinations of players on the floor. The team's starting lineup consisted of Spradlin and sophomores Ryley Beaumont, Sebastian Koch, Isenbarger and Troutman, yet Matheny said the coaching staff will continue to test different lineups early in the season.
The team's improved depth and versatility allows the Phoenix to play more like the coaching staff wants this season, Matheny said, which is to extend its pressure defensively and get out and run in transition.
"That's the luxury we have this year," Isenbarger said. "We can play a lot of different rotations. We're deeper than we've been and our freshmen are very talented and can come in and contribute. And with that overseas trip they got implemented quicker."
Those freshmen include guards Austin Hamilton and Kevin Blake, along with forward Ryan Winters, each of whom saw the first action of his Elon career.
Hamilton, a quick guard with polished passing skills, played 17 minutes off the bench and had a stat line of four points, seven assists, three steals and no turnovers in his debut.
"Austin has a great feel for the game," Matheny said. "He sees the game very well and a lot of what he did was natural because he's still learning our system."
Hamilton said he will do whatever is needed from him to help the team this season, whether "it's getting my guys the ball to make shots or making shots myself or playing good defense."
Blake can flat out jump. He has out of the gym hops. The 6-foot-3-inch guard from Toronto made his claim for the team's highest vertical with a dunk and another drive that brought the crowd in Alumni Gym to its feet.
"He doesn't jump; he flies," Matheny said.
Winters, son of former NBA player Brian Winters, is a 6 -foot-7-inch forward who Matheny said "knows the game," but is adjusting its college level speed.
That speed of the game and a raucous crowd at UMass will challenge the newcomers and the rest of the Phoenix Friday night.
"They're a very athletic team and it's gonna be a good test for us," Hamilton said. "We're excited to get out there"