2021-22 Chattanooga Mocs Men's Basketball
Game 27 – Furman
Feb. 12 – Timmons Arena – Greenville, S.C.
Postgame Notes
 
GENERAL
- The Chattanooga Mocs came back from an 11-point second half deficit to earn a 64-58 win at Furman Saturday in Timmons Arena Saturday afternoon…Mocs are now 22-5, 12-2 in the Southern Conference…the Paladins move to 17-10, 9-5 in the league.
- Chattanooga extends its SoCon lead to three games with four to play after today's win…Furman at 9-5 is second by one game over VMI (8-6)…UNCG has the day off at 7-6 so its firmly in fourth until tomorrow's game in Greensboro with Mercer which started the day tied for fifth at 6-7…Wofford held down the last of the six tournament byes when rooster crowed this morning, also at 6-7…a win over Western Carolina tonight cements that for now, while a loss puts the Samford (5-7) at ETSU (5-8) winner more firmly in the pixelated snap…The Citadel's win today at VMI places the Bulldogs at 5-8 in the latter scenario which would have Phil Perry in the league office turning his off phone to avoid the tiebreaker calls sure to follow.
- Fourth team in the country to reach 22 wins joining Auburn, Murray State and South Dakota State…Belmont and Arizona also look to join that elite company later today.
- 12-2 in the Southern Conference is best record through 14 games since the same mark in 2015-16 which reached 13-2 before ending up 15-3 and alone atop the standings.
- First regular season sweep of Furman since 2014-15...4th of this season (Citadel, Mercer & Wofford).
- Last three opponents – at Mercer (3-18), Western Carolina (3-30) & at Furman – combined to shoot just 14.1 percent (10-71) from 3pt range.
- Came back from 11 down with 15:25 to play (25-36)…largest deficit overcome in the second half since being 12 points behind (63-75) with 3:24 remaining in the regulation in the 89-81 OT victory over Western Carolina last season (Feb. 17, 2021).
- While the Mocs trailed for 28:16 of game time, the squad needed just one lead change to get weight the scales on the side of good…that came on Josh Ayeni's and-1 layup with 7:18 to go...Ayeni and crew led for 6:57 of the final 7:18 with a teeny-tying moment taking up for 21 seconds.
- Tied 47-47 with 5:15 to go, Darius Banks scored 12 of the Mocs final 17 points…eight of those points came in the paint and four on free throws in the final 20 seconds.
- Chattanooga shot 70 percent (14-20) from inside the arc in the second frame.
- +13 rebound advantage (38-25)…claimed a .871 defensive rebound percentage for the contest allowing just four offensive rebounds…led to a 13-5 lead on second chance points.
- Final game in a five-in-11-day stretch…it's three in six days this week…4-1 over the period, 3-0 this week (2-0 road).
- 6-2 (.750) on the road in league play this season…rest of the SoCon entered today 16-41 (.281) in away league contests.
- 11-4 overall road mark ties the 2015-16 squad's school record for road wins, also 11-4.
- 93rd all-time meeting, 81st regular season in conference play…50th regular season league triumph over Furman…more on the series below.
- 14-1 when scoring 75 or more points…8-4 when scoring less…18-1 when opponents score less than 70.
- No. 59 in the latest NCAA NET Rankings…Paladins were No. 79 at tipoff.
- No. 55 on ESPN's College Basketball Power Index (BPI)…Furman was No. 62.
- No. 67 on KenPom with Furman coming in at 68.
- 1,381-1,112 in season No. 103…45th campaign as a DI program with an 835-543 ledger.
- 453-274 in 45th SoCon campaign…246-80 in the Roundhouse in league play…180-185 on the road.
- 26-22 all-time in Game 27…last 27th matchup was a physical 58-53 loss at Furman on Feb. 15, 2020.
- 40th game played on Feb. 12…19-21 overall with a 9-6 mark in SoCon action…10-16 on the road overall…1-0 vs. Furman with the lone prior meeting on this date coming in the Roundhouse, an 82-56 victory in 1983.

SERIES
All-Time Meetings: 93 | Record: 56-37 | Home: 31-11 | Away: 19-25 | Neutral: 6-1

• 50-31 in regular season SoCon play…19-22 on the road.
• Furman joins The Citadel (66) and Western Carolina (57) in the 50-loss club in league history against the Mocs.
• 9-11 in last 20 meetings.

 
COACH
Lamont Paris (College of Wooster '96)
Record: 82-69

• Home: 46-22 | Away: 32-41 | Neutral: 4-6
• SoCon Regular Season: 41-43 | Home: 23-18 | Road: 18-25
• vs. Furman: 2-7 | Home: 1-4 | Away: 1-3 | Neutral: 0-0

 
INDIVIDUAL
- 26 points by Darius Banks is his best as a Mocs (39 games) and one off his career-high 27 at Towson for James Madison on Jan. 18, 2020…his first two points were No. 1400 of his career…now at 1,424 including 1,069 in three years at JMU.
- Third Moc to post 26 or more points in a game this season joining Malachi Smith (7x) and David Jean-Baptiste (2x)…Banks was 10-14 for the game making 1-3 beyond the arc and 5-6 at the free throw line.
- Malachi Smith;s 20 points marked his 16th game with 20 or more on his ledger…DI era record for 20-point nights in a season is 22 by long-time NBA guard Gerald Wilkins in 1985.
- Smith narrowly missed a triple-double with nine rebounds and seven assists…ties his season high for dimes (at Lipscomb) and career best (4th instance).
- Smith is 29 points shy of 1,000 at UTC with 971 in 52 games…1,161 including 190 as a freshman at Wright State in 2018-19.
- Smith's 552 points this season ranks 16th in school history passing the likes of Derrick Kirce (547), Ashley Champion (544), Tim Brooks (543), William Gordon (542), Daren Chandler (541) and Benny Green (534) all in one afternoon…he's one behind Willie White in 15th with 553 as a junior in 1983…48 short of the seventh 600-point campaign in school history.
- Grant Ledford had a modest line of zero points and two rebounds, but the Mocs were +9 on the scoreboard with him on the floor during his 20:54…that was just ahead of Smith, Banks and Avery Diggs at +6.
- David Jean-Baptiste's career scoring number rose to 1,642 which is six short of fourth all-time – David Bryan (1966-69) with 1,648…recorded five points on a cold shooting afternoon…274 career 3s continues to build on his school record…26 shy of becoming 8th SoCon student-athlete with 300 made in a career.