Bulldogs face surging Elon

He played and worked for Bob McKillop at Davidson, so it's little wonder that first-year Elon basketball coach Matt Matheny espouses many of the same philosophies.

Heck, he even sounds a bit like McKillop on the Southern Conference weekly coaches' conference call.

And just lately, Elon has begun showing signs that Matheny's rebuilding program is taking hold. After enduring a nine-game skid, Elon has won two of its last three heading into today's visit from The Citadel. The Phoenix pushed College of Charleston before losing, 80-77, on Thursday.

"I'm proud of our players," said Matheny, who worked 16 years with McKillop at Davidson, the final six as associate head coach. "We keep fighting. We are playing some our best basketball down the stretch, and that has been our goal all season."

At Elon, Matheny took over a program that never quite got cranked up in six seasons under Ernie Nestor. His best season came in 2005-06, when Elon went 15-14 and finished first in the North Division with a 10-4 mark. Last year, the Phoenix slid to 11-20 and 7-13 in the SoCon.

But Matheny sees some similarities between Elon, a private school of about 5,500 students near Greensboro, and what he left behind at Davidson.

"It's a beautiful campus with a small-town feel," Matheny, 39, said after he was hired last March. "It's 10 minutes from the interstate, perfectly located. More than that, the people are wonderful. It has that same small-community feel that I'm used to."

Now, of course, all Matheny has to do is recruit the next Stephen Curry. In the meantime, he inherited a squad that returned three starters, and Elon struggled to a 3-15 start before finding its stride lately. Elon has beaten Chattanooga twice, won at Furman and topped Western Carolina, 81-76.

Elon had five players in double figures against WCU, and 6-8 senior Adam Constantine has 39 points and 23 rebounds in the last two games. Drew Spradlin, a 6-5 sophomore guard, is emerging as a top-flight scorer; he had 30 points in an 83-80 win over Chattanooga.

"Matt's doing a great job with them," Citadel coach Ed Conroy said. "Our league is so balanced and so close, you have to bring it every night."

The Bulldogs have won three straight, including a 72-65 win at College of Charleston on Monday.

At 7-6 in the league, The Citadel is hanging on in the SoCon South Division race, a half-game back of third-place Davidson and three games back of second-place Wofford. The top two teams in the division earn a first-round bye in next month's SoCon Tournament in Charlotte.