LOS ANGELES, Calif. (November 4, 2024) – Missing a few key pieces to begin the year, the Chattanooga Mocs men's basketball team suffered a 77-51 season-opening defeat at USC inside the Galen Center in Los Angeles, Calif., on Monday evening.
Chattanooga struggled to find the bottom of the night for much of the night and finished the contest with its lowest totals in the Earl era, shooting just 15-of-54 (27.8%) from the field and 6-of-34 (17.6%) from behind the arc. The Mocs held a lead for over two minutes in the opening half before the Trojans started to extend its advantage with a half-closing 9-2 run, taking a 32-22 lead into the break.
Honor Huff led all scorers with 17 points on 5-of-15 shooting (5-of-13 3PT) and surpassed 900 career points during the process. Eight of the nine Mocs who saw action on Monday night recorded points on the scoresheet including career firsts for
Latif Diouf (4).
RECORDS/SERIES – Chattanooga 0-1 · USC 1-0 · USC leads the all-time series 2-0.
GAME FLOW
19:43 – Sean Cusano, making his first career start, converted a dunk just 17 seconds into the game.
12:00 – USC grabbed a 12-9 lead on a 3-of-4 FG stretch which included a triple from Chibuzo Agbo.
8:15 – Isaiah Elohim tipped an offensive rebound in to give USC a 17-11 lead before back-to-back layups from
Jack Kostel and Keeslar cut the UTC deficit to two, 17-15.
4:59 – USC stopped the quick spurt with four-straight of its own to grab a 21-15 edge.
1:43 – Trojans use a 7-0 run to build a 30-20 lead. UTC went 0-of-3 with two fouls during the stretch.
0:07 – USC ends the half on a 9-2 run to take a 32-22 lead into the locker room.
HALFTIME: Chattanooga went just 2-of-15 (13.3%) from 3PT; committed eight turnovers; outscored 14-6 in bench points.
18:47 –
Latif Diouf cut it seven, 34-27, with his first career points on a pair of free-throws.
15:08 – USC went on a quick 12-2 run over a three-plus minute stretch to build a 46-29 lead.
13:41 –
Honor Huff made it 48-34 after cashing in on three offensive team rebounds with his fourth 3PT of the game.
8:56 – Agbo hit his fourth 3PT of the game on a highly-contested attempt to give USC its largest lead, 58-35.
5:46 – USC maintained its 23-point lead over the next three minutes as the two teams traded points.
1:54 – Consecutive triples from Huff and Kostel notched UTC's 69
th-straight game with five or more before the eventual 77-51 defeat.
FINAL: Chattanooga finished shooting just 29.6% (8-of-27) in total (lowest total since 2018); five total lead changes in the game; 35:23-2:09 in lead times.
KEY NOTES | MORE
- Now 9-4 in season-opening games over the last 13 dating back to 2012-13… 1-2 over the last three with both losses coming on the road.
- Streak of 5+ 3PT FGs extends to 69-straight games… began at 2022-23 season opener… every game under
Dan Earl… second-longest active streak (Oral Roberts, 126)… 22
nd longest streak all-time in DI.
POSTGAME QUOTES | MORE
Dan Earl, Head Coach
On USC's physicality.
"They're a good team. They're long and athletic and every position and they're physical. They were physical with us on both sides of the ball. They drove down hill, got into the post and the lane, but then on the defensive end as well they made it difficult for us to run an offense. We were trying to cut and you have to cut hard and with a purpose and force the officials to call fouls, and they were just chucking us off our cuts and physical every which way. Unfortunately that played a big role in this game. Credit to them for playing us that hard. I'd love to say to you that we just missed shots, I think we shot 6-for-34 or something like that from three, but that wasn't all it. We missed shots but we also weren't able to get good looks for a large portion of the game, and that's a credit to USC."
UP NEXT – Chattanooga at Saint Mary's (CA) – Thursday, Nov. 7 – 10 p.m. ET – ESPN+ – Moraga, Calif.
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