2025-26 Chattanooga Basketball
Postgame Notes & Quotes
Game 17 vs. Samford × January 10, 2026
 
Site: McKenzie Arena (Chattanooga, TN)
Game Duration: 2:01
Officials: Bryan Washer, Kyle Stewart, Dan Powers
Attendance: 4,312
 
Quick Records
Chattanooga: 7-10, 1-3 SoCon
Samford: 9-8, 2-2 SoCon

Series History
Meeting: 115th | UTC now leads 70-45 (H: 43-15; A: 24-30; N: 3-0)
*UTC now leads 22-13 in SoCon regular season meetings
 
Dan Earl, Head Coach
Overall (11th): 148-187
at Chattanooga (4th): 75-48, 35-23 SoCon
vs. Samford: 7-18 (H: 4-7; A: 1-9; N: 2-2)
 
Historical Records
All-Time Program Record: 1460-1,163 (.554)
Division I Era (since 1977-78): 915-594 (.606)
All-Time SoCon Record: 489-298 (.617)
 
Team/Game Notes
· Chattanooga snapped a three-game skid with a strong 88-79 victory over Samford on Saturday inside McKenzie Arena… UTC improves to 7-10 overall and earns its first league win while sitting 1-3… Samford drops to 9-8 overall and 2-2 inside league action.
 
· Chattanooga avoided what would have been just its third 0-4 start to SoCon play in program history (49 seasons)… the 0-3 start was just the fifth in the same time span… with the UTC victory, all 10 league members now have at least one win inside SoCon play just four games in.
 
· Chattanooga started early and built a lead as large as 28 (49-21) late in the first half… largest lead against a DI opponent this season… the 49-28 halftime lead marked the largest halftime lead against a DI opponent this season… fourth time holding a DI opponent this season under 30 points in the opening half.
 
· Chattanooga did not go wire-to-wire but led the contest for a commanding 39:05 of the 40 total minutes… just two lead changes and one tie in the early stages… UTC snapped a three-game streak allowing a 10-0 or greater scoring run… limited Samford to just one 9-0 run in the second half.
 
· Chattanooga shot an extremely efficient 91.7% (22-of-24) from the free-throw line during the win… season-high FT%... highest FT% on 20+ attempts since shooting 95.8% (23-of-24) against VMI at home on 2/12/2020.

· Chattanooga finished the game with just three turnovers... single-game program record... bests the previous record of four set twice with the most recent coming in last year's win at Wofford on 2/5/2025.
 
· Chattanooga's bench outscored the Samford reserves by a wide 36-5 (+31) margin… widest positive margin against a DI opponent this season… the UTC bench has produced 30.8 points-per-game this season (524 total)… opponents averaging 19.8 per game off the bench… +11.0 edge for UTC.
 
· Chattanooga head coach Dan Earl earned his 75^th win at the helm in the Scenic City… 35^th SoCon win at Chattanooga… now 75-48 overall and 35-23 in SoCon play during his fourth season at UTC.
 
Player Notes
· G Jordan Frison finished with a team-high 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting… went 2-of-2 from 3FG… 2-of-2 from the FT line… added six assists, two rebounds and two steals… surpassed 300 career rebounds (entered with 299).
 
· G Teddy Washington posted consecutive double-digit scoring efforts with 12 points on 4-of-10 FG… 4-of-4 FT… added five rebounds, four assists and two steals with no turnovers… surpassed 300 career rebounds (entered with 297).
 
· F Makai Richards finished with 10 points and four rebounds in 15 minutes of action… surpassed 200 points at UTC (entered with 197)… 95^th career game at the NCAA DI level.
 
Postgame Quotes
Dan Earl
Opening thoughts after 88-79 win over Samford.
"Proud of the guy's effort for a hard-fought win, a much-needed win, I thought we battled throughout. While we had some lulls, they weren't as long as they have been in other games. And I'm hoping that this helps our confidence level like we can go win a tight game. And we knew that Samford was going to come back. They're a heck of a team, and I have such respect for Coach Acuff and it was just good for us to figure out how to pull it out in the end. So proud of the guys, and hopefully we can springboard this to playing even better basketball."
 
On the team finding a way to win after playing really hard these last two games.
"That's basically what I said in the locker room afterwards, both things. One, we have to compete at all times, you know, and we've been guilty of when the ball's not going in the basket, maybe a little bit less aggressive or less tough on defense. I thought there was less of that tonight, so we're going in the right direction. I did think we got a little bit better against Furman as far as competing. We did that again tonight."
 
On the big rebound from Billy Smith late in the game.
"You mentioned Billy Smith, and that's the one play that I pointed out from the game. You know, everybody wants to talk about a made shot, and certainly Jordan (Frison) made a huge three at the top of the key, and that matters. But that ball came off, and you could see you know, it was a 50-50 ball, Billy dove and tapped it back out. That's what wins and loses you games."
 
On the hot start in the first half.
"Last game we were better out of the gates as well. I don't know, you know, if it was exactly who started or not or sense of urgency or you're on the road. There's all kinds of factors. But in the previous, at least three games we had gotten off to a very poor start. So last game in this game, we were much better. And obviously we played well in the first half. I want to say we had 48 points or 49 points, whatever it was, on offense, but we were like flying around on defense a little bit more, you know. We knew Samford was going to make a run. They're too good not to, and you got to figure out how to handle (Dylan) Faulkner, the big guy, and if you double them, they have shooters on the perimeter in particular (Jadin) Booth. But it is important for us not to dig ourselves a hole at the beginning of the game, and I think we've done a better job in the last two games of just that."
 
On the home crowd.
"I thought the crowd was awesome, and we certainly appreciate it. I know we've been struggling, our guys will continue to fight. We appreciate them coming out and supporting us, and even, when Samford was on the free throw line, McKenzie was rocking. So, you know, again, we're very appreciative of that. We hope people continue to come out and support us."
 
Jordan Frison, Jr., Guard
On how it felt to win the game after what this team has gone through this season.
"It was a really good feeling, you know, down the stretch we had scored a big basket and the crowd popped and stuff like that. 
Like, those are the things you want, you know, especially playing a home game in a game that you can win. And, yeah, we're just trying to, you know, stack it from here and just keep this positive energy we got going and try to build on it as we continue out through a conference play."