2021-22 Chattanooga Mocs Men's Basketball
Game 24 – Mercer
Feb. 5 – McKenzie Arena – Chattanooga, Tenn.
Postgame Notes
 
GENERAL
- The Chattanooga Mocs ran past Mercer 77-68 in McKenzie Arena Saturday afternoon…Mocs are now 19-5, 9-2 in the Southern Conference…the Bears move to 13-11, 6-5 in the league.
- Mercer led by four, 36-32, at halftime…Mocs blitzed the Bears 45-32 after the break…6-2 this season when trailing at halftime.
- Shot 70.4 percent (19-27) in the second half…best this season…fourth time making 60 percent or better after intermission…best second-half shooting performance since 71.4 percent (20-28) on Jan. 13, 2021 helping erase a 19-point deficit after 18 minutes against??? Mercer…
- Chattanooga rises back into the SoCon lead at 9-2, a half-game clear of Furman's 9-3 mark…Mercer (6-5) and VMI (6-5) are tied for third while Wofford (6-6) rounds out the top 5.
- Second of a four-game-in-seven-day stretch…next up is a rematch with Mercer in Macon on Monday…ends with a visit Wednesday by Western Carolina (7 p.m.).
- 83rd all-time meeting with Mercer but just 15th in conference play…odd note, the squads have not met in the SoCon Tournament since the Bears joined the league in 2014-15; however, they're 1-1 in the event meeting in the 1922 and 1923 events…the Mocs trailed 19-11 with 6:00 left in the March 2, 1923 tournament in Atlanta before a 13-0 run provided the 24-19 win in the semifinals…Chattanooga lost the final 31-21 to Mississippi A&M, now Mississippi State #TheMoreYouKnow…more on the series below.
- Tied season low for turnovers with six (at Loyola Marymount) just days after a season-high 18 at Samford.
- +17 in points off turnovers…19-2 advantage…averaged 1.58 points per Bears miscue.
- Shot 53.7 percent (29-54) for the game including 40.0 percent (8-20) from three…impressive turnaround mentioned above after 37.0 percent (10-27) start with 28.6 percent (4-14) beyond the arc.
- 2.33 assist-to-turnover ratio with 14 dimes to six giveaways…best A/TO against a DI opponent in 2021-22.
- Close game before the Mocs pulled away in the final 10 minutes…10 lead changes and eight ties with UTC holding the lead for 17:03 and Mercer for 16:04…tie game for 6:53.
- 14-1 when scoring 75 or more points…5-4 when scoring less…16-1 when opponents score less than 70.
- 10-1 in the Roundhouse this season (5-0 SoCon)…eight straight home conference wins…29-8 over the last three seasons at home.
- No. 57 in the latest NCAA NET Rankings…Bears were No. 209 at tipoff.
- No. 55 on ESPN's College Basketball Power Index (BPI)…Mercer was No. 236.
- No. 70 on KenPom with Mercer coming in at 220.
- No. 5 in the collegeinsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll...No. 6 on the Field of 68 list.
- 1,378-1,112 in season No. 103…45th campaign as a DI program with an 832-543 ledger.
- 450-274 in 45th SoCon campaign…245-80 in the Roundhouse in league play…178-185 on the road.
- 32-31 all-time in Game 24…last year's 24th matchup was the narrow 60-55 road defeat at UNCG.
- 17-16 all-time on Feb. 5…7-7 in SoCon action…10-8 at home…2-0 against Mercer with the prior matchup being a 46-40 home win over Mercer in 1947.

SERIES
All-Time Meetings: 83 | Record: 42-41 | Home: 24-13 | Away: 23-28 | Neutral: 2-0

• 8-7 in SoCon regular season games against the Bears.
• 83 total meetings ranks as the sixth-most frequent opponent in school history: Samford (106), Western Carolina (98), ETSU (95), Furman (92) & The Citadel (89).
• 68 meetings outside SoCon membership is third behind Samford (76) and Tennessee Wesleyan (69).

 
COACH
Lamont Paris (College of Wooster '96)
Record: 79-69

• Home: 45-22 | Away: 30-41 | Neutral: 4-6
• SoCon Regular Season: 38-43 | Home: 22-18 | Road: 16-25
• vs. Mercer: 4-5 | Home: 3-2 | Away: 1-3 | Neutral: 0-0

 
INDIVIDUAL
- Career-high 18 points for Josh Ayeni…8-10 FG and 2-2 3pt to account for his scoring…added three rebounds…+10 for 23:09 on the floor was second only to Malachi Smith's +13.
- Ayeni is six points shy of 600 for his career spanning 111 games at Chattanooga (47), St. Bonaventure (56) and South Alabama (8).
- Game-high 22 points for Malachi Smith…15th 20-point effort of the season for the sophomore from Belleville, Ill….8-13 from the floor making 1-3 from three and 5-6 at the free throw line…three steals…14th multi-steal contest with eight coming in league games (2.5 per SoCon game).
- Smith scored his 500th point this season with 17 seconds to play…now has 501…26th Moc to score 500 in a campaign…last was Matt Ryan's 507 in 2019-20...he needs three to crack the top 25 with Ralph Simpson (1971-72) and Brandon Born (1993-94) tied for 24th scoring 504…38 shy of top 20 with the 20th spot held by Daren Chandler's 541 record during the 1989 season.
- Smith is 80 points shy of 1,000 for his UTC career…920 in 49 games (18.8)…currently third all-time in career scoring average behind Wayne Golden (1974-77) at 20.4 and Derrick Kirce (1990-91) at 19.5.
- Smith (18) and Ayeni (11) combined for 29 of the Mocs 45 second-half points.
- A.J. Caldwell and Grant Ledford combined for 16 points off the bench with eight apiece…both made a pair of threes on the night…Ledford two steals earned his first multi-steal game against a DI opponent.
- Nine points for David Jean-Baptiste recording three assists with nary a turnover…topped the 1,600 mark with 1,608 now…40 points shy of fourth all-time – David Bryan (1966-69) with 1,648…269 career 3s continues to build on his school record…31 shy of becoming 8th SoCon student-athlete with 300 made in a career.