NOTES | QUOTES | PHOTOS

AUBURN, Ala. (Dec. 30, 2023) – The Chattanooga Mocs men's basketball team concluded its non-conference slate with a 101-66 loss at perennial SEC-power Auburn in front of a sold-out crowd of 9,121 inside Neville Arena on Saturday evening.
 
Following the loss, Chattanooga drops to 8-5 overall ahead of the upcoming SoCon schedule beginning on Wednesday. Auburn improves to 10-2 after the win and has now won 51-straight home games against non-conference opponents.
 
A fast start for the Tigers led to an eventual 49-27 halftime lead, which marked the most first half points allowed to a non-conference opponent for the Mocs since a November 16, 2014, matchup at No. 3 Wisconsin (52). The strong Auburn offensive attack proved to be too much as they became the first team to score 100+ on UTC since 2019.
 
"Definitely was unfortunate. It was not our best showing, obviously," said head coach Dan Earl after the game.
 
"When you face pressure, you have to go north and south. If you go east and west and just throw it around the perimeter, it's going to be a long night. It took us way too long to figure that out."

HOW IT HAPPENED
Auburn opened the game converting six of its first nine attempts from the field to take a quick 14-5 lead at the game's first media timeout (14:55). The lead for the hosts ballooned over the next three-plus minutes with the help of three triples, helping build a 27-14 edge with 10:38 left in the opening half.
 
The Tigers continued to shoot at a high clip in the opening half and held a sizable 14-6 advantage on the glass over the first 12-plus minutes to make it 35-15 at the 7:48 mark. Auburn would head into the break with a 22-point lead, 49-27, after finishing the half shooting 52.8% (19-of-36) from the floor while earning a 26-6 edge in points inside the paint.
 
Chattanooga scored the first five points of the second half before Auburn responded with a quick 7-0 run to pull ahead 59-32 with 16:22 left in the contest. UTC and AU exchanged the next 14 points evenly to bring the tally to 66-39 in favor of the home team with an even 11 minutes on the board.
 
The Tigers continued to pull away with high-percentage looks inside the arc during the final stages of the second half, ultimately ending the second half shooting 13-of-21 (61.9%) on two-point attempts with all 13 makes occurring inside the paint. Auburn capped off its impressive offensive display with a 101-66 final decision.

RECORDS/SERIES – Chattanooga 8-5 · Auburn 10-2 · Series: Auburn now leads the all-time series 3-2.

THREE KEY NOTES | MORE
1. 150^th all-time meeting against current SEC members… entered 26-123 (.174) before tonight's game… last win over an SEC program was an 82-69 win at Tennessee on 11/11/2016… Auburn has now won 51-straight games at home against non-conference opponents… combined 36-2 home record since start of 2021-22 season.
 
2. Chattanooga finished 11-of-33 (33.3%) from 3PT during the loss… 80^th-straight game a Dan Earl-led team has made five or more 3PT in a game… seventh-straight game with 10 or more triples.
 
3. Honor Huff led all UTC scorers with 15 points on 4-of-8 shooting (all from 3PT)… added four assists… in three career games against Power 5 opponents, Huff is averaging 17.7 points per game and has combined to make 13 3PT FGs.

QUOTABLE | MORE
HC Dan Earl on taking care of the ball.
"I think we had 16 assists and 10 turnovers, and that's a good ratio, I thought we did a good job of protecting the ball. I thought we just took some poor shots. And those poor shots are turnovers that don't show up in the stat sheet. Again, credit to Auburn. They're a good team who plays the right way. They're tough." 

NEXT UP – at Samford – Wednesday, Jan. 3 – 7:30 p.m. ET – Birmingham, Ala. – ESPN+
 
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