The Chattanooga's Mocs men's basketball team began the 1996-97 campaign with a lot to prove. The 1995-96 edition was largely expected to be the best team in the Southern Conference and were going to make the NCAA Tournament. Coach Mack McCarthy uncharacteristically said as much before the season started. It ended with a disappointing 15-12 record falling short of its goals.
The next year he wasn't going to make the same mistake.
"We had won three championships in a row and really had a talented team," said McCarthy. "I made a definite tactical error. I had never said anything good about our teams, especially in advance. That year (referring to the 1995-96 team), I did say that was the best team we ever had here. I never made that mistake again."
The 1995-96 campaign ended in the first round of the SoCon Tournament with a heartbreaking 82-81 loss to Marshall.
The '97 team was off to a rough start, winning just two Division I games before the new year. The season began with two non-Division I opponents, before the team made its way to San Juan, Puerto Rico to face Missouri, Delaware and Puerto Rico-Mayaguez. All three games were decided by an 83-74 score with Chattanooga falling to Missouri and Delaware before defeating Puerto Rico-Mayaguez to move to 3-2 on the year.
The team felt that they should have returned to Chattanooga with at least two wins from that tournament.
"We made the decision as a staff that we were going to press," said John Goddard, assistant coach. "We went to Puerto Rico, and it didn't work out too well. We lost to one team we shouldn't have."
Following the trip, the Mocs lost to Penn State (73-63), MTSU (82-73) and UAB (75-65) as the team was 0-5 in their first five Division I games of the season. Chattanooga won its first Division I game at home against Tennessee State, 67-49 on Dec. 21, two days before the conference season was set to begin.
The squad opened its conference slate on Dec. 23 at Marshall where the team looked to avenge its SoCon Tournament setback from a year ago. Marshall took a 40-31 lead into the break and won the game 90-83, handing the Mocs their first SoCon loss of the season.
Chattanooga ended the calendar year hosting the Dr Pepper Classic, another tournament they thought they should go 2-0 in. The Mocs defeated Coastal Carolina 75-69 in overtime before falling to Canisius 63-49. After a 1-1 mark in the classic, the team decided this was not the way they wanted the season to go. The Mocs held a 5-7 record at the end of December with two Division I victories.
After losing the Dr Pepper Classic, McCarthy decided to approach the team in a different way.
"We came in [to the locker room] and they brought in the (1995-96) second-place trophy and Mack lost it," said Chris Mims. "He said 'is this what y'all are playing for?' He threw it (the trophy) into the back of the locker room and pieces went everywhere. Everyone went quiet and it was a surprise for all of us."
After the loss to Canisius, the team went into Bowling Apartments and had a meeting.
"We were like 'what are we doing? What is happening here?' We have put a year and a half of so much hard work and effort, we looked at each other and said we have to figure this out," said Wes Moore. "We went to the next practice and it was like there was a brand new bunch of guys in there."
That was a major turning point, not only for the players, but the coaching staff as well.
"We went to practice, and outside of special situations and out of bounds plays, we changed everything we did," said McCarthy. "We played more zone, we played more half court, we didn't press as much, we limited the rotation a little bit. We changed everything. Sometimes, you change everything and don't see the results right away… we saw the results right away."
The first battle in January was a conference contest at home against Wofford. The Mocs dominated the Terriers 83-46 for their first SoCon win of the season.
That win was just the beginning.
Chattanooga's victory over Wofford was the start of an 11-game win streak in 31 days from Jan. 6 – Feb. 6. The 11-game span saw the Mocs outscoring their opponents 849-627 with nine straight double-digit wins. The win streak ended with a narrow 70-69 setback to East Tennessee State in overtime in Johnson City on Feb. 8.
"The funny part is, one game Johnny Taylor would play well, one game Willie Young would play well. Another game so and so would play well," said Jim Reynolds, the long-time Voice of the Mocs. "They put it all together and blended. They figured out what everyone's strengths were and complimented each other and got on a pretty good roll."
