2021-22 Chattanooga Mocs Men's Basketball
Game 9 – at UNC Asheville
Dec. 8 – Kimmel Arena – Asheville, N.C.
Postgame Notes
 
GENERAL
- The Chattanooga Mocs kept the good times rolling along with a 78-73 win at UNC Asheville Wednesday night in Kimmel Arena…Mocs are now 8-1, while the Bulldogs move to 5-4.
- Was a three-point game with 7:13 left in the first half, 23-20, after Jamon Battle's layup for UNCA...UTC went on a 16-4 run over the next 4:47 to go up 39-24 before heading into the locker room up 13, 39-26.
- Led 66-54 on a Silvio De Sousa layup with 7:21 remaining...UNCA went on a 15-2 run taking a brief lead, 69-68, on Taijon Jones' triple from the left corner at 3:44...Mocs retook the lead on a strong Malachi Smith drive 25 seconds later...closed the game 8-4 after the Bulldogs lead.
- Held the lead for 93.6 percent of the game (37:26)...there were eight lead changes and two ties.
- Sweep season home-and-home series with UNC Asheville…captured earlier meeting 75-45 in Chattanooga…second sweep completing the pair with Tennessee Tech last week…swept the last four non-conference in-season home-and-homes: Tennessee State (2003-04), Troy (2019-20) and TTU (2021-22).
- 1,367-1,108 in season No. 103…45th campaign as a DI program with an 821-539 ledger.
- 11 straight non-conference road wins...last road loss was Dec. 11, 2019 at Virginia Tech (58-63).
- 19-1 in last 20 non-conference games.
- 16-4 in last 20 road contests.
- Start 8-1 for the 5th time: 1927 (8-1), 1973-74 (17-1), 1974-75 (10-1) and 1983-84 (12-1)...only better start is last season's 9-0.
- 46-54 all-time on Game 9 of the campaign…last year's game 9 was a 66-63 comeback win at Tennessee State.
- 12-5 all-time on Dec. 8…last game on this date before tonight? 99-51 rout of Sunday's upcoming opponent Tennessee Wesleyan.
- Shot 53.1 percent (26-49) from the field, 46.7 percent (7-15) from three...fourth time in six games shooting above 50 percent...47.5 percent (19-40) from 3pt range over last two games.
- Tied season highs with 19 FT made and 25 attempted.
- Allowed a season high nine threes made...39.1 percent (9-23) is the best number by an opponent...previous was 33.3 percent (6-18) in the home win over Tennessee Tech.
 
SERIES
All-Time Meetings: 10 | Record: 10-0 | Home: 6-0 | Away: 4-0 | Neutral: 0-0

• Fourth meeting over last three years.
• 16-4 all-time against schools in the Big South at the time of tipoff: Armstrong State (1-0), Birmingham-Southern (0-1), Coastal Carolina (2-0), Gardner-Webb (0-1), High Point (1-0), Liberty (2-1), UNC Asheville (7-0), UNC Greensboro (1-0) and Radford (2-1).

 
COACH
Lamont Paris (College of Wooster '96)
Record: 68-65

• Home: 38-22 | Away: 26-37 | Neutral: 4-6
• vs. UNC Asheville: 2-0 | Home: 2-0 | Away: 1-0

 
INDIVIDUAL
- Game-high 28 points for Malachi Smith...3rd straight 20-point effort...averaged 27.7 ppg on 3-game road trip shooting 69.6 percent (32-46) from the field over that stretch improving his season scoring averaging nearly five points per game to 18.4…5th 20pt game of the season and 11th career.
- Took 365 days for A.J. Caldwell to match his career high for 3pt made…drilled five helping spark the Dec. 9, 2020 comeback win at Bellarmine…was a perfect 5-5 tonight for 15 points…1st double-digit scoring game this season but 13th of his career.
- 14 points in 21:23 for Silvio De Sousa…six straight games in double figures averaging 15.3 points and 7.6 boards per game over that span.
- Avery Diggs had 11 points in 15 points off the bench with four rebounds…19 points and nine boards in 31 minutes in the last two games making 77.8 percent (7-9) from the field…squad was +15 with Diggs on the floor.
- David Jean-Baptiste now has 1,414 points for his career…35 short of the legendary trio of Gerald Wilkins (1983-85), Brandon Born (1991-95) and Walter "Moose" McGary (1972-74)…passing them puts DJB in the top 5 all-time at UTC in scoring…226 3pt made which is second all-time at Chattanooga behind Stephen McDowell's (2008-09) 243.