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MEDIA AVAILABILITY
TV: Big Ten Network: Steve Physioc (PxP) and Jon Crispin (Analysis) are on the call.
LINKS: Access links for video, audio and live stats on the men's basketball schedule page on GoMocs.com.
VIDEO: SoCon Digital Network.
RADIO: The Mocs Sports Network flagship station is 96.1 the Legend FM in Chattanooga. Scott Beatty fills in for Jim Reynolds who is in his 36th year as the play-by-play "Voice of the Mocs".
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
Follow the action on Twitter @GoMocsMBB. Get interactive using the hashtags GoMocs and ReptheC.
 
NEXT UP
Chattanooga heads to No. 7 Iowa State for the second in a five-game road trip. The game can be viewed online at Cyclones.TV.
 
OPENING TIPS
- Chattanooga is looking for its first 3-0 start since the 1997-98 season. That squad topped Wofford (82-65), College of St. Francis (Ill.) (74-44) and Presbyterian (56-53) before a loss to Middle Tennessee (68-87).
- It would be the 13th 3-0 opening all-time: 1926-27, 1927-28, 1929-30 (5-0), 1962-63 (4-0), 1972-73 (7-0), 1973-74 (8-0), 1974-75 (7-0), 1975-76 (4-0), 1987-88 (5-0), 1989-90 (4-0), 1991-92 and 1997-98.
- Matt McCall is the first Mocs ball coach to start his tenure 2-0 since Henry Dickerson (1998-02, 72-73) in 1997-98. Ron Shumate (1973-79, 139-61) had the best opening of the program's previous 18 leaders at 7-0 in 1972-73.
- Casey Jones needs 16 points to become the 21st Moc of the DI era to accumulate 1,000 for his career.
- Jones needs one assist for 150. He is on track to be the first Chattanooga Moc with 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 150 assists in his career.
- Justin Tuoyo ranks fifth at UTC in career blocks with 108. He needs three to pass Neil Ashby (110, 2001-02) for fourth-place.
- Big Ten Network is available in Chattanooga area: Comcast 478 (HD)/742 (SD), EPB 610 (SD)/630 (HD), Charter 307 (SD)/822 (HD), DirecTV 610, Dish Network 439 and U-Verse 650 (SD)/1650 (HD).
- UTC is 1-0 all-time against the Fighting Illini with the lone meeting coming in the second round of the 1997 NCAA Tournament in Charlotte. Series information is on page 3.
- The last time Chattanooga beat Georgia (1997 NCAA Tournament), it followed with a win over Illinois. The team that knocked it out of the Sweet 16? Providence, the Illini's last opponent.
- The Mocs are 2-20 against current Big Ten membership: Illinois 1-0, Indiana 0-2, Iowa 0-1, Maryland 0-2, Michigan 0-4, Minnesota 0-2, Ohio State 1-4, Purdue 0-2, Penn State 0-2 & Wisconsin 0-1.
- UTC has led for 74:05 of a possible 85 minutes thus far or 87.1 percent of the time.
- A win over Illinois would mark just the third time (modern era) the program topped two "Power 5" opponents in the same regular season:
1985-86: 48-47 at Mississippi State (12/17/85) & 89-78 vs. Ole Miss (12/20/85) in Birmingham, Ala.
1991-92: 85-73 at Mississippi State (11/22/91-Season Opener) & 87-75 vs. Auburn (12/29/91) at home in the Dr Pepper Classic Championship game.
- There were two notable close misses. A 1982-83 win over Mississippi State was sandwiched by a six-point loss to Tennessee (55-49) and seven-point deficit against North Carolina (73-66). All three games were in Chattanooga with the opening of McKenzie Arena. Those games featured future NBA performers Gerald Wilkins (UTC), Willie White (UTC), Jeff Malone (MSU), Dale Ellis (UT) and some guy named Michael Jordan with Sam Perkins and Brad Daugherty for UNC. The second time was 1993-94 with an early season 67-57 win at Alabama (Antonio McDyess), but close losses at No. 5 Michigan (97-86, Fab 4-sans Webber) and at No. 10 Purdue (74-66, Glenn Robinson).
- Chattanooga plays six of its first seven contests, seven of nine total, away from the friendly confines of McKenzie Arena.
 
