Take a look at the stats for the Southern Conference men's basketball teams so far this season, and you'll see Elon University near the top of some pretty key categories.

Field goal percentage defense. Scoring defense. Scoring margin. Blocked shots. Steals. Turnover margin.

All those stats are defensive-minded stats, and it's a result of a focus on defense this season.

"It's been a big key for our team," said Elon sophomore guard Austin Hamilton following the Phoenix's 56-54 loss to SoCon-best College of Charleston this past Saturday. "We've got guys that like to get after and pressure the ball. It starts with defense."

Let's start with turnovers. Elon (5-3 overall, 1-1 SoCon) has forced the most turnovers in the SoCon (136), and has the best turnover margin at +6.25 per game. The Phoenix has also blocked a league-best 35 shots, 20 by junior forward Lucas Troutman. Opponents are shooting just 40.7 percent from the field against Elon, the second-lowest number in the conference behind College of Charleston.

"It gives you a chance to win," said head coach Matt Matheny. "We've got to keep it up."

Perhaps the highlight of the season so far was forcing College of Charleston senior guard Andrew Lawrence, a preseason all-conference first team pick and 2012 Olympian with Great Britain, into eight turnovers Saturday night.

"He's a good player," Matheny said. "I like the way we defended him. Here's a guy that played against (Team USA guard) Kobe (Bryant) and (Team USA guard/forward) LeBron (James) and all those guys in the Olympics, what an incredible experience for him, and we did a good job on him."

If the Phoenix can keep up that kind of defense, plus do a couple other things, Matheny feels this team has a shot at some big things.

"If we can continue to defend and get a little better defensively and we can polish up some of the execution late-game or some of the end-of-the-first-half stagnation, getting better looks overall, offensively, then we're pretty good," he said.

The process of doing that starts with a rematch of a game last year Troutman said was one of the roughest games of the season.

"Last year, they came out and hit us in the mouth," he said about the Phoenix's 62-54 loss to Dartmouth College last Dec. 17. "We kind of stumbled back and never came out. We have to come out swinging this year, and if we don't, same thing's going to happen."

When the Big Green (2-3 overall, 0-0 Ivy League) visits Elon Tuesday night, he's not too worried.

"The way we've been playing the last eight games and the way we know we can play, that's not going to be a problem," he added.

Last season, the Big Green fought back from an early 16-7 deficit to be down by two at halftime. In the second half, Dartmouth used a 15-3 stretch to pull away from the Phoenix and take the win, snapping Elon's four-game winning streak.

Dartmouth comes to Alumni Gym off a win over Longwood University Dec. 1, a victory that ended a three-game losing streak. Through five games, the young Ivy League team is led by freshman guard Alex Mitola and sophomore center Gabas Maldunas, who had a game-high 17 points last season when these teams met.

Statistically, it may look like the Phoenix has an edge in this game. The Big Green is shooting 36.2 percent from the field, 30.8 percent from beyond the arc, this season.

Either way, Troutman said the key for Elon is to play 40 minutes with all they've got and fight.

"If we continue to fight that whole game and continue to attack them over and over and over, we can do really well," he said. "If we can hold them to a low field goal percentage, we'll end up doing really well. We have to come out and attack on offense and attack on defense. If we come out buns blazing, it's going to be a game."

Hamilton was encouraged with the way the Phoenix fought back against College of Charleston. Elon crawled back from two nine-point deficits and had a chance to win at the end of the game, but the guard missed a 40-foot shot at the buzzer.

"It's hard to come back against a good team like Charleston," he said. "They're very talented and I think they're pretty good in the league. We're going to learn from it, because we could see them in the Southern Conference Championship. We've just got to learn from it and get better."

The Phoenix will be able to face Dartmouth at home this time, a bit of an advantage over traveling to snowy New Hampshire last season. Matheny said he likes the home-crowd advantage the Phoenix had on Saturday, and he just may have another one Tuesday. It's the last day of classes for Elon students, and exams start Thursday. So they may want a bit of a break before hitting the books.

"It really felt like an event tonight," Matheny said after the College of Charleston game. "The last couple of days, the buildup to this game, in the community you can hear people talking about the game. Here we are in December, and what I heard four years ago was basketball season really cranks up in January and February around here. Well, that was a great crowd, and it's December the first, and I hope that continues."

Game Notes

  • Projected ELON Starting Lineups: So. G Austin Hamilton (9.5 ppg, 3.1 rpg), Jr. G Jack Isenbarger (13.8 ppg, 2.5 rpg), Jr. G Sebastian Koch (7.6 ppg, 4.6 rpg), Jr. F Ryley Beaumont (9.9 ppg, 5.1 rpg), Jr. F Lucas Troutman (14.6 ppg, 5.8 rpg)
  • DARTMOUTH Starting Lineups (last game): Jr. G Tyler Melville (1.8 ppg, 0.4 rpg), Fr. G Alex Mitola (13.8 ppg, 3.2 rpg), So. F John Golden (12.4 ppg, 4.8 rpg), So. F Jvonte Brooks (7.2 ppg, 7.4 rpg), So. C Gabas Maldunas (13.4 ppg, 6.6 rpg)
  • Last season's meeting between the two teams was the first time the programs had ever met. After this game, Elon is off until Dec. 15 against the University of Massachusetts-Amherst for final exams.
  • The game against Dartmouth is the last scheduled contest for senior forward Roger Dugas' nine-game suspension for a violation of team rules.