CHATTANOOGA (November 3, 2025) – After celebrating last season's historic NIT championship run with a pre-game ceremony, the Chattanooga Mocs men's basketball team opened its new campaign with a convincing 92-39 victory over NAIA-member Union Commonwealth (Ky.) on Monday evening inside McKenzie Arena.
 
The win marked the 500^th all-time for the Chattanooga program inside the famed Roundhouse. The Mocs are playing in its 44^th season inside the building, which opened its floor to the team for the 1982-83 season, and now carries a 500-162 (.767) all-time record.

Quick Records/Series
Chattanooga: 1-0 | Union (Ky.): 1-2
Series: Chattanooga leads the all-time series 1-0.
 
Dan Earl, Head Coach
Chattanooga (4): 69-38 | Overall (11): 142-177
 
Breakdown

• Both teams got off to a rather slow start before Tate Darner knocked down a trio of triples in his collegiate debut over a two-plus minute stretch, capping off a 22-5 scoring run and giving the Mocs a 25-7 lead with 9:11 left in the half.
• The Mocs surrendered just four points over the final nine-plus minutes of the half to claim a 46-11 lead at the halftime break. The 11 points were the fewest allowed by UTC in an opening half since allowing 13 to Johnson (TN) on 12/10/2022.
• Chattanooga scored the first 12 points of the second half to extend its lead to 58-11 with 16:51 left in the contest before continuing its dominance with a 48-point lead, 70-22, at the under 12-minute media timeout (11:45).
• UTC saw its reserves consume most of the game's final moments as the squad rolled its way to a 92-39 victory, its largest margin of victory since a 61-point rout (W, 112-51) of Tennessee Wesleyan on December 10, 2023.

Details: Stats | Notes | Quotes

3 Notes to Know | More

• Chattanooga now currently holds the longest active winning streak (W6) in NCAA Division I basketball after today's victory… Florida previously led with a W12 streak entering this season but dropped its opener today to Arizona 93-97.
• The win marked the 500^th inside UTC/McKenzie Arena… 44^th season of basketball in the Roundhouse (1982-pres.)… 500-162 (.767) all-time record inside the building.
• Chattanooga has won its last 30 games at home when opening a new season… last loss in a season-opening game at home came back on December 1, 1959 (L, 58-98 vs. Tennessee Tech).

 
Quotable | More
G Jikari Johnson (Gr.) on his first Roundhouse experience – "It's definitely a blessing. I had never played Division I basketball before. Both of my brothers got that luxury, so just seeing it come to fruition and just being able to play in an atmosphere like that is amazing to me."
 
Head coach Dan Earl on the ongoing buzz surrounding the program – "I'm just super appreciative of everybody involved. I say that everybody meaning currently in Mark Wharton, our A.D, the athletic administration, the fans coming out supporting us with season tickets being up. We made some adjustments to the arena floor seating, have a couple boxes going in, so, it seems like people are excited, and they've treated us completely awesome my whole time here, 
 
Up Next
Chattanooga (1-0) will embark on an extremely tough weekend trip out west this weekend with two road contests in two different states in less than a 24-hour stretch. The Mocs will head to Moraga, Calif., to face (RV) Saint Mary's (CA) for the second-straight season on Friday at 10:30 p.m. (EST) before traveling to Las Vegas, Nevada, to face UNLV on Saturday at 6 p.m. (EST).

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