WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - Following its two-game southern CAA road swing, the William & Mary men's basketball team returns to the friendly confines of Kaplan Arena to host the Elon on Thursday night. The contest is slated for a 7 p.m. tip and will be broadcast for FREE in HD on Tribe Athletics TV via Stretch Internet.

Tribe fans can also catch the men's basketball action over the Tribe Radio Network with Jay Colley and Charlie Woollum on the call. The Tide 92.3 FM and 107.9 Bach FM are the flagship stations of the Tribe Radio Network and the audio is also available over the Web at TribeAthletics.com.

Catch up with the Tribe through social media. Follow the Tribe on Twitter @TribeAthletics and for in-game updates @TribeGameDay. Check in with the Tribe on Facebook at WMTribeAthletics, and see what happening with the Green and Gold on Instagram @TribeAthletics. Finally, along with the catalog of video content on TribeAtheltics.com, check out the Tribe YouTube page. Be social and share all the Tribe news and experiences, using the hashtag #RisingTribe.
 

News and Notes
- W&M leads the all-time series with Elon at 7-1, including 2-1 mark last season. The teams won on their home court last season. Elon topped W&M, 85-79, in North Carolina, while the Tribe posted a 77-59 win in Williamsburg. The Green and Gold claimed the season series with a 72-59 triumph in the CAA Quarterfinals in Baltimore.
 
- Thursday's match-up will pit the top 3-point offense in the CAA against the league's top 3-point defense. Elon enters the contest at a league-best 10.6 3-pointers made per game, which ranks eighth nationally. The Phoenix shoots 36 percent from long range. On the other hand, W&M leads the CAA and ranks 11th nationally in 3-point percentage defense (28.6 percent).
 
- Senior Terry Tarpey is only three rebounds away from becoming just the ninth player in W&M history with 700 career boards. Earlier this season, Tarpey became the first player in program history with 100 blocked shots and 100 steals in a career. He is the only player in Tribe lore to ranks among the top 10 in career steals, blocked shots and rebounds. Tarpey is also just one point away from 800 for his career.
 
- After ranking among the top 30 each of previous three seasons, W&M is once again among the national leaders in field goal shooting in 2015-16. The Tribe ranks 28th in the country at 48.3 percent from the floor. W&M has been even better in CAA play at 51.6 percent shooting.
 
- Senior Sean Sheldon scored a career-high 20 points at UNCW on Jan. 16. He is averaging 10.2 points per game and shooting a league-best 73 percent from the field in CAA play.
 
Scouting Elon
Elon enters the game with the Tribe coming off a thrilling 65-64 win at Charleston thanks to a 3-pointer from freshman Dainan Swoope with 20 seconds left. The Phoenix sits at 12-7 overall and 3-3 in CAA play.
 
Elon features one of the top offenses and 3-point shooting groups in the CAA. The Phoenix ranks second in the league 43rd nationally at 80.2 points per game, while playing one of the fastest paces in the country at 74.5 possessions per contest. That number leads the CAA and ranks 15th nationally according to KenPom.com. Elon averages 10.6 made 3-pointers per game, which leads the CAA and ranks eight nationally, and shoots 36 percent from long range. In league play, they have increased their long rang marksmanship to 37.3 percent. The Phoenix take 46.7 percent from their shots from 3-point range and nearly 40 percent (39.6) of its scoring is via the 3-point shot. Both percentages rank ninth in the country. Defensively, Elon is last in the CAA, allowing teams to score 78.2 points per game.
 
Senior Tanner Samson leads the Phoenix and ranks 11th in the CAA at 14.8 points per game. He does most of his damage from 3-point range, ranking 25th nationally at 3.2 3-pointers made per game and 42nd in the country at 43.2 percent from long range. Junior Luke Eddy ranks second on the team in scoring at 11.5 points per game and dishes out 5.2 assists per contest. According to KenPom.com, he is 20th in the country in assist rate. Eddy has been even better in CAA play, averaging 15.3 points per game. Swoope and junior Christian Hairston both average in double figures overall at 10.3 and 10.1 points per game, respectively. Hairston is the Phoenix's top rebounders at 6.9 per game, which is eighth in the CAA. He ranks second in the league, shooting 61.7 percent from the floor. Two other Phoenix players average in double figures in CAA play in freshmen Tyler Sebring (13.2) and Steven Santa Ana (10.0). Sebring is the two-time reigning CAA Rookie of the Week and is shooting 48.6 percent from 3-point range in league play.
 
W&M leads the all-time series with the Phoenix at 7-1, including a 2-1 mark last season in Elon's first year in the CAA. The teams split during the regular season with each winning on its home court. The Tribe downed the Phoenix, 72-59, in the CAA Quarterfinals to take the season series last year.
 
