Elon entered tonight 2-8, and 0-8 vs. Division I. They were 342nd of 358 in the NET. They hosted Winthrop. Jerald Gillens-Butler played 3 games last season due to injury, and only 4 games before tonight. He had 0 points, 4 fouls, and 3 turnovers in 8 minutes until he made the winning three with 1.3 seconds left. Winthrop led 16-4 and led a majority of the game. Elon led 2-0 and didn't lead againt until they went up 34-33 with 15:27 left. They led by 1 to 7 points until Winthrop's second-to-last possession. With half a second difference between the game clock and shot clock, they could have held for the final shot. With 9.9 seconds left (the play-by-play says 8 seconds but the clock was increased from 9.0 to 9.9), Winthrop made a two to go up 61-60. Elon didn't need a three, but Gillens-Butler made one with 1.3 seconds left to lead 63-61. Winthrop was out of timeouts, and their long shot at the buzzer was close. It hit the backboard and front rim, but luckily did not go in, and Elon won 63-61 to improve to 1-8 vs. Division I. Elon's last two non-conference games aren't interesting, as they host Shaw in their third non-Division I game, and then could get blown out at Arkansas. Gillens-Butler was Preseason Honorable Mention, but now he's a sub.
Tonight's other CAA game was UNCW's 85-55 win hosting non-Division I Mount Olive, who has way more players than we do. Mount Olive used 16 players, all of whom played 5 to 21 minutes, and 11 players played at least 10 minutes.
The only game today or tomorrow is Charleston at Stetson tomorrow at 7:00 P.M. Stetson is in DeLand, FL.