2024-25 Chattanooga Mocs Men's Basketball
Game 20 – Samford – January 23, 2025
McKenzie Arena – Chattanooga, Tenn.
Postgame Notes & Quotes
 
GENERAL GAME INFO
Game Duration: 2:14
Attendance: 3,679
Officials: Garrick Shannon, Chris Ford, Hunter Allen
 
TEAM RECORDS
Chattanooga: 12-8, 4-3 SoCon
Samford: 16-4, 6-1 SoCon
 
SERIES HISTORY (ALL-TIME)
Meetings: 113 ∙ Record: UTC, 68-45
at UTC: 42-15 ∙ at Samford: 23-30 ∙ Neutral: 3-0
 
HISTORIC NOTES
All-Time Program Record: 1,437-1,152 (.554)
Division I Era (since 77-78): 891-583 (.605)
All-Time SoCon Record: 477-295 (.617)
Record in UTC/McKenzie Arena: 493-152 (.764)
 
COACH RECORDS
UTC: Dan Earl ∙ UTC (3): 51-37 ∙ Overall (10): 124-176 ∙ vs. SAM: 5-18
SAM: Bucky McMillan ∙ Samford (5): 93-45 ∙ Overall (5): Same
 
GAME/TEAM NOTES
∙ Chattanooga fell 73-69 to Samford in Southern Conference action in an ESPNU televised contest inside McKenzie Arena… the Mocs fell to 12-8 and 4-3 in conference play… league-leader Samford improves to 16-4, 6-1… 3,679 filled the home arena.
 
∙ Chattanooga finished shooting 41.5% (22-of-53) from the field while ending a lowly 5-of-26 (19.2%) from deep… went 0-of-9 (0.0%) from three in the second half alone… finished 20-of-26 (76.9%) from the free-throw line… all six misses came in the second half (11-of-17, 64.7%).
 
∙ Chattanooga fell to 3-21 since the start of the 2022-23 season in games scoring 70 points or less… first loss this season when leading at the halftime break (7-0 entering tonight).
 
∙ Samford led the contest for just 13:20 opposed to UTC controlling 24:52 of the contest… in a frantic game, just two lead changes and three ties over the 40-minutes of action.
 
∙ Samford put together a 13-0 run in the second half to help overcome its deficit and jump ahead… run started when UTC led 49-38 (17:01)… the sprint saw the Bulldogs take a 51-49 lead (13:47)… the 13-0 run matches the longest allowed to an opponent this season (Evansville).
 
∙ Chattanooga led 42-31 at the halftime break… led by as much as 16 (42-26, 1:18) before Samford closed on a 5-0 run… UTC shot 46.7% (14-30) in the half and knocked down all nine FTA… earned a 10-2 points-off-turnover edge in the half.
 
PLAYER GAME/CAREER NOTES
Bash Wieland, G-Sr.
∙ Finished with a team-high 18 points on 6-of-8 FG… went 6-of-6 from the FT line.
∙ Has scored 18 or more points in five of the last seven games… eight total games with 18 or more this season.
∙ Surpassed 300 career FGM during the contest… entered at 296 (now 302)… 105th career game.
 
POSTGAME QUOTES
Dan Earl, Head Coach
Overall thoughts after tough 73-69 loss to Samford.
"Credit to Samford, we all knew they weren't going to go away. We got off to a good start in the first half, I think we did a little bit of us missing shots allowing it to affect our defense. It took a toll on our energy levels. We have to be better at that. When you go 0-for-9 from three, and miss six free throws, that's not ideal. We can't do those things. I just don't think we were very sharp in the second half."
 
On the turn in the second half.
"Really good basketball teams don't let making or missing shots affect you on the defensive side of the floor. That bothered us a lot. We have to keep it together in those moments and keep the intensity and energy up for an entire 40 minutes."