CHATTANOOGA (January 2, 2025) --- Following a tough Southern Conference-opening defeat on Thursday, the Chattanooga Mocs men's basketball team quickly returns to action with a Saturday afternoon matchup at VMI inside Cameron Hall in Lexington, Va. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. (ET) on ESPN+.
 
Chattanooga (6-8, 0-1 SoCon) is coming off a tough 77-72 loss at UNCG on Thursday in the league opener for both teams. The Mocs held a late 69-64 lead with under three minutes left before the host-Spartans ended the game on a 13-3 scoring run.
 
VMI (5-9, 0-1 SoCon) also dropped its SoCon opener after leading for a portion of the contest, falling 78-58 to Samford at home on Thursday afternoon inside Cameron Hall. The Keydets held a 36-34 halftime lead over the Bulldogs before being outscored 44-22 in the second half and held to a lowly 28.1% (9-of-32) shooting total over the final 20 minutes.

Full game details, notes, storylines and more can be found below.

GAME DETAILS
