2021-22 Chattanooga Mocs Men's Basketball
NCAA South Region 1st Round
Game 35 – No. 16 Illinois
March 18 – PPG Paints Arena – Pittsburgh, Pa.
Postgame Notes
 
GENERAL
- The 13th-seeded Chattanooga Mocs dropped a heart-breaking 54-53 loss to fourth-seeded Illinois in the first round of the NCAA South Region…finish the season 27-8, while the Illini move to 23-9.
- 3-12 all-time in the NCAA Tournament (DI)...prior wins over N.C. State (1982), Georgia (1997) & Illinois (1997)...played in five NCAA DII Tourneys winning in 1977 and finishing second in 1976...11-5 in those appearances.
- Last NCAA appearance was March 17, 2016 in Des Moines, Iowa…99-74 loss to Big Ten Regular Season Champ Indiana.
- Second time as a 13 seed…first was 1994 facing No. 4 seed Kansas in Lexington…UTC has also been a 9 (1983), 10 (1982), 11 (1981), 12 (1993, 2016), 14 (1997), 15 (1995, 2005) and 16 (1988, 2009).
- 1-3 against the Big Ten all-time in NCAA Tournament: 1982 loss to Minnesota (62-61), 1997 win over Illinois (75-63) and 2016 loss to Indiana.
- 3-44 all-time against ranked opponents, 2-11 in the NCAA Tournament.
- Led by as many as 14 in the first half opening the game on a 20-6 run…was up 11, 27-16 at 4:43 before Illinois closed the half 13-6 to go into the break with a 33-29 UTC lead.
- First halftime lead in NCAA Tournament play since 2005 in Cleveland against a Chris Paul-led Wake Forest squad in the 2/15 contest...eventually lost 70-54.
- Also led at the break in in 1981 against Maryland (41-39), N.C. State (27-13) and Minnesota (36-34) in 1982, Maryland (30-18) in 1983 and Georgia (46-31) in 1997.
- Scored 33 in the first half of the 1997 second round win over the Illini...trailed 33-34 that day.
- Led from 18:59 of the first half until 0:47.1 of the second…game had three lead changes and two ties all coming in the final 47.1 seconds.
- 45-35 combined in the first 16 minutes of both halves…8-18 over the final four.
- Led 51-46 on a Grant Ledford three with 4:34 to go… 0-5 FG, 2-3 FT & one turnover down the stretch.
- Held the Illini to 38.8 percent (19-49) shooting overall…shot 32.3 percent however (21-65), second-lowest of the season (31.5% at Western Carolina).
- +2 rebound margin (43-41) including 16 on the offensive boards compared to nine for Illinois…15-14 advantage in points off turnovers.
- Despite the presence of Kofi Cockburn, the Mocs led 30-28 on points in the paint.
- Turnovers were a key for Chattanooga going +9 (18-9) in points off turnovers with a +4 margin (10-14).
- 4-15 shooting (26.7%) from three but limited Illinois to 17.6 percent (3-17).
- 16-2 when scoring 75 or more points…11-6 when scoring less…22-2 when opponents score less than 70.
- 2,500th all-time game…1,385-1,115 in season No. 103…45th campaign as a DI program with an 839-546 ledger.
- 0-4 all-time in Game 35…last 35th matchup was the 2016 NCAA first round loss to Indiana in Iowa on March 17, 2016.
- 2-2 all-time on March 18…2-0 at neutral sites with both coming in the 1976 (Eastern Illinois) and 1977 (Sacred Heart) in the NCAA DII Final Fours…lone loss was in 2014 CIT game at ETSU.
- 27 wins are most since school-record 29 in 2015-16...27 or more victories in four seasons including 27-5 in the NCAA DII National Championship season in 1976-77 as well as the 1981-82 team's 27-4 finishing losing by one, 62-61, to Big Ten Champs Minnesota in the NCAA Second Round.
 
SERIES
All-Time Meetings: 3 | Record: 2-1 | Home: 0-0 | Away: 1-0 | Neutral: 1-1

• Two of the three meetings have come in the NCAA Tournament.
• All three contests have come in NCAA Tourney years with the other coming on Nov. 21, 2015, an 81-77 win.
• Tuesday was the 25th anniversary of the win over Illinois to advance to the Sweet 16 on March 16, 1997 in Charlotte, N.C.

 
COACH
Lamont Paris (College of Wooster '96)
Record: 87-72

• Home: 47-23 | Away: 33-42 | Neutral: 7-7
• NCAA Tournament: 0-1
• vs. Illinois: 0-1 | Home: 0-0 | Away: 0-0 | Neutral: 0-1

 
INDIVIDUAL
- KC Hankton and Josh Ayeni were a team-high +12 in their respective minutes, 21:59 for Hankton and 5:38 for Ayeni…combined for 11 points and two rebounds.
- Malachi Smith led the Mocs with 12 points, eight rebounds and three steals….32 of 35 games in double-figures this season…62nd in his UTC career.
- 696 points this season for Smith is second in Mocs history and most in the DI era…fell four points shy of breaking William "Go-Go" Gordon's '77 school-record 700 tallied in the 1977 NCAA Division II Championship run…there are seven 600-point campaigns all-time with Smith joining Gordon (700, 1976-77), Gerald Wilkins (672, 1984-85), Wayne Golden (657, 1976-77), Golden again (635, 1974-75), Stephen McDowell (633, 2008-09) and Chad Copeland (604, 1993-94).
- Smith has 1,115 career points at UTC…most in the first two years of a career passing Derrick Kirce '91 (1,113)…passed Kirce into a tie with Justin Tuoyo '16 for 24th on the all-time scoring list...26 shy of No. 20 Alphonso Pugh '06 (1,141).
- Darius Banks grabbed a season-high 13 rebounds…added eight points and two steals…drew six fouls.
- Silvio De Sousa had a team-high three assists…ties career high first set against UNC Asheville in November and matched in the SoCon semifinal blowout win over Wofford.
- Four points for David Jean-Baptiste… finishes fourth all-time in scoring at UTC with 1,750 points…his 288 career threes is the UTC record and fell 12 shy of becoming 8th SoCon student-athlete with 300 made in a career.