NOTES |
QUOTES |
PHOTOS
CHATTANOOGA --- The Chattanooga Mocs men's basketball team featured six scorers in double digits while head coach Dan Earl earned his first victory at UTC following a 93-49 rout over NAIA member Oakland City to open the 2022-23 home season inside McKenzie Arena on Thursday night.
Following the win, Chattanooga improves to 1-1 on the season and picked up its fourth-straight home opening victory. Oakland City remains at 2-0 this season as the contest counted as an exhibition for the Mighty Oaks.
Chattanooga finished the game shooting a blistering 63.1% (41-of-65) from the field which marked the highest field-goal percentage for the Mocs since a 67.9% clip against Alabama State in 2015. The Mocs out-scored Oakland City by a wide 68-30 margin in the paint and a 54-10 split in points off the bench.
"I'm really proud of the guys tonight. We had a long bus ride back from Charleston earlier this week after facing that tough result there, where I thought we battled well. I thought the guys handled business tonight," said head coach Dan Earl following his first victory at the helm.
"To have all 11 players scored is good, Jamaal Walker and Johnny Taylor, Jr., off the bench really impacted the game. I thought we remained unselfish. All in all, it was a good night and another step forward."
HOW IT HAPPENED
Chattanooga raced out to a 12-4 lead at the first intermission (14:55) after a quick six points from Jake Stephens helped spark the run. The Mocs continued the offensive attack over the next two-plus minutes as the squad connected on 11 of their first 15 attempts from the field to build a 24-9 lead (12:07).
The lead to grew to 34-13 (8:16) as Chattanooga shot at a 15-of-22 (65.5%) clip over 13-plus minutes in the first half and saw eight different players put points on the board during the stretch. The Mocs finished the half shooting 64.5% (20-of-31) from the floor and took a 47-19 lead into the break.
UTC kept the scoring momentum going to open the second half of play as the squad saw its biggest lead of the game ahead of the first media timeout, 58-27 (15:46). Chattanooga cruised the rest of the way and outscored the opposition 46-30 in the second half to amass the 93-49 final score.
Stephens led all scorers with 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds while Jamaal Walker scored 15 points in his first action since suffering a season-ending injury nine games into the 2021-22 season last year. Brody Robinson (11), Johnny Taylor, Jr. (10) and Randy Brady (10) all set new point highs in their first season on the floor at UTC.
RECORDS/SERIES – Chattanooga 1-1 · Oakland City 2-0 · Chattanooga leads the series 1-0.
NOTES TO KNOW
- Chattanooga shot 63.1% (41-of-65) in total from the floor… best FG% in a game since a 67.9% tally against Alabama State in 2015-16… UTC shot 62.5% (20-of-32) in the first half and 63.6% (21-of-33) in the second.
- Six different Mocs reached double figures in scoring… all 11 active players for the Mocs connected on at least one field goal in the victory… 10 of the 11 recorded at least one assist.
- Head coach Dan Earl earned his first win at the helm of the UTC bench after seven seasons as the bench boss at SoCon foe VMI… now 53-45 all-time as a head coach in home games.
QUOTES
On making home debut in hometown.
"It definitely meant a lot to me. Last year I was contributing to the team cheering, giving the guys the most energy I could. But this year it feels good to be able to contribute in a different way." - Randy Brady, RFr.-G/F
On improving moving forward.
"We have to contain the ball better. There's times where we're getting too spread out defensively, we have to keep the ball in front of us and let them score over us. We need to improve on our starts and how we get into our spots and get fluid. We just need to be more efficient and sharper offensively." - Dan Earl, Head Coach
NEXT UP – at Ole Miss – Tuesday, Nov. 15 – 7:30 p.m. ET – SEC Network+
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