2021-22 Chattanooga Mocs Men's Basketball
Game 30 – ETSU
Feb. 23 – Freedom Hall – Johnson City, Tenn.
Postgame Notes
 
GENERAL
- The Chattanooga Mocs held on late in an 83-77 victory at ETSU Wednesday night in Freedom Hall…Mocs are now 23-7, 13-4 in the Southern Conference…the Bucs move to 14-16, 6-11 in the league.
- Clinched 12th regular season Southern Conference Championship…ties the league record also held by Davidson albeit in 79 campaigns compared to 45 for Chattanooga…13th all-time championship including 1923 SIAA…large portion of the Mocs basketball history was as a DII Independent before moving into the SoCon in 1977-78.
- First SoCon regular season title since 2015-16…that squad followed with a SoCon Tournament crown winning a school-record 29 wins including 15-3 in the league…the Mocs won the tournament in six of the previous 11 regular season championships…1988 tourney champs are the only Mocs squad to win without sitting atop the regular season table…the other four came in the division era (1995-2013) with Mocs winning their side each time.
- Ninth outright SoCon Championship of the 12 in school history.
- Chattanooga's 13th SoCon win…ninth season with 13 or more league triumphs.
- 96th all-time meeting…one of four programs played 90+ times: Samford (106), Western Carolina (99) and Furman (93)…more on the series below.
- 7-2 (.778) on the road in league play this season…rest of the SoCon entered today 16-41 (.281) in away league contests.
- 12-4 overall road sets new school record for road wins in a season…was held by 2015-16 team's 11 (11-4).
- Season-high 13 3pt made...hit 12 four times: Covenant, at Lipscomb, Tennessee Wesleyan and at Wofford...most on the road since a school-record tying 17 (36) in the Dec. 9, 2020 win at Bellarmine last season.
- +36 point differential (165-129) is the largest in the regular season series for the Mocs since 48 in 2005 (171-123)…83 points are the most by a Mocs team since 94 in the 94-84 win in the Roundhouse on Jan. 16, 2016…most in Johnson City since 85 in an eight-point loss on Jan. 26, 1994…tied for the program's sixth-most points at ETSU.
- Led for 32:13 of the contest...took over midway through the first half in a game with just two lead changes and three ties early...flipped an 18-13 deficit into a 33-22 lead with a 20-4 run capped by an A.J. Caldwell triple with 4:38 to go until the break...led by as many as 20 on two different occasions in the second frame before a furious Bucs comeback effort fell short.
- +7 rebound margin (39-32)…grabbed 14 offensive boards leading to a 13-7 advantage in second chance points…19th game with 10 or more this campaign and most since 18 against ETSU on Dec. 30…fourth highest total overall.
- Odd flip of the switch...shot 55.6 percent from three (10-18) in first half, 25.0 percent (4-16) from two...made 75.0 percent (12-16) from inside the arc after the half, 27.3 percent (3-11) from beyond it.
- 18 assists is a season high against a SoCon opponent...5th game with 18 or more in 2021-22...four student-athletes with three or more: Darius Banks 4, David Jean-Baptiste 4, A.J. Caldwell 4 & Malachi Smith 3.
- 15-2 when scoring 75 or more points…8-5 when scoring less…18-1 when opponents score less than 70.
- No. 70 in the latest NCAA NET Rankings…Bucs were No. 177 at tipoff.
- No. 65 on ESPN's College Basketball Power Index (BPI)…ETSU was No. 204.
- No. 80 on KenPom with ETSU coming in at 179.
- 1,382-1,114 in season No. 103…45th campaign as a DI program with an 836-545 ledger.
- 454-276 in 45th SoCon campaign…246-82 in the Roundhouse in league play…181-185 on the road.
- 18-18 all-time in Game 30…last 30th matchup was the 71-64 road win at VMI on Deb. 26, 2020.
- 12-17 all-time on Feb. 23…last was the 74-69 loss at Mercer in 2019…7-7 in the SoCon on this date…1-14 on the road…1-2 against ETSU on Feb. 23.
 
SERIES
All-Time Meetings: 96 | Record: 51-45 | Home: 27-12 | Away: 17-25 | Neutral: 7-8

• Last 10 regular season series have resulted in a sweep...Mocs in 2005, 2015, 2016, 2021 and 2022 seasons…Bucs in 2004, 2017, 2018, 2019 & 2020.
• 37-25 in SoCon regular season meetings.
• One of six opponents the Mocs have defeated 50 or more times: The Citadel (70), Western Carolina (69), Samford (67), Furman (56) and Tennessee Wesleyan (51).
• 4-4 in Johnson City since the Bucs returned to the SoCon in 2014-15.

 
COACH
Lamont Paris (College of Wooster '96)
Record: 83-71

• Home: 46-23 | Away: 33-42 | Neutral: 4-6
• SoCon Regular Season: 42-45 | Home: 23-19 | Road: 19-26
• vs. ETSU: 4-9 | Home: 2-3 | Away: 2-3 | Neutral: 0-3

 
INDIVIDUAL
- Career-high 25 points and seven 3pt made for Grant Ledford...8-13 from the field including 7-10 from three and 2-2 from FT line….4th Moc to score 25 points in a game this season: Malachi Smith (9x), David Jean-Baptiste (2x) & Darius Banks (1x)...11 of the 13 instances have come on the road.
- Seven 3pt made is one off the Mocs record on the road which has been done six times...David Jean-Baptiste tied the record with his 8-15 performance at Samford earlier this season...school record of nine was made by Wes Moore against Wofford on Nov. 15, 1997 and Stephen McDowell versus Niagara on Dec. 30, 2008, both games in the Roundhouse.
- Ledford is 17 for his last 30 from 3pt range, 56.7 percent...third time in last five games with three or more...seventh game with multiple treys this year, fifth with three or more.
- 20 points, nine rebounds and three assists for Malachi Smith…18 20-point efforts this season is five off Gerald Wilkins' DI era record of 22 in the 1984-85 campaign…13 of the 18 have come on the road.
- Smith is 34th place all-time in scoring at Chattanooga with 1,035…40 points shy of top 30 behind Casey Long '07 (1,043), Keith Nelson '91 (1,047), Johnny Taylor '97 (1,070) and Stephen McDowell '09 (1,075).
- 78 points shy of Derrick Kirce '91 for most points in first two years of his career (1,113).
- Fourth point was No. 600 for Smith…620 is sixth best in school history…seventh all-time to tally 600 in a campaign in program history joining William Gordon (700, 1976-77), Gerald Wilkins (672, 1984-85), Wayne Golden (657, 1976-77), Golden (635, 1974-75), Stephen McDowell (633, 2008-09) and Chad Copeland (604, 1993-94).
- Eight points for David Jean-Baptiste before fouling out in the final minute…eight points shy of 1,700 for his career…ranks fourth all-time in scoring at Chattanooga…281 career 3pt made for DJB building on his school record…19 shy of becoming 8th SoCon student-athlete with 300 made in a career.