2021-22 Chattanooga Mocs Men's Basketball
Game 26 – Western Carolina
Feb. 9 – McKenzie Arena – Chattanooga, Tenn.
Postgame Notes
 
GENERAL
- The Chattanooga Mocs clamp down defensively in a 65-47 win over Western Carolina in McKenzie Arena Wednesday night…Mocs are now 21-5, 11-2 in the Southern Conference…the Catamounts move to 9-17, 3-10 in the league.
- Chattanooga extends its SoCon lead to two games clear of Saturday's opponent Furman's 9-4 mark…VMI (6-5) is third…Wofford (6-6) is in action at Samford…fourth with a win or sixth with a loss with Mercer (6-6) and UNCG (6-6) on either end of the Terriers.
- 47 points are the fewest allowed a SoCon opponent this season besting the 82-52 win over ETSU…second time below 50 points against a DI opponent (45 vs UNC Asheville)…fewest allowed to a SoCon opponents since the 56-46 win at Wofford on Feb. 12, 2015.
- 17 first-half points allowed is a season low for a DI opponent (16 by Covenant)…fewest first half points allowed to a DI opponents since 14 vs. Alabama State on Nov. 20, 2017…fewest to a SoCon opponent since 17 to Mercer on Feb. 25, 2017.
- Western Carolina never led and the game was tied just once early (5-5)…Mocs led for 38:31 of the 40 minutes.
- Fourth of a five-game-in-11-day stretch…it's three in six days this week with a high-leverage trip to Furman on Saturday.
- 99th all-time meeting, 84th regular season in conference play…most frequent SoCon regular season opponent just ahead of The Citadel (82) and 99 overall matchups is second only to Samford (106)…more on the series below.
- Fifth team in the country to reach 21 wins joining Auburn, Murray State, Purdue and South Dakota State…Houston is at SMU tonight also looking to join that elite company.
- Limited Western to 27.4 percent shooting (17-62) overall and just 10.0 percent (3-30) from 3pt range…lowest FG percentage allowed since the 2011 Dr Pepper Classic opening round win over Longwood giving up just 25.0 percent (15-60) on Dec. 29…lowest 3pt percentage by an opponent since the 1-16 performance by Marshall in the 70-66 road loss in Huntington on Dec. 5, 2017 as the Thundering Herd managed to make one of 16 efforts (6.3%).
- Last two opponents – Mercer (3-18) and Western (3-30) – combined to shoot just 12.5 percent (6-48).
- 25 combined turnovers – Chattanooga (11) and Western (14) led to just 13 points (7-6).
- 36.8 percent shooting (21-57) is the lowest in a winning performance since the 53-51 home win over ETSU last season (Feb. 15) making just 34.8 percent (16-46)...just second time this year being held to less than 40 percent shooting with both coming against the Catamounts.
- 150th career game leading the program for Lamont Paris…sixth-most in school history: Mack McCarthy (365), John Shulman (291), Leon Ford (252), Ron Shumate (200) & Murray Arnold (181).
- 14-1 when scoring 75 or more points…7-4 when scoring less…17-1 when opponents score less than 70.
- 11-1 in the Roundhouse this season (6-0 SoCon)…nine straight home conference wins…30-8 over the last three seasons at home…most home wins in a season since 11 in 2016-17 (11-3).
- No. 59 in the latest NCAA NET Rankings…Catamounts were No. 286 at tipoff.
- No. 57 on ESPN's College Basketball Power Index (BPI)…Western was No. 298.
- No. 68 on KenPom with WCU coming in at 298.
- 1,380-1,112 in season No. 103…45th campaign as a DI program with an 834-543 ledger.
- 452-274 in 45th SoCon campaign…246-80 in the Roundhouse in league play…179-185 on the road.
- 35-21 all-time in Game 26…last year's 26th matchup was the SoCon Tournament loss to ETSU (53-63).
- 37th game played on Feb. 9…20-17 overall with a 10-7 mark in SoCon action…12-7 at home…2-0 vs. Western Carolina with the lone prior meeting on this date coming in the Roundhouse, an 86-71 win in 1984.

SERIES
All-Time Meetings: 99 | Record: 69-30 | Home: 39-6 | Away: 23-22 | Neutral: 7-2

• 57-27 in regular season SoCon play…36-6 at home.
• One of six programs beaten 50 or more times overall: The Citadel (70), Western Carolina (69), Samford (66), Furman (55), Tennessee Wesleyan (51) & ETSU (50).
• 39 wins at home against Western ranks as second-most frequent visiting DI victim in school history. Top 5: Samford (41-12), Cats (39-6), The Citadel (38-6), Furman (31-11) & App State (28-7).

 
COACH
Lamont Paris (College of Wooster '96)
Record: 81-69

• Home: 46-22 | Away: 31-41 | Neutral: 4-6
• SoCon Regular Season: 40-43 | Home: 23-18 | Road: 17-25
• vs. Western Carolina: 4-6 | Home: 2-3 | Away: 2-3 | Neutral: 0-0

 
INDIVIDUAL
- Nine points and a team-high seven rebounds for Grant Ledford…team was +17 in his 20:42 of court time, nearly a point a minute advantage…3-5 shooting with all his points coming beyond the arc (3-4).
- Team-high 16 points for Malachi Smith…added six rebounds and three assists…his 532 points this season is just nine shy of the top 20 by a Moc in a season (541, Daren Chandler, 1988-89)…68 points short of the seventh 600-point campaign in school history.
- Smith is 49 points shy of 1,000 for his UTC career…951 in 51 games (18.7)…currently third all-time in career scoring average behind Wayne Golden (1974-77) at 20.4 and Derrick Kirce (1990-91) at 19.5.
- David Jean-Baptiste had 12 of his 14 on the night in the second half…he and Malachi Smith led the squad at +19…also claimed five rebounds and two assists.
-  DJB's career scoring number rose to 1,637 which is 11 short of fourth all-time – David Bryan (1966-69) with 1,648…273 career 3s continues to build on his school record…27 shy of becoming 8th SoCon student-athlete with 300 made in a career.