The Elon University men’s basketball team fell just short in its final home game of the season, losing 79-70 to William & Mary.
The Phoenix was coming off two straight victories over the top two ranked teams in the Coastal Athletic Association and hoped to end its home stretch of the season off strong.
Significant news came shortly before the game as it was announced by Elon Athletics that sophomore TJ Simpkins would miss the game due to a lower extremity injury. He will be evaluated on a game-to-game basis moving forward, according to Elon Athletics. Simpkins joined sophomore Nick Dorn on the bench, who has been out with a lower extremity injury the last several games. Both are members of Elon’s top three scorers this season in points per game.
Head coach Billy Taylor said these losses forced other players to step up.
“You lose another 15 point scorer in consecutive weeks; that’s 30 points from our offense. So it's a lot of pressure on other guys to step up,” Taylor said in the postgame press conference.
William & Mary got off to a hot start, winning the tip and scoring only a matter of seconds later with a 3-pointer. They notched another 3-pointer during their next possession as 3-pointers were the name of the game for the Tribe. They got off to a quick start this way, making four of their first seven 3-point attempts in the first four and a half minutes.They had 9 first half 3-pointers, with the Tribe’s Gabe Dorsey scoring 5 of the 9.
Junior TK Simpkins, who is coming off a combined 60 points in his last two games, started his day with a 3-pointer. Senior Sam Sherry, who was recognized during a Senior Day ceremony before the game, had a beautifully executed euro step layup. Sherry also made a 3-pointer, which sent the packed Schar Center crowd into a frenzy. Elon shot the ball well in the opening minutes and managed to shoot 78% from the field five minutes into the game.
Redshirt sophomore Andrew King stepped up in TJ’s absence, making an impact early in the game. He played 32 minutes, seven above his season average. He had 3 first half steals and notched 4 points and 3 rebounds by halftime. He assumed the role of point guard and controlled play and even made plays of his own, including a sequence where he faked it to the corner and then proceeded to sprint into the paint for a wide open layup. Taylor said he was happy with how King stepped up in TJ’s absence.
“He played a little bit more tonight, but we needed him to break the pressure and just be a solid ball handler. He tried to do that. He had a pretty couple of good looks at it,” Taylor said.
It was a tightly contested first 10 minutes that saw numerous lead changes as most possessions resulted in points in a back-and-forth affair. No team was able to go on a run and secure any sort of a comfortable lead.
That changed when William & Mary failed to score for a couple of minutes, allowing the Phoenix to go up by 7. It wouldn’t last long because the Tribe proceeded to go on a game-altering 18-0 run, holding Elon scoreless for six minutes. Elon committed four turnovers during this time and seemed at a loss for answers. William & Mary employed a full court press, trapping Elon players before they could get past the halfway mark of the court, which prevented Elon from finding promising looks and made them uncomfortable as they struggled to control the pace of the game. Taylor called multiple timeouts, trying to stop William & Mary’s rhythm and find an answer.
“We missed some wild shots, some quick shots that were okay looks, but we could have had better looks,” Taylor said. “We had an advantage in the paint, but we didn't get a consistent effort to attack inside.”
After an almost silent crowd for a number of minutes, redshirt freshman Brayden Crump woke up the crowd with an and-one layup. The crowd began to chant his name, trying to get some energy into the building. By the end of the first half, the damage was done, and the Tribe went into halftime off a 23–3 run.
William & Mary picked up where it left off after halftime, immediately continuing the press, forcing Elon to call a timeout seconds into the half in order to avoid a eight second violation. The press continued to work wonders and caused a couple of early turnovers. Three minutes into the second half, it extended its lead to 20.
Elon then proceeded to score 5 straight points, including a 3-pointer from TK. Despite the deficit, the crowd was still in it, trying to will the Phoenix back into the game. The Phoenix dug deep and got themselves back in it in the latter part of the second half. Elon’s defense began to get physical, holding the Tribe scoreless over a three and a half minute span. Graduate student Matthew Van Komen got physical, grabbing 11 rebounds and 3 blocks with most of it coming in the second half. Sherry believes the defense got more aggressive in the second half but said in the postgame press conference that they have to sustain that for 40 minutes in order to get the win.
Elon brought the deficit to under 10 with a few minutes left after an 8-0 run. Sherry and TK spearheaded this run as Sherry scored 19 points, while TK had his third straight 28+ point game and scored 30 points. Taylor called TK’s performance “heroic.” Moments later, a Sherry block denied an attempt to score by William & Mary, eliciting roars from the crowd and a standing ovation. The Tribe called a timeout to regroup and to try to get the momentum back.
Taylor said that the game was back and forth and that they really only had one bad segment of play at the end of the first half. He was proud of the way the team fought back in the second half.
“I thought we showed a lot of grit and competitiveness as we just tried to fight and scrap and figure out a way to get back into the ball game,” Taylor said. “Certainly, a lot of things that we could have done better, but in terms of our competitiveness, our fight, our defense in the second half, I was really pleased and hopeful for things to come.”
William & Mary got it together, getting their offense going again, returning to the 3-pointer to revive them. Their defense also stepped up and put the game away by holding Elon to no field goals over a three and a half minute span.
Sherry, who recently surpassed 500 career rebounds, said it was tough to not get it done in his last game at Schar Center, but emphasized that he’s had a great career at Elon.
“It's been super fun to play in Schar,” Sherry said. “I owe it all to my teammates and my coach and it's been a great run.”
The Phoenix plays its penultimate game against Monmouth at 7 p.m. Feb. 27.