2024-25 Chattanooga Mocs Men's Basketball
Game 26 – Samford – February 12, 2025
Pete Hanna Center – Birmingham, Ala.
Postgame Notes & Quotes
 
GENERAL GAME INFO
Game Duration: 2:04
Attendance: 2,311
Officials: Jason Baker, Billy Dunlap, Devyn Page
 
TEAM RECORDS
Chattanooga: 18-8, 10-3 SoCon
Samford: 19-7, 9-4 SoCon
 
SERIES HISTORY
114th All-Time Meeting
Chattanooga leads 69-45; H: 42-15; A: 24-30; N: 3-0.
Chattanooga leads 21-12 in SoCon regular season games.
 
COACHES RECORDS
Chattanooga: Dan Earl (Penn State '97)
Overall (10): 130-176, 63-108 SoCon
at UTC (3): 57-37, 29-20 SoCon
 
Samford: Bucky McMillan (Birmingham So. '07)
Overall (5): 96-48
at SAM (5): Same
 
HISTORIC RECORDS
All-Time Program Record: 1,443-1,152 (.554)
Division I Era (since '77-78): 897-583 (.605)
All-Time SoCon Record: 483-295 (.617)
 
TEAM & GAME NOTES

• Chattanooga extended its winning streak to six after an 82-68 road win at Samford on Wednesday night… first win in Birmingham since January 2021… UTC improved to 18-8 overall and 10-3 in league play… Bulldogs drop to 19-7, 9-4 in SoCon action.

 

• Chattanooga has now won six-straight games overall and six-straight road SoCon games… six ties a program record for the second-straight season… last time with SoCon road winning streaks of five or more in consecutive campaigns was the 1991-92 and 1992-93 seasons.

 

• Chattanooga entered one of 29 teams in NCAA DI in the 2024-25 season with seven or more true road wins… team improved to 8-5 on the road this season after the win.

 

• Chattanooga earned its 43rd true road victory since the start of the 2020-21 season… most true road wins (43) in all of NCAA Division I during the span… 43-29 (.597) in total over the stretch.

 

• Chattanooga went wire-to-wire in the victory after grabbing a quick 2-0 lead just 28 seconds in before holding it the rest of the way… led by as many as 18 down the stretch.

 

• Chattanooga held Samford without a field goal in the second half for nearly nine minutes… span stretched from the 9:19 mark to the 0:35 mark in the final half… UTC outscored SAM 21-9 over that stretch.

 

• After today's game, Chattanooga has now made at least one 3FGM in 1,100-straight games… streak dates back to 1989-90 season… last time with zero was 2/5/90 at Appalachian State (0-of-2).

 

• Chattanooga led 36-26 at the halftime break… first halftime lead since January 29 at Western Carolina (44-25).

PLAYER NOTES
Frank Champion, F-Sr.

• Stuffed the stat sheet yet again… near triple-double with 14 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.
• Added three steals and three blocks in 34 minutes of action… 34 minutes ties season high… finished +19. 

Trey Bonham, G-Sr.

• Finished with 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting… added four rebounds, three assists and three steals.
• Eighth career game against Samford… has amassed 141 career points (17.6 per game) against the Bulldogs after tonight.

Honor Huff, G-Sr.

• Ended with 17 points after going 4-of-11 from the floor… 4-of-10 from 3PT… 5-of-6 FT… 39:55 of playing time.
• Sixth career game against Samford… has now amassed 93 career points (15.5 per game) against the Bulldogs… 20 career 3FGM against Samford.

Jack Kostel, G-Sr.

• Appeared in his 140^th career game at the NCAA level… 26 at UTC… 114 at Alabama-Huntsville (DII).

 
POSTGAME QUOTES
Dan Earl, Head Coach
Overall thoughts after tonight's 82-66 victory at Samford.
"Yeah, I thought we played really good defense, and I was told just before this that they had a nine-minute stretch or something like that in the second half without making a field goal. They missed some shots too, but that's part of it, I think we had something to do about that, you know. Certain things you want to do is not give them 18 offensive rebounds or whatever it was, and we had a few rough turnovers, but against a team like that, 21 assists and 14 turnovers is pretty good, and I thought our defense made all the difference. We made it difficult on them at least and that was the main focal point."
 
Frank Champion, Sr.-F
On today's game plan.
"I think coach [Earl] did a good job of switching up our personnel and giving some different looks for them, you know. We were making them think a little bit too much, so that was very beneficial for us in the second half for sure. I had some pretty good battles, some pretty interesting battles in there [paint]. I do give up a little size, but I like to think that my determination, my fire, and just my overall fight is what really helps me in those situations."
 
On the current six-game win streak.
"It's nothing to under-look or overlook, but I would say that it really doesn't mean too much right now. It surely doesn't mean nothing because it's extremely hard to win games, especially on the road, but we want to keep going in the right direction and be playing our best basketball in March just like everyone else."