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MEDIA AVAILABILITY
LINKS: Access links for audio and live stats on the men's basketball schedule page on GoMocs.com.
VIDEO: N/A
RADIO: The Mocs Sports Network flagship station is 96.1 the Legend FM in Chattanooga. Jim Reynolds is in his 36th year as the play-by-play "Voice of the Mocs".
 
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The Mocs return home on Dec. 8 to host Tennessee Wesleyan at 7 p.m., before returning to the road at Dayton on Dec. 12.
 
OPENING TIPS
- Chattanooga is No. 8 in last week's CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 receiving one first-place vote. New poll released on Monday's.
- The Mocs received a vote this week in the AP Top 25 poll. New poll released on Monday's.
- UTC is looking for its first 6-1 start since the 2002-03 season. That squad opened with a win at Samford (68-66), loss at UAB (92-83) and victories over Tennessee Wesleyan (93-47), at Bradley (82-70), at Illinois State (75-68), Milligan (107-57) and Furman (66-49) before a narrow 89-84 home loss to Kent St. It was in Jeff Lebo's first season.
- Last three 6-1 openings? 2002-03, 1983-84 (12-1) and 1982-83.
- First meeting with ULM.
- 100-61 all-time against current Sun Belt members (Appalachian State 45-31, Arkansas State 0-3, Georgia Southern 30-21, Georgia State 23-2, ULL 1-2, South Alabama 1-1, Troy 0-1).
- Two Louisiana natives on the roster: Casey Jones (New Orleans) and Chuck Ester (Geismar).
- Familiar faces...freshman Jackson White and ULM junior guard Nick Coppola each graduated from Benedictine Prep in Richmond, Va....Ester and ULM senior Mack Foster played together two seasons ago at East Mississippi Community College.
- Leading the SoCon (thru 11/28) in scoring margin (+12.0), FG% (49.3), 3pt% (40.7) and blocks (6.2).
- Individual league leaders: Justin Tuoyo in blocks (2.8) and Greg Pryor in steals (2.7) and 3pt% (54.5).
- Casey Jones has 1,028 career points. That ranks 20th, 15 behind No. 19 Casey Long (1,043, 2004-07).
- Jones' 530 career rebounds is seventh in the DI era. Ten shy of Clifford Morgan's 540 in sixth.
- Tuoyo ranks third at Chattanooga in career blocks with 121. He needs nine to pass Z. Mason (129, 2012-14) for second and 12 to top all-time leader Stanley Lawrence (132, 1980-83).
- The Mocs play six of its first seven contests, seven of nine total, away from the friendly confines of McKenzie Arena. Currently 4-1 on the road.
 
HEAD COACH MATT MCCALL
- Head Coach Matt McCall is 5-1 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 2-1 on the road, 4-1 away from McKenzie Arena.
- First Mocs ball coach to start his tenure 3-0 since Henry Dickerson (1998-02, 72-73) in 1997-98.
- 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          
- Busy stretch of games, all away from the Scenic City. The Mocs complete five games over a 10-day period ULM. This is also end of three-games-in-four-days.
- In the four DI wins, the Mocs out-scored opponents 41-15 in the opening five minutes.
- Chattanooga has led for 181:49 of its 245 minutes this season, or 74.2 percent of the time. The outlier? The squad led just 1:55 of its game at No. 4 Iowa State. In the five wins, the team was ahead 87.8 percent of the game (179:54 of 205 minutes).
- The program is coming off its first 20-win season since 2004-05. It was 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.
 
FAST BREAKS
- How balanced is the UTC offensive attack? Nine student-athletes have tallied double digits: Casey Jones (4 times), Greg Pryor (4), Justin Tuoyo (4), Eric Robertson (2), Tre' McLean (2), Duke Ethridge (1), Chuck Ester (1), Johnathan Burroughs-Cook (1) and Peyton Woods (1).
- Jones is a two-time All-SoCon pick. He was first team 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 leads the squad in points (12.5), rebounding (5.8) and assists (4.0).
- 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. His total was more than 153 DI TEAMS.
- Tuoyo has multiple blocks in 34 of his 38 career games at UTC.
- Pryor has started all 69 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 48.8 (20-41) from the field including a SoCon-best 54.5 percent (12-22) from 3pt range through six games.
- Robertson turned in a 5-10 performance from 3pt range at Illinois. It was his 18th career contest with three or more made.
- Robertson is a 41.7 percent shooter for his career, 44.6 percent (107-240) over the past two-plus campaigns.
- Robertson shot 50 percent or better from downtown in 20 of his last 38 games.
- Burroughs-Cook was a high school teammate of Greg Pryor (Ridgeway-Memphis).
- Burroughs-Cook had 23 points in the opener at Georgia and a career-high four steals in 15 minutes at No. 4 Iowa State.
- McLean has started 21 of 38 appearances. The Mocs are 16-5 in those contests.
- McLean set career highs for points (18), assists (6) and steals (3) against Alabama State.
- Ester also posted a new career-high with 12 off the bench at Illinois. He was perfect from the field shooting 5-5 including 2-2 from beyond the arc.
- Ethridge saw his first action of the season at Illinois. He has 30 points and 14 rebounds in 59 minutes over his four contests.
 
SCOUTING ULM
- ULM is 2-2 on the year with wins over McMurry (88-43) and at Northwestern State (80-64), while losing at Minnesota (67-56) and Houston (76-64).
- Keith Richard is 50-106 in his sixth season rebuilding his alma mater's program. He is 200-223 in 15 years as a collegiate head coach.
- The Warhawks have held 47 of last 48 opponents to fewer than 75 points. Houston snapped it Saturday with 76 scoring with nine seconds to play. The Mocs average 81.2 per contest.
- Senior Majok Deng leads in scoring with 14.5 points per game while grabbing 7.5 rebounds and blocking 1.8 per game.
- Travis Munnings averages 12.5 points per game and is the team's leading rebounder with 8.3 per contest. He leads the Sun Belt in FG percentage (60.5%).
- ULM averages 42.2 rebounds per game with a +9.3 margin.
 
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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).