Last time the Elon Phoenix faced the College of Charleston Cougars, it was bad.

The Phoenix had just won a rebound-type game against The Citadel Jan. 12 that ended Elon's five-game losing streak. Elon head coach Matt Matheny took his club to Charleston to look to continue that streak.

But alas, it did not happen. The Phoenix shot a porous 23.9 percent from the field hit just three of 22 (13.6 percent) from behind the arc against the Cougars Jan. 14.

“Obviously, we shot very poorly,” Matheny said after that game. “Right now, I’m not sure about our mental toughness. We have to be able to be mentally tough defensively to get stops when we are struggling offensively.”

It's questionable as to whether or not that mental toughness has come. One may say that it has declined, as evidenced by the recent poor play of senior guard Drew Spradlin. A pre-season All-Southern Conference Team pick, Elon's lone senior has seen his points per game total drop from 11.4 after Elon's big 109-67 victory over Lynchburg College Dec. 11, 2011, to 9.0 following last Saturday's loss against Appalachian State University, a game in which Spradlin only scored two points. He lost his starting spot to sophomore guard Jack Isenbarger, who has since averaged 20 points per game since his second start of the season, first in replacing Spradlin, against Samford Jan. 19.

Speaking about his success in the starting lineup as opposed to coming off the bench as he had been, Isenbarger said, "I don't think there's any different mentality. I come in every day just ready to play and do whatever coach asks. We're playing with more confidence and we're definitely improving."

That "improvement" is something that Matheny also touched on following the brutal Appalachian State loss.

"We're really, really young and getting better," he said.

Tonight, against a College of Charleston team that sits at 5-6 in fourth place of the SoCon's South Division, that youth is going to have to continue to improve. Last time against the Cougars, freshman guard Austin Hamilton had seven points to lead Elon. Hamilton has proven to be an apt option at point guard in his first year for Matheny, averaging 10.8 points and 3.2 assists per game.

Hamilton and the Phoenix will have to deal with a Cougars team that just got its first victory at Samford Monday with interim head coach Mark Byington, who took over from Bobby Cremins (who took a leave of absence due to medical reasons) Jan. 27. Charleston senior Antwaine Wiggins, who had 13 points and seven rebounds against Elon in their meeting earlier this season, scored a career-high 25 points to help his team to a 68-52 victory. The win ended a four-game losing streak for the Cougars.

"It feels really good," Wiggins said. "Once you get the win, it's a whole new feeling. Everyone showed a lot of passion and played really hard tonight. It's been tough. It was shock to all of us (when Coach Cremins took a medical leave of absence). We trust Coach B (Byington) as a coach. He has been here for six years with Coach Cremins. We are behind him 100 percent and we know the season isn't over. I'm so excited and Thursday can't come fast enough (to play Elon)."

Other players that were effective for the Cougars in their last meeting against Elon were freshman forward/center Adjehi Baru (18 points and 12 rebounds) and sophomore forward Trent Wiedeman (ten points and 17 rebounds). Both of those players suffered recent injuries, but Wiedeman did not miss a game. The Cougars out-rebounded Elon 55-39 in their last meeting, a stat the Phoenix must improve on. But leading rebounder Lucas Troutman struggled down low against Appalachian State big men Isaac Butts and Andre Williamson.

"They did a good job of making it difficult for him to catch it in a comfort area," Matheny said, "and I thought they crowded him really well. Lucas has done in the past a better job of handling than he did today."

Troutman and other Phoenix big men will have to go back to that if Elon hopes to come out with a win. With a 5-4 SoCon record, Elon sits second in the North Division, a half-game behind UNC-Greensboro, who plays sixth-place, 4-17 The Citadel tonight.

Like in any sport, when playoff time is around the corner, tonight's game is crucial for the young Phoenix's hopes for a SoCon championship, for confidence and a North Division crown.

[box]PROJECTED STARTING LINEUPS

COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON: Jr. G Andrew Lawrence (12.5 ppg, 5.2 apg), So. G Nori Johnson (3.3 ppg, 1.1 rpg), Jr. F Matt Sundberg (6.4 ppg, 4.3 rpg), Sr. F Antwaine Wiggins (16.2 ppg, 6.7 rpg), So. F Trent Wiedeman (11 ppg, 8 rpg)

ELON: So. G Jack Isenbarger (11.4 ppg, 3.4 rpg), Fr. G Austin Hamilton (10.8 ppg, 3.2 apg), So. G Sebastian Koch (8.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg), So. F Ryley Beaumont (6.1 ppg, 5.3 rpg), So. F Lucas Troutman (12.3 ppg, 5.8 rpg)[/box]

[box]BITS AND PIECES

  • In the current starting line-up rotation of Isenbarger-Hamilton-Beaumont-Koch-Troutman, the Phoenix is 2-2.
  • The Phoenix currently ranks third in the SoCon with an average of 8.0 three-pointers per game.
  • Troutman is two blocks away from passing Shamar Johnson (1999-2003) for seventh on the all-time list in career blocks. Troutman currently sits with 76 blocks and is averaging 1.5 blocks per game this season.
  • Elon currently ranks second in the SoCon in field goal percentage defense (41.1%), but is eleventh in field goal percentage offense (40.0%).
  • In Elon's last eleven games, these are the harrowing statistics: 45.1% (opponent FG%), 35.7% (opponent 3-pt.%), -5.4 (rebound margin per game) and -9.0 (scoring margin per game).
  • In three games each, Troutman and Isenbarger lead the active Phoenix in scoring lifetime against the College of Charleston, averaging 8.3 points per game.[/box]