LINKS: Notes | Tickets (Home) | Tennessee Wesleyan
 
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
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. Jim Reynolds 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         
It's back on the road for Chattanooga at Dayton on Saturday, Dec. 12. Game time is at 7 p.m. The squad is home for three straight prior to the holiday break hosting Tennessee Tech (Dec. 15), Kennesaw State (Dec. 18) and Radford (Dec. 22).
 
OPENING TIPS
- Chattanooga is No. 8 in last week's CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25. New poll released on Monday's.
- UTC is looking for its first 6-2 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 6-2 openings? 2004-05, 2002-03 (9-2) and 1993-94 (11-2).
- 63rd career meeting leading the series with Tennessee Wesleyan 44-18, 31-7 in Chattanooga. It is just the 15th contest between the two since the move to DI in 1977-78. The Mocs have won 16 in a row. More series notes are on page 4.
- UTC is 96-1 against non-DI competition since the move to DI in 1977-78. The lone loss was on December 16, 1999 to Southern Poly, 73-69.
- Three on the Tennessee Wesleyan roster is from the immediate Chattanooga area: senior forward Trey Suttles, junior guard Wesley Richey (Ooltewah) and freshman guard Tre Tiller.
- Leading the SoCon (thru 12/6) in FG% (47.6), 3pt% (39.1) and blocks (6.3).
- Individual league leaders: Justin Tuoyo in blocks (2.8), Greg Pryor in steals (2.3) and Peyton Woods in 3pt% (50.0).
- Casey Jones has 1,042 career points. That ranks 20th, one behind No. 19 Casey Long (1,043, 2004-07).
- Jones' 539 career rebounds is seventh in the DI era. One 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 played six of its first seven contests, seven of nine total, away from the friendly confines of McKenzie Arena. This is just the second home game.
 
HEAD COACH MATT MCCALL
- Head Coach Matt McCall is 5-2 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 at home.
- 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          
- Tuesday night marks a turn in the schedule. After six of seven away from the Scenic City, the Mocs are home for four of the next five starting with Tennessee Wesleyan.
- 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 (5 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 (12.7), rebounding (6.3) and assists (3.9).
- 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 70 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 45.7 (21-46) from the field including a 48.1 percent (13-27) 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 41.9 percent shooter for his career, 44.3 percent (109-246) over the past two-plus campaigns.
- Robertson shot 50 percent or better from downtown in 20 of his last 39 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 22 of 39 appearances. The Mocs are 16-6 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.
- Over his last three contests, Ester has 23 points and 13 rebounds over 56 minutes.
- Dee Oldham has been a strong bench contributor over his first seven games as a Moc. In 15.1 minutes per game, he's posting 5.0 points and 4.6 rebounds per game which ranks second on the team.
- The Mocs are shooting nearly 40 percent from 3pt range (39.1%). Six student-athletes are hitting better than 40 percent of their attempts (listed in order of No. of att.): Robertson (40.6%), Pryor (48.1%), Peyton Woods (50.0%), Duke Ethridge (44.4%), Alex Bran (75.0%) and Ester (50.0%).
 
SCOUTING TENNESSEE WESLEYAN
- Tennessee Wesleyan is 6-1 on the year and on a four-game winning streak.
- Mike Poe is in his 12th year at TWC with a 198-155 mark. He is 0-2 against the Mocs.
- The Bulldogs are averaging 87.9 points per game thus far.
- Senior Leland Robinson leads the way averaging 21.7 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. He is one of four averaging in double digits joined by Trey Suttles (16.0), Devante' Jenkins (14.9) and Jordan Hall (10.0).
- Jenkins also posts 9.1 boards per contest shooting 61.8 percent (47-76) from the floor.
- Suttles is the top sharpshooter making 3.1 3pt per game at a 44.0 percent (22-50) clip.
- Probable starting lineup includes four seniors (Robinson, Jenkins, Suttles & Charles White).
 
GoMocs.com is the official website of the Chattanooga Mocs.  The Mocs can also be followed on their official Facebook page or on Twitter.  Find out how to join the UTC Mocs Club and support more than 300 student-athletes by clicking here.
 
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).