CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- The Chattanooga Mocs 2011-12 season got off to a cold start losing 78-53 at Indiana (2-0) Sunday evening in Assembly Hall. Chattanooga (0-1) shot just 27 percent from the field in the loss.

Senior Omar Wattad (Johnson City, Tenn.) was the lone offensive bright spot. He tallied 24 points, his eighth career 20-point game, hitting seven of 14 from the field, five of 10 beyond the arc and five-for-five from the free throw line.

His 24 points was a game high just ahead of a stellar performance for IU's Victor Oladipo. Oladipo had 21 points with five rebounds to pace three double-digit performers for the Hoosiers.

It was very competitive early. After Indiana jumped out to a 5-0 lead, Wattad hit treys on consecutive possessions to give UTC its first lead, 6-5, at 16:43. Another Wattad three at 7:42 made it 21-18 as the Mocs continued to put pressure on the Hoosiers.

IU responded with a 7-0 run to go up 25-21 at 5:10 on two Oladipo free throws. Ronrico White (Knoxville, Tenn.) nailed a three-pointer from the right corner on the Mocs' next possession to make it 25-24 at 4:53.

It was all Hoosiers from that point. They closed the half with an 11-0 run to take a 36-24 lead into intermission and then came out strong to open the second half. An Oladipo dunk at 16:34 gave Indiana 21-point margin, 50-29, and it never looked back.

While Wattad was the only double figure scorer for Chattanooga, there were other good notes to take from the contest. The Mocs out-rebounded the bigger Hoosier squad 45-36 led by junior Drazen Zlovaric (Novi Sad, Serbia).

Zlovaric began his UTC career with a game-high 10 rebounds. Freshman Jared Bryant (Cincinnati, Ohio) had six in six minutes of play, while Wattad grabbed five. Four IU players shared team-high totals with five.

Jordan Hulls keyed the Hoosiers in the first half scoring 12 of his 18 points in keeping the Mocs within sight. Hulls scored all 18 of his points from beyond the arc making six of nine. Verdell Jones added 16 points and four steals.

IU took full advantage of UTC's 25 turnovers scoring 30 points on those miscues. The Mocs scored just nine off the Hoosiers 18 giveaways. Indiana also beat UTC in the paint 24-12.

Chattanooga remains in central Indiana for a Tuesday night matchup with two-time NCAA Finalist Butler at 7 p.m.  Live video, audio and stats are available at GoMocs.com via the men's basketball schedule page. Fans can also follow on Twitter (@GoMocs) for notes, stats and more.

The Mocs are five days away from their home opener against Kennesaw State. The Owls visit on Friday, November 18 at 7 p.m. Tickets are available at the McKenzie Arena ticket office, by phone at (423) 266-MOCS (6627) and online at GoMocs.com. Half-priced general admission tickets ($4) are available online to print at home using promo code ITSTIME. Offer expires two hours before each home contest.