2024-25 Chattanooga Mocs Men's Basketball
Game 6 – Johnson (TN) – November 21, 2024
McKenzie Arena – Chattanooga, Tenn.
Postgame Notes & Quotes
 
GENERAL NOTES
Game Duration: 1:41
Attendance: 2,766
Officials: Evan Berg, Michael Kolen, Drew Ransdell
 
TEAM NOTES
- Chattanooga improved to 3-3 on the season following a 72-52 victory over NAIA member Johnson University… third-straight win for the Mocs after three-straight defeats to begin the season.
 
- All-time program record 1,429-1,147… 881-577 in Division I era (since 1977-78).
 
- Chattanooga earned its first halftime lead of the season… led 32-30 at the break… first half featured 11 lead changes and three ties… Mocs shot just 37.9% (11-of-29) from the floor in the half… 35.3% (6-of-17) from deep.
 
- Chattanooga led for 29:23 of the 40 minutes… largest lead was 22 late in the second half… 10-0 scoring run was the largest for the game… also came late in the second half.
 
- UTC featured 40 points from its reserves… 79 bench points over the last two games… earned a 19-7 edge in points off turnovers… 36-24 in paint points… 17-6 in second-chance points… 12-2 off the fast break.
 
- Chattanooga is now 116-1 (.992) against non-DI opponents in its DI era (1977-78)… lone loss was to Southern Poly (L, 69-73) on December 16, 1999.
 
- Streak of 5+ 3PT FGs extends to 74-straight games… began at 2022-23 season opener… every game under Dan Earl… second-longest active streak (Oral Roberts, 130)… 17th longest streak all-time in DI.
 
- Chattanooga is the only team in the Southern Conference to begin the 2024-25 season with five-straight games against DI opponents.
 
PLAYER NOTES
- Sean Cusano notched his first career double-double… set career marks in points (16) and rebounds (10)… played just 17 minutes… 30 points over his last two games.
 
- Garrison Keeslar appeared in his 100^th game in the NCAA ranks… 94 career games at NCAA DII Walsh (OH)… finished with four points and five rebounds… added two steals.

SERIES HISTORY

All-Time	Record	Pct.
Overall (2nd)	2-0	1.000
at Chattanooga	2-0	1.000
at Johnson	0-0	.000
Neutral	0-0	.000

 
COACHING RECORDS/NOTES

Dan Earl (PSU '97)	Record	Pct.
Overall (10th)	115-171	.393
at UTC (3rd)	42-32	.561
vs. Johnson	2-0	1.000

POSTGAME QUOTES
Dan Earl, Head Coach
Overall thoughts after 72-52 win vs. Johnson.
"It was a disappointing game obviously, especially in the first half. I don't think we attacked things the right way and I thought we let missing shots affect us a little too much. You have to give credit to Johnson too, they came in not scared and let their confidence build moving forward. I thought they really controlled the pace too. I thought we played much better in the second half, led by Sean Cusano's effort. A couple guys played to their potential, but a lot didn't. We have to learn and get better from this."
 
On playing to potential.
"The ultimate goal is to obviously win. But if you're looking at the process, every once in a while you can lose a game and say that you played well, just missed some shots. There's some games where you win and you don't play to your potential. I don't think we played to our potential tonight and you can't take anything away from Johnson. They really played with confidence. We just allowed the missed shots really affect us."
 
On second half adjustments.
"We just talked about being more aggressive on both sides of the ball. We like to shoot the three, but if you're just taking shots to shoot it, you're going to need to get the ball downhill and get some easy buckets. So we look at how we rebound the ball, how we're moving the ball, affecting the game. We just talked about being that type of aggressive."
 
Sean Cusano, So.-F
On what went well tonight.
"I think I was very focused and locked in tonight. I focused on how we didn't rebound the ball well in the first half, so I wanted to come in to the second half and really affect the game from that standpoint."
 
On missing last season & how it was beneficial this year.
"Honestly, I thought the game was a little too fast for me at that time when I first came in. So, I was able to watch everyone and being able to watch what they're doing, it helped the game slow down for me and really helped me."