ELON, N.C. – Entering Billy Taylor’s second year at the helm of the Elon University men’s basketball team, the head coach said he sees a bright future for the program.
The 2022-23 season was an up-and-down one, with the Phoenix finishing 8-24 but winning six of its last 10 regular season CAA contests. The team was bitten by the injury bug early and often, with important pieces Deandre Smart and Andrew Junkin missing the majority of the season.
Alongside several key returners, Taylor said this year’s team is also full of fresh faces ready to contribute.
“12 of our 16 guys on the roster are freshmen and sophomores, so we’re still very much a young team, a developing team,” Taylor said.
Newcomers to the Phoenix include graduate transfer Rob Higgins from St. Francis Brooklyn and freshman guards Grant Gondrezick II and Nick Dorn, players who figure to make an immediate impact. All three provide elite scoring and playmaking potential, a need for a Phoenix team looking to improve on last season.
Although 2022-23 wasn’t what Taylor and the Phoenix had hoped for, Taylor said the locker room stayed committed to competing every game.
“We obviously had a very tough stretch,” Taylor said. “But in terms of the messaging that we brought every day as a coaching staff, it was about consistency. Consistency of effort, consistency of preparation, consistency in the things that are most important to us.”
Over three weeks beginning at the end of January, the team rattled off six wins in eight opportunities, which built momentum leading into this season.
“We just continued to be consistent, and as we got a little bit healthy, and guys started to get into shape and started to play together and get a little bit of comfort with each other, we saw some success on the floor,” Taylor said. “That really gave us a lot of energy as we went into the last part of the regular season and then into offseason workouts.”
Zac Ervin, a graduate student guard who earned last season’s CAA Scholar-Athlete of the Year award and was named one of three team captains for this season, acknowledged his role in the development of young teammates.
“For me, it’s just trying to be a leader every day,” Ervin said. “Trying to be a leader by example and a vocal leader is something that I’m embracing every day.”
Ervin returns after providing a solid 9.1 points and 2.6 rebounds per game to the Phoenix a season ago, which will likely also have to turn to young and yet unproven players to bolster their strong veterans. The returning group includes Max Mackinnon, last season’s CAA Rookie of the Year.
“I think the beauty of coming into this season and having such a young team is that so many guys are hungry for an opportunity,” Taylor said. “We want to see guys that are competing for minutes, competing for opportunities, because obviously, as we’ve seen from last year, I’m not afraid to play young guys, start young guys. Obviously, that helped Max Mackinnon in terms of his quest towards winning CAA Rookie of the Year.”
Though Taylor isn’t entirely sure of what’s to come with such a young roster in his second year, he’s confident in the young men he’s assembled to meet the new year’s competition head-on.
“It’s a matter of doing the work and the preparation between March and October to get ready for the upcoming season,” Taylor said, “I’ve really seen our guys committed to that process and seeing growth.”
THREE THINGS TO KNOW
- Max Attack – Defending CAA Rookie of the Year Max Mackinnon will look to build on his stellar freshman campaign in 2023-24. Last season, Mackinnon was second on the Phoenix with 11.4 points per game and 75 assists. The sophomore was selected to the CAA All-Preseason Second Team last month.
- Youth Movement – Of Elon’s 16 players this season, 12 are underclassmen, including a class of six freshmen.
- Back For More – After leading Elon in scoring last season, Sean Halloran is back with the Phoenix in 2023-24 as the team’s Director of Basketball Operations.
‘Rising Phoenix’ is a new student-led initiative to cover Elon Athletics. Through innovative content creation and storytelling, Elon University students will have the opportunity to highlight the moments, people and events that make an impact, leveraging the athletic department’s various web and social media platforms for distribution. Follow Rising Phoenix on Twitter (@EURisingPhoenix) and Instagram (@elonrisingphoenix). Interested in joining this initiative as a content creator (video, graphics, writing, storytelling, or more)? Contact Jacob Kisamore at [email protected].
–ELON–