STATS |
NOTES |
QUOTES |
ABOUT CHATTANOOGA BASKETBALL
CHATTANOOGA---The Chattanooga Mocs got a combined 42 points from its starting backcourt to claim a 78-66 Southern Conference win at Wofford Wednesday night. That included identical 21-point totals from
David Jean-Baptiste and
Malachi Smith along with a stout defensive effort.
Stefan Kenić added 16 points in the festivities with Jean-Baptiste leading the board efforts with seven and Smith topping the assist charts with a game-high seven. The Mocs owned a seven-rebound advantage on the glass (34/27). Morgan Safford paced the Terriers with 18.
It was all Mocs from the start. They took the lead 40 seconds into the game and never looked back. It reached 10 at the 14:16 mark with Smith's triple making it 16-6. Twenty took a little longer. It was Jean-Baptiste's turn with a floater in the lane which put him over the 1,200-point plateau for his career along with a 44-24 score.
The largest lead of 23 came from Smith again on his own strong work in the paint. It was 49-26 and felt out of reach, but you take nothing for granted on the road in Southern Conference play. The lead remained 20 at 4:17 on a Kenić post move.
The Terriers made the most of some leaky play late to cut the lead to 12 in the end. A lot of that came from Keaton Turner who had 14 points in just under 13 minutes of playing time, all in the second. As strong an effort as the Mocs got on the offensive end, it was the defensive effort that held their host below the 50-mark until inside four minutes to play.
"I think we learned from the ETSU game to stay locked in defensively even though you have a (big) lead," Smith shared. "It's kind of hard playing with a lead like that with five or six minutes left, they're playing with nothing to lose and are more confident shooting the ball. You don't want to play timid so I think we learned from our mistakes in that ETSU game."
Tonight marks the end of a 3-game road swing while Saturday signals the beginning of a 3-games-in-5-days home stand. It starts with The Citadel at Noon with ETSU (Monday) and Western Carolina (Wednesday) close behind. FANS are also back for the whirlwind stretch of games with 1,000 being allowed in the Roundhouse.
Tickets are still available and
can be purchased here or by calling (423) 266-MOCS (6627). Limited supply remains. Student tickets are free (as always) but
reservation is required here. All tickets are general admission this season with social distancing required between seat blocks.
The games air on ESPN+ or over the airwaves in Chattanooga via WFLI 97.7 FM and 1070 AM. Links for video, audio and live stats for each contest is located on the men's basketball schedule page.
RECORDS
Chattanooga 15-5/6-5 | Wofford 12-7/9-4
QUOTABLE
"I thought the guys had so much energy on the defensive end of the ball and they were really diligent and disciplined in a couple scenarios that go against what your normal instinct is. What a defensive effort by the guys, we made some shots here and there along the way, but I couldn't be any happier or prouder of what this team did on the defensive end. It was just a great and gutsy effort." –
Lamont Paris on the defensive effort
"You always want to come out with a strong start because it gives the team confidence for the rest of the game. We had it rolling today. We came together before the game and said let's play hard. Basketball is a game of mistakes and we know that. We just played hard and the ball was going in, it gave us a great start." –
David Jean-Baptiste on the fast start
"It's been a while. We're practicing and shooting all the time, but it's been a while for a game. And now we have fans in there, it's going to be good and have people come support us because we're having a great season. We don't want to let them down." –
Malachi Smith on finally coming home to the Roundhouse this weekend
Check out all we heard at the link above.
3 NOTES TO KNOW
- First sweep of a 3-game SoCon road trip since January 1997. The NCAA Sweet 16 team won at Furman (81-45), VMI (91-76) and at Davidson (74-63) from the 9th through 18th.9-2 on the road this season. Won six of last eight in Spartanburg.
- First regular season SoCon split with the Terriers since 2014-15 when both teams won on the other's home floor. The five have ended in sweeps with three by the Mocs (2016, 2017 & 2020) and two for Wofford (2018, 2019).
- David Jean-Baptiste scored his 1,200th career point tonight. He's the 16th Moc to complete that trek and the first since Greg Pryor '17 (1,203) in 2017. DJB actually passed GP into 15th place all-time with 1,212, 13 short of 14th and Ricky Taylor's '12 1,225.
Check out all the notables at the link above.
3 STATS TO KNOW
- Allowed just four second chance points. After allowing 20 in the last loss to UNCG, the Mocs gave up just 18 during the three-game win streak.
- Chattanooga made 11 threes. That's the fourth most this season and the highest total since 12 in the Jan. 6 win over Samford.
- +2 in turnover margin (11/13) but +6 in points off turnovers (16/10).
Take a deeper dive into the numbers at the link above.
SERIES
Meetings: 46th
Record: 26-20 (11-11 road)
SoCon Regular Season: 23-18 (10-11 road)
SOCON SCOREBOARD
at UNCG 64, Furman 58
at The Citadel 79, ETSU 71
at Western Carolina 74, VMI 72
Mercer at Samford
NEXT 3 OPPONENTS
Feb. 13: The Citadel, Noon | Current Record: 11-7/4-7 | Next Opp:
at Chattanooga (Feb. 13)
Feb. 15: ETSU, 7 p.m. | Current Record: 11-8/7-4 | Next Opp: Wofford (Feb. 13)
Feb. 17: Western Carolina, 7 p.m. | Current Record: 9-11/2-9 | Next Opp: at Furman (Feb. 13)
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