Malinowski Filling In
Sophomore Greg Malinowski has been W&M's top bench performer in 2015-16, but he has also displayed the ability to step into the starting lineup and make an impact when needed. Overall on the year, he is averaging 8.2 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. Malinowski has topped W&M in bench scoring on 10 occasions, including a three double-digit contests, and led the reserves in rebounding 11 times. Twice this season, the Chantilly, Va., native moved into the starting lineup for an injury W&M player and in those contests he is averaging 13.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, shooting 57.1 percent (8-of-14) from the field and 66.7 percent (6-of-9) from 3-point range. On Dec. 18, Malinowski filled in for Terry Tarpy and posted his first career double-double on 15 points and 11 rebounds in the win over Mary Washington. More recently, he canned four 3-pointers and scored 12 points in a career-high 37 minutes at UNCW on Jan. 16.  On the year, Malinowski is shooting 46.2 percent from the field and 36.4 percent from 3-point range. In CAA games, he ranks fifth in the league with a 3-point field goal percentage of 42.9.
 
Helping Hand
An important characteristic of the Tribe's offense under head coach Tony Shaver has been its ability to share the basketball. The 2015-16 has been no different as W&M is averaging 15.6 assists per game, which ranks second in the CAA and 66th nationally. The Green and Gold has been even better in CAA play, dishing out a league-best 16.2 per contest. The Tribe dished out 20 assists in game for the fourth time this season on Jan. 16 at UNCW. W&M is 3-1 this season and 16-1 over the six seasons when dishing out 20 or more assists in a game. In seven of the last eight years, the Tribe has dished out at least 400 assists, and twice in the last three seasons, W&M led the CAA in assists at more than 14 per game. Each of the last three seasons, W&M has ranked among the top 100 nationally in assists per game, including 39th in 2014-15 at 14.8. In 10 of Shaver's 12 seasons, W&M has ranked among the top 100 in the country in assist percentage, according to KenPom.com. In fact, the Tribe has been among the top 50 in five of the last eight seasons. Assist percentage measures the percentage of made field goals assisted on by a team. This season, the Tribe is 81st in assist percentage at 57.0. Seven of the top eight assist totals in W&M history have come from Shaver-coached teams, including 487 last season which ranked second in program annals.
 
Standout Sheldon
Senior Sean Sheldon turned in the best statistical week of his Green and Gold career during the Tribe's southern CAA swing. The 6-9 forward averaged 15 points per game last week shooting 80 percent (12-of-15) from the floor. He scored 10 points and knocked down the game-winning free throws with 32 seconds remaining at Charleston on Jan. 14. Sheldon followed that up with a career-high 20 points on 9-of-11 from the floor at UNCW. In CAA play this season, he is averaging 10.2 points per game and leads the league at 73 percent shooting from the field.
 
Dishing David
Sophomore David Cohn recorded his first career double-double at UNCW on Jan. 16, dishing out a career-high 11 assists to go along with 14 points. The 11 assists tied for the most by a CAA player this season and ranked fourth in W&M history. Cohn became the first Tribe player since Sean McCurdy at JMU in 2010 to dish out 11 or more assists in a game. To make his line even more impressive, Cohn had just one turnover in 37 minutes of action against the Seahawks. He is the first player in W&M history with a game of at least 11 and only one turnover. Cohn ranks fifth in the CAA at 4.2 assists per game and has been even better at 5.2 per contest in league action, which ranks fourth. He has also protected the ball, sporting the CAA's second-best assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.1, which also ranks 30th nationally.
 
Offensive Uptick in CAA Play
While the Tribe's 2015-16 offense ranks among the national leaders overall in a number of categories, the Green and Gold has seen an increase in production during the first four games of the league slate. According to the advanced statistical website KenPom.com, In conference games, W&M leads the CAA in effective field goal percentage, two-point field goal percentage and offensive efficiency, while ranking third in 3-point percentage. In CAA play, the Tribe's offensive efficiency is 111.4 up from its 110.5 overall on the year. The Tribe's effective field goal percentage has increased from 54.9 percent to 58.2 percent, while its two-point shooting percentage has jumped from 54.8 to 59.8 percent in league action. Overall, W&M is 20th in effective field goal percentage, 21st in two-point field goal percentage and 42nd in offensive efficiency.
 
Tribe Excels in the Classroom
Along with its work on the court, the men's hoops program continues to demonstrate why Tribe Athletics personifies the term student-athlete with its efforts in the classroom. The men's basketball team achieved a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of better than 3.0 during the fall semester at the 'Public Ivy' institution. As a whole, the W&M student-athletes compiled a cumulative GPA of 3.15. The College ranked sixth on both America's Top Public Colleges list according to Forbes in 2015 and U.S. News & World Reports' Best Public Schools. U.S. News & World Report also rated W&M 34th nationally among all universities in 2016. During Shaver's 13 years, W&M leads the CAA with 38 CAA All-Academic Team selection, boasts five CAA Men's Basketball Scholar-Athletes of the Year and five Dean Ehlers Leadership Award winners. The Dean Ehlers Leadership Award is given to the student-athlete who "embodies the highest standards of leadership, integrity and sportsmanship in conjunction with his academic athletic achievement."