QUOTES | NOTES

CHATTANOOGA (December 30) --- Using a well-balanced offensive attack and a dominant defensive effort, the Chattanooga Mocs men's basketball team routed in-state rival ETSU 82-52 in the Southern Conference opener on Thursday night in front of a nationally-televised audience inside McKenzie Arena.
 
Following the victory, Chattanooga improves 11-3 overall and 1-0 in league play. ETSU falls to 8-6 overall and 0-1 in the SoCon. The 30-point victory was the largest over the rivaled Bucs since January 22, 2005.
 
"If you can do a great and tremendous job defensively, it effects emotions. I think that's what we were able to do to some of their main guys who are used to getting comfort shots, we made them work really hard to get looks," said head coach Lamont Paris.
 
"I thought that was the key to what we did today. The team was really into the game. The bench was really into it. Overall, it was a great performance from a good group of guys."

HOW IT HAPPENED
Chattanooga grabbed a 7-6 lead at the first media timeout (15:32) after Darius Banks paced the squad in the early going with five quick points. UTC built a 20-12 lead over the next four minutes after AJ Caldwell (2) and KC Hankton combined to knock down three-straight threes in that span.
 
The Mocs defense kept ETSU in check over the next few possessions as the eight-point lead grew to 11, 25-14, on a David Jean-Baptiste three with 8:34 remaining in the half. UTC limited the Bucs to just a 33.3% (5-for-15) field goal percentage over the game's first 12-plus minutes.
 
After ETSU cut the 11-point deficit to four, 25-21 with 7:38, the Mocs finished the opening half scoring 18 of the final 27 points to take a 43-30 lead at the break. Chattanooga held its opposition to a 34.6% (9-of-26) clip from the field and limited the three ball to a 20.0% (2-for-10) tally for the half while shooting the ball at a 48.4% (15-of-31) percentage on offense which included six threes (6-of-16, 37.5%).
 
UTC extended the lead early in the second half after making five of its first nine shots from the floor to build a 54-38 lead with 15:31 remaining in the game. It would continue to be all Chattanooga after the hosts defense and ability to knock down open shots continued.
 
Back-to-back buckets in the paint from Silvio De Sousa stretched the advantage to 64-43 at the 11:30 mark and was followed by 14-6 run that saw the home team lead by 29, 76-47 (4:20). Jean-Baptiste picked off an ETSU pass and slammed home a breakaway dunk to highlight the largest lead of the game at 31, 82-51 (2:07), before the eventual 82-52 final.
 
UTC dominated the hustle stats including rebounds (47-26), points in the paint (38-12) and second chance points (18-8) while also limiting ETSU to a 36.0% (18-of-50) mark from the field and a 27.8% (5-of-18) percentage from three. The Mocs allowed just four assists to the Bucs and scored 12 points off 11 forced turnovers.
 
Four Mocs reached double digits in scoring with Smith (17) leading the way and De Sousa (13), Caldwell (11) and Jean-Baptiste (11) following. De Sousa completed his third double-double of the season with a game-high 13 boards. Banks flirted with a triple-double after totaling seven points, eight rebounds and six assists.

RECORDS – Chattanooga (11-3, 1-0 SoCon) – ETSU (8-6, 0-1 SoCon)
 
SERIES – Chattanooga now leads the all-time series 50-45.

NOTES TO KNOW
- 5-0 opening league play with ETSU…3-0 at home…first time since Jan. 9, 1988 winning 88-63 in Johnson City… sixth time in the series the Mocs have won by 30 or more and the largest margin of victory since +34, 93-59, in the Roundhouse on Jan. 22, 2005… second largest margin of defeat by the Bucs this season behind the 94-62 loss to Tennessee... worst Bucs SoCon loss since 91-61 defeat at Furman on Feb. 9, 2019.
 
- Season-high 47 rebounds for the Mocs…+21 rebound margin (47-26) is third largest on the season…largest margin against a league opponent since +26 (55-29) against Samford on Jan. 24, 2018.
 
- Third double-double for Silvio De Sousa with 13 points and a season-high 13 boards in 21:17…his six rebounds on the offensive glass matched ETSU's total.

Check out all the notes at the link above.

QUOTABLE
"His activity level was extremely high. That's the only thing I measure in his productivity. I'm not worried about his productivity opposed to his activity. He's too good of a player to be out there, really active, and when you look down at the stat sheet there's no productivity. I just don't see that from him very often. He's a special athlete. I hate to objectify guys because he's a lot more than that. He's a special guy. Just having him out there doing his thing without instruction is our best deal as far as he's concerned." – head coach Lamont Paris on Silvio De Sousa.
 
"I didn't even know where Chattanooga was. It's crazy. I won't even talk about sport-wise. I just want to talk about how loved I feel here. The people are amazing. I just love it here. Everyone is equal here and that's what it is. This is the first time in my life that no one looks at me like I'm a celebrity like I was at Kansas. That's something I appreciate. Everyone looks at me like a normal person and I get to hang out and do whatever with family and not get bothered. It's just something I'm getting used to." – Silvio De Sousa on his time in Chattanooga.

Check out all the quotes at the link above.
 
UP NEXT – Chattanooga at Wofford – Wed., Jan. 5 – 7PM ET – 2021-22 Schedule ***
 
***Saturday's (1/1) originally scheduled game at Mercer has been postponed due to COVID tests and quarantine requirements within the Bears program. The league will attempt to reschedule the contest.
 
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