The squad bounced back from the overtime loss with a 12-point win over The Citadel before falling to Western Carolina and Georgia Southern by a combined total of five points. After the Georgia Southern loss, McCarthy had a meeting with the team because he felt the team was not playing as good as they did in January.
McCarthy stopped the bus in front of the old building at Georgia Southern. The building was locked, but he found a custodian to let the team into the arena. The lights were still off and the team sat in the middle of the court in a dark gym.
"He (Coach McCarthy) looked at us and said, 'guys, you cannot do this now," Moore recalled. "You cannot let these two games define how far you guys have come. We are going to get back on that bus. We are going to regroup to what we were doing for the last six or seven weeks during that winning streak.' We got back and we fell right back into the groove."
In the SoCon regular season finale, the Mocs hosted Marshall with hopes to take momentum into the conference tournament. For the 1997 team, Marshall was the biggest rival for those players. It was the game on the schedule that was always circled.
"You have to beat Marshall," said Marquis Collier. "That's just the game of all games when it comes to the Southern Conference… and it definitely was a game."
Chattanooga downed the Thundering Herd 92-72 behind a 21-point performance from Taylor and a 20-point outing from Young. The victory earned the Mocs the No. 1 seed in the SoCon Tournament.
"Every time we played Marshall, it was a war," said Isaac Conner. "To beat them by 20 going into the conference tournament was exactly what we needed to help our confidence and reiterate to ourselves that we were the best team in the conference."
Chattanooga ended the regular season with a 92-60 nonconference win over Cumberland.
The Mocs opened the tournament with an 84-62 rout over VMI in the quarterfinals before advancing to the championship game with a 77-70 win over Davidson. The SoCon's NCAA Tournament bid came down to Chattanooga and Marshall.
With the game tied at 64 and less than 10 seconds on the clock, Marshall had the ball with a chance to win the title. Taylor was guarding Sidney Coles, who pulled up from the left elbow and missed the game winner off the rim as the game went into overtime.
In overtime, Marshall was up one with 30 seconds to go. Taylor was guarding the Thundering Herd's point guard and forced a traveling violation with 27.9 seconds remaining.
After a timeout, Chattanooga called a play made for Taylor. He dribbled to the left wing and pulled up with an off-balance shot. The ball landed in Mims' hands off the glass.
"It tipped the rim, bounded right in my hands, and I thought was going to miss it (the put back)," said Mims. "I put it back up, it hit the top of the square and dropped right through the net. We went berserk, it was awesome."
With the overtime victory, the team won its eighth SoCon Tournament Championship and secured the league's berth to the NCAA Tournament. It was the program's fourth trip to the Big Dance in five years.
The team watched the selection show at the Boathouse. Chattanooga was tabbed the No. 14 seed in the Southeast Region and was set to face No. 3 Georgia.
"I can remember looking at everybody and saying 'we're going to win this game,'" said Moore.
When McCarthy saw the matchup, he knew that the Mocs had a chance to win the game against the Bulldogs.
"It wasn't that Georgia wasn't a great team," said McCarthy. "I knew immediately that we really did have a chance to win the basketball game against Georgia."
The game started exactly the way Chattanooga wanted. The Mocs got out to a 17-2 start through the first four minutes of action.
"We thought from one to five that we matched up pretty good with these guys," said Young. "The only thing they had on us was at the five and four position, they were much bigger. Our bigs were quicker and much more skilled."
The Mocs were up 46-31 at the half, which provided an important cushion for team.
"We always knew it was going to be a close game," said McCarthy. "Georgia was too good. You don't blow them out."
Georgia went on a run in the second half and came within three with 10 seconds to go. Coach McCarthy called a timeout and told the team to press for the first time all game.
"He put Chris Mims on the ball, and I was in the front court with him," said Moore. "I remember running side-to-side and we had Georgia so confused because we hadn't pressed. That one possession I remember to this day… watching their guards having no clue what to do."
