It always stinks to lose.
So said Elon sophomore guard Jack Isenbarger, whose team has lost four games in a row dating back to its Feb. 9 loss to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and has fallen two games behind North Division leader UNC-Greensboro with two games left in the regular season. The Spartans have already clinched at least a share of the Southern Conference’s North Division title, but that is not the Phoenix's focus.
With the regular season finale against UNCG Feb. 25 looming, Phoenix head coach Matt Matheny continues to look forward. In that game, Elon may have a chance to clinch a share of the North Division crown.
“We would love to be competing for a championship on the last day of the regular season,” Matheny said. “But it’s so much more about our team and the growth of our team, and the focus is on the improvement of our team.”
With losses to Wofford College Feb. 15 in Spartanburg and Western Carolina University Feb. 18 at home, the Phoenix has fallen to 13-14, the first time its overall record has dipped below .500 since Jan. 19 against Samford University.
But the constant mantra of “records don’t matter” that Matheny’s squad has held throughout the season continues to be on their lips.
“We’re not gonna focus on records,” Isenbarger said. “At this point, we’re focusing on getting better each day and correcting the mistakes we made tonight (Feb. 18 against Western Carolina). We’re going to move on to the next game.”
Against Wofford, Elon watched as the Terriers had a 24-1 run in the first half, developing a lead they could not overcome as the Phoenix fell 72-59. Western Carolina came back from an 11-point deficit in the first half to defeat Elon 78-76 in overtime.
The loss against Western Carolina was especially tough for the Phoenix to take. Isenbarger had 26 points and Elon shot 50.9 percent from the field in the game, but they still managed to lose their first home game since Jan. 19 loss to Samford.
“Road warriors should play well everywhere,” Elon sophomore forward Ryley Beaumont said. “But it does hurt at home. It’s gonna hurt, it’s gonna feel bad. We’ve got to take what we did well, take what we did bad and learn from it, get ready for the next one.”
The next one is a tough test against Davidson College, which sits first in the SoCon’s South Division with a 14-2 conference record. The Wildcats have made a little noise this season, defeating then-No. 11 Kansas University on Dec. 19.
“Davidson’s got a great thing going right now,” Isenbarger said. “It’s going to be a fight, it always is between us and Davidson. We respect their style of play, but we’re going to go in there aggressive and ready to attack.”
If the Phoenix loses to Davidson, it will lose its chance to win a share of the North Division crown.
Elon has had four chances to pick up their 14th win, the same number of victories they had last season. But they have fallen just short of the mark every time. Matheny thinks they still have a ways to go.
“We need to make more shots, make more free throws, turn it over less,” he said. “We made some mistakes defensively too. We need to get where we make fewer and fewer mistakes. We’re still making too many mistakes to expect to win"