Drexel looking to reverse its recent fortunes with CAA home opener against Elon
The Dragons are looking to snap a four-game losing streak, which includes road CAA losses to Northeastern and Hofstra.
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After getting off to a solid start, the Drexel men’s basketball team will look to end a four-game losing streak when it hosts Elon in the Dragons' Colonial Athletic Association home opener at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Drexel (6-9, 0-2 CAA) dropped its first two CAA games, losing by 93-83 to Northeastern on Friday and then 88-75 at Hofstra on Sunday.
In the preseason CAA poll, Northeastern was picked to finish first and Hofstra third.
“We played two of the top three teams in our league on the road, and we saw some positive things,” Drexel coach Zach Spiker said Wednesday. “Now we are home for two really big games.”
After Elon (5-10, 1-1), the Dragons will host William & Mary (6-8, 2-0) at 4 p.m. Saturday.
Spiker said Elon is “one of the best three-point shooting teams in the country.” The Phoenix entered Wednesday with 155 three-point field goals, the most in the CAA. However, Elon was fifth in the CAA in three-point percentage (36.5).
Elon’s top three-point shooters and scorers are juniors: 6-foot-4 Steven Santa Ana and 6-9 Tyler Seibring. Santa Ana is averaging 16.6 points and shooting 41.8 percent from beyond the arc. Seibring averages 15.9 points and shoots 40.7 percent from three-point range.
Drexel’s depth has been hurt by injuries. Junior point guard Kurk Lee, who is 85 points shy of 1,000 for his career, has missed all but three early-season games because of an upper body injury. Junior swingman Zach Walton suffered a season-ending wrist injury in a Nov. 28 loss at home to NJIT.
Senior guard Troy Harper is averaging a team-high 15.8 points for Drexel. Harper has been especially hot lately, averaging 21.1 points in his last seven games.
“Troy Harper has been showing great leadership,” Spiker said.
Harper, who had a career-high 28 points against Northeastern and 22 against Hofstra, is also shooting 82.1 percent from the foul line.
In Lee’s absence, freshman Camren Wynter has run the point well for the Dragons. “He has been very consistent,” Spiker said. Wynter is averaging 11.3 points and 5.0 assists.
Alihan Demir, a 6-9 junior, is averaging 14.3 points and 7.3 rebounds for the Dragons, and graduate transfer Trevor John averages 12.1 points.
A 6-3 guard who transferred from Cal Poly, John has hit all nine of his free throws and is 51-for-112 from three-point range (45.5 percent).