HEAD COACH MATT MCCALL
- Head Coach Matt McCall is 2-0 in his first season as a head coach. He comes to Chattanooga from Florida where he was an assistant to Billy Donovan over the last four years. He is 1-0 on the road.
- McCall is a 2004 graduate of Florida. He spent 10 seasons with Billy Donovan working as a student manager (2003-06), director of basketball ops (2006-08) and assistant coach (2011-15). He spent three seasons as an assistant to Mike Jarvis at Florida Atlantic (2008-11) culminating with a school-best 21-11 mark in 2010-11.
- McCall's staff includes a former head coach, Reggie Witherspoon (Buffalo, 1999-2013), fellow former FAU assistant Peter Gash and Jesse Bopp, a former prep school head coach that most recently served as director of basketball ops for Shaka Smart at VCU. Former Gator SEC Legend Eddie Shannon is the director of basketball ops, while Jacob Kurtz is video coordinator after completing his playing career in 2015 at UF. Jordan Clark returns as graduate manager.
 
FOR STARTERS          
- Chattanooga is No. 19 in this week's CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25.
- Busy stretch of games, all away from the Scenic City. The Mocs play five games over a 10-day period starting at Illinois and ending at ULM (Nov. 30).
- The program is coming off its first 20-win season since 2004-05. It's the first time since 1993-94 that the squad clinched 20 wins in the regular season.
- Return four starters:  Casey Jones (14.2 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 51.9% FG), Greg Pryor (11.3 ppg, 2.5 apg, 37.9% 3pt), Justin Tuoyo (10.2 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 3.3 bpg, 53.8% FG) and Tre' McLean (4.3 ppg, 3.0 rpg). Also back are top sixth man Eric Robertson (8.8 ppg, 46.8% 3pt), Duke Ethridge (5.3 ppg, 3.2 rpg), Chuck Ester (3.4 ppg, 2.9 rpg), Alex Bran (1.6 ppg) and K.J. Bates (0.3 ppg).
- There were no non-graduation roster losses in the transition after McCall's hiring.
- Returning production: 78.4% points, 85.5% rebounding, 67.4% assists, 80.0% steals and 95.1% blocks.
- Senior Casey Jones is tied for the team lead in scoring (15.5 ppg), paces it in rebounding (7.0 rpg) is fourth in assists (2.5 apg) and tied for second in steals (1.0 spg).
- Jones is a two-time All-SoCon pick. He was a first team pick a season ago and second team in 2014.
- Jones is on CollegeInsider.com's watch list for the Lou Henson Award given to the Mid-Major Player of the Year.
- Jones was a three-time SoCon Player of the Week (Dec. 2, Feb. 3, Feb. 17) and two-time Player of the Month (Jan. & Feb.) last season. The three Player of the Week mentions was a school season record, while the back-to-back POM's in same season were the league's first since NBA MVP Stephen Curry at Davidson in 2008-09.
- Junior Justin Tuoyo was the 2015 SoCon Defensive Player of the Year. He also was an All-SoCon pick (1st team coaches/2nd team media).
- Tuoyo tallied a school-record 104 blocks in his first season in the Scenic City.
- Tuoyo led the SoCon and ranked 4th nationally with 3.3 blocks per game.
- Tuoyo's 104 blocks were more than 153 DI TEAMS.
- Tuoyo has multiple blocks in 30 of his 34 career games at UTC.
- Junior Greg Pryor has started all 65 of his career appearances at the 1. He was a 2015 All-SoCon third team selection.
- Pryor improved his shooting percentage from 31.5 percent as a freshman to 45.5 percent in 2014-15. His 3pt shooting jumped from 17.5 percent (11-63) to 37.9 percent (44-116).
- Pryor is shooting 66.7 percent (6-9) from 3pt range through two games.
- Pryor had a career-high-tying six steals Monday. He is averaging 4.5 per contest with three at UGA. That makes 12 career games with three or more.
- Junior Johnathan Burroughs-Cook shares leading scorer with Jones at 15.5 points per game. The duo scored 23 apiece at Georgia.
- "JBC" was a high school teammate of Greg Pryor (Ridgeway-Memphis).
- Freshman Peyton Woods is off to a flying start averaging 10.0 points per game. The sharpshooter is hitting 54.5 percent (6-11) from 3pt range with team-high-tying (Pryor) six made. He had six points on 2-4 from behind the arc at Georgia and 14 in Monday's victory.
- Senior Eric Robertson played the role of sixth man in 2014-15. He led the SoCon in 3pt shooting at 46.8 percent (65-139).
- Robertson is a 41.9 percent shooter for his career, 44.5 percent (98-220) over the past two-plus campaigns.
- Robertson shot 50 percent or better in 18 of 32 contests in 2014-15.
- Junior Tre' McLean started 17 of 34 appearances. The Mocs are 13-4 in those contests. He's developed a reputation for his play on the defensive end.
- Senior transfer Dee Oldham tallied nine points in each of the first two games. He's averaging 9.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 13.5 minutes per game.
- 11 of the 14 Mocs who played in the Hiwassee game posted double-digit minutes.
- Seven of the 14 scored eight or more points although Tuoyo (16) and Woods (14) were the only ones to hit double figures.
 