Chattanooga never trailed in the game, but with 2.7 seconds left Georgia had a shot from the corner to force overtime. Marquise Collier got his fingertips on the ball to seal the victory. The Mocs downed the Bulldogs 73-70 for the SoCon's biggest upset in the NCAA Tournament (the tournament began using seeds in 1979).
The Mocs' next opponent was No. 6 Illinois. Prior to the game, there were talks about things happening in the Illinois locker room. Illinois was celebrating the fact that they were going to play Chattanooga.
"The Illinois coach was disparaging the Mocs and [saying] 'how could you lose to this bunch and you'll be embarrassed if you lose,'" said Chris Dortch, a current UTC faculty member and publisher of the Blue Ribbon Yearbook. "The Mocs heard all of that."
After hearing what happened in the locker room, the Mocs took it as an insult and it gave the team all of the fuel they needed.
Chattanooga went to playing the zone and according to Coach McCarthy, "It worked really well."
The boards were where the Mocs had the upper hand over a very physical Illinois team. Chattanooga out-rebounded the Illini 39-21 in the contest, including 15-8 on the offensive boards.
At the half, Illinois held a one-point 34-33 lead. Four minutes into the final 20, the Illini were up 47-41. McCarthy picked up a technical foul with 15:52 left in the game, which fired up the Chattanooga squad.
"When he got that tech, we knew that he was there with us," said Taylor. "It was like 'I can't shoot a basketball but I'm going to give them a few words to show them that you can't do this to my guys.' Once he did that, it was over."
After the tech, the Mocs changed defenses and it upset the rhythm of the Illini.
"It went better than we could have ever imagined," said McCarthy. "They went seven or eight minutes with one field goal."
The Mocs made their statement, punching the team's first ticket to the Sweet 16 with a 12-point 75-63 upset over the Illini. That game put the Mocs on the map. After the victory over Illinois, multiple major news outlets showed up at McKenzie Arena to speak with the team including CNN, USA Today and the LA Times. The Monday after the Mocs punched the ticket, Taylor was on the cover of the USA Today.
"Being on the cover of the USA Today was definitely those 'I've arrived' moments," said Taylor. "It was special. I have it at home in a case to remind myself where you come from, where you went to and what you have accomplished."
"It proved what we had seen everyday in practice," said Connor. "That this guy is an NBA player. We knew that. We all knew that. Now the world knows that."
The next opponent was 10th-seeded Providence with a trip to the Elite 8 on the line.
"We looked at the video of the first two games [that Providence played]," said McCarthy. "We said this is also a team where we could play a big line up again, and we did some of that."
In the game, the Mocs missed a lot of shots that they normally make and had a lot of defensive lapses that didn't normally happen.
"If we just converted half of the offensive rebounds that we got, we probably win that game by double figures," McCarthy added.
Providence won the game 71-65, ending Chattanooga's Cinderella run.
"We still talk about that… how did we lose against Providence?" Young recalled. "That's a real downer right there. We felt like we were better than those guys. We knew we could compete with them. We just couldn't get over that hump."
The Mocs concluded the 1996-97 season with a 24-11 record and secured their spot as one of the best 14 seeds ever in the NCAA Tournament. Chattanooga remains the last 14 seed to punch its ticket to the Sweet 16 with only Cleveland State (1986) also on that list.
After the team's NCAA Tournament run came to an end, the group turned its attention to the NBA Draft to find out where Taylor would end up.
Taylor became the highest draft pick in school history. On June 25, 1997, he was selected 17th overall by the Orlando Magic.
"Our team, unlike any other team I have been a part of really loved each other, we respected each other and we were a real brotherhood," Taylor concluded. "That type of chemistry, you don't find on most teams. We were close from the coaching staff all the way down to the trainers. That's what I want us to be remembered for. We were a real team in every aspect of the word."
