NOTES | QUOTES | PHOTOS

MILWAUKEE, Wisc. (Dec. 22, 2023) – The Chattanooga Mocs men's basketball team saw its three-game win streaked snapped in heartbreaking fashion, falling in overtime 85-83 at Milwaukee in non-conference action inside Panther Arena on Friday afternoon.
 
Following the defeat, Chattanooga falls to 8-4 on the season. Milwaukee improves to 5-7 on the year after the victory.
 
A slow start for the Mocs in the first half featured an 0-of-14 tally from three and saw UWM lead by as many as 16 before an eventual 33-23 separation at the break. The hole was ultimately too deep to successfully climb out of despite the effort to send the game into an extra frame.
 
"Unfortunately, we did dig ourselves too big of a hole. We came out and it looked like we were moving at half-speed again, I have to figure out why that is," said head coach Dan Earl following the game.
 
"If you had asked me after seeing their pop in their step in the last couple practices, I would have said this group is ready to go. We have to be ready to play from the jump and not dig ourselves a hole."

HOW IT HAPPENED
Milwaukee knocked down three of its first five attempts from three as UTC was held to an 0-of-3 mark from the field, allowing for a quick 11-2 UWM lead with 15:52 left in the opening half. After the Mocs cut it to two, 11-9 (13:47), the Panthers responded with a 10-0 run over the next four-plus minutes to build a 21-9 edge at the 9:34 mark.
 
Chattanooga rallied with an 8-0 run from that point to pull within four (21-17, 6:18) on an Honor Huff floater in the paint. UTC would finish the opening half 0-of-14 from three and just 9-of-33 (27.3%) from the field in total as UWM held a 33-23 lead at the break.
 
The Mocs found its stroke early in the second half with back-to-back threes from Huff and Tyler Millin as Trey Bonham followed with a turnaround jumper to pull the guests within four, 37-33, with 17:43 left in the contest. UWM answered with three-straight triples to push its lead wider once again, 46-37, at the first media timeout of the final half (15:50).
 
Millin continued to propel the Mocs offense the next two-plus minutes with consecutive threes to bring the squad within a possession, 48-45, with 13:31 remaining in the game. UTC got even closer, 52-50, at the 11:55 mark before the hosts torched the net from deep and built an eight-point lead, 62-54, with 7:44 on the board.
 
Huff knocked down his second triple of the game to make 62-59 (6:11) before a single UWM free throw on the defensive end and a Noah Melson triple on the offensive end made it 63-62 (5:32). Trailing 72-69 with under 20 seconds, Millin once again found the bottom of the net to tie the game at 72-72.
 
Milwaukee's Erik Pratt knocked down a long triple with 4.0 seconds left, however, the home bench called for timeout ahead of the shot as the almost-dagger did not count. The UTC defense came up big on the final possession to force OT tied at 72-72.
 
Huff gave Chattanooga its first lead of the game, 77-76, with his fourth three as 1:13 remained in overtime. UTC's latest lead came at 82-81 (0:39) on a Millin three before UWM jumped back in front 83-82 with 16 seconds left.
 
Millin had an open look at the top of the key under five seconds but was off the mark, eventually leading to the 85-83 final tally. Chattanooga suffered a -24 margin in free-throw attempts during the loss after being charged with 13-straight fouls over a span of the final 10 minutes of regulation and first three of overtime.

RECORDS/SERIES – Chattanooga 8-4 · Milwaukee 5-7 · Series: The all-time series is now tied 2-2.

THREE KEY NOTES | MORE
1. 100^th overtime contest in program history… UTC is now 54-46 in overtime games in program history… 22-28 in overtime contests on the road… 1-5 in its last six road OT games.
 
2. Chattanooga attempted 24 less free throws than Milwaukee in the loss… UTC attempted 13 (10-13) to Milwaukee's 37 (26-37)… ties the largest FTA discrepancy for the Mocs since a -24 margin (2-3/19-27) at UT Martin on December 18, 2018.
 
3. Chattanooga was out-rebounded by a 50-44 margin in the defeat… first time allowing 50 or more rebounds to a non-conference opponent since surrendering 51 at North Carolina on November 13, 2016.

QUOTABLE | MORE
HC Dan Earl on the cold shooting in the first half.
"Of all the things we have to do better, I obviously don't want to go 0-for-14, but if they're good and open shots, sometimes that happens, and we have to deal with that. That's the least of our issues. It's when the ball doesn't move, and we try to play one-on-one or force things, that's a bit more frustrating. Shots will fall sometimes and then other days they won't. We have to learn how to keep teams out of the paint and off the free-throw line."

NEXT UP – at (RV) Auburn – Saturday, Dec. 30 – 9:00 p.m. ET – Auburn, Ala. – SEC Network
 
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