SCOUTING ILLINOIS
- Illinois is 1-2 with a win over North Dakota State sandwiched by losses to North Florida and at Providence.
- The Fighting Illinois is led by John Groce in his fourth. He is 63-44 over those campaigns, 148-100 in his eighth season as a collegiate head coach.
- A trio of double-digit scorers lead Illinois offensively: Malcolm Hill (16.0), Mike Thorne, Jr. (15.3) and Jalen Coleman-Landis (12.3).
- Hill (8.3) and Thorne, Jr., (8.0) pace the efforts of the glass as the Illini hold a +2.7 rebounding margin.
- Illinois is shooting 36.2 percent (making 7.0/gm) from 3pt range. Coleman-Landis (56.3%) and Aaron Jordan (54.5%) are the sharpshooters.
 
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ABOUT CHATTANOOGA BASKETBALL
- The Mocs are by far the most successful program in the Southern Conference since joining the league in 1977-78. The team has won 28 titles with 10 regular season, 10 tournament and eight division.
- 15 NCAA Tournament Appearances: 1961 (DII), 1973 (DII), 1975 (DII), 1976 (DII Runner-up), 1977 (DII National Champs), 1981, 1982, 1983, 1988, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997 (Sweet 16), 2005, 2009
- 10 SoCon Tournament Crowns: 1981, 1982, 1983, 1988, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2005, 2009
- 10 SoCon Regular Season Championships: 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994
- 8 Division Titles: 1995, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2011
- The 1997 team went to the NCAA Sweet 16 with wins over Georgia and Illinois.
- 5 SoCon Players of the Year: Willie White (1981-82), Keith Nelson (1991-92), Tim Brooks (1992-93), Chad Copeland (1993-94) and Johnny Taylor (1996-97).
- 2 SoCon Defensive Player of the Year: Z. Mason (2014), Justin Tuoyo (2015).
- 3 SoCon Coaches of the Year: Murray Arnold (1982, '83), Mack McCarthy (1986, '92, '93) and Will Wade (2014).
- 9 NBA Draft Picks: Walter "Moose" McGary (1973 & '74), William Gordon (1977), Wayne Golden (1977), Russ Schoene (1982), Nick Morken (1982), Willie White (1984), Gerald Wilkins (1985, 13 seasons) and Johnny Taylor (1997 1st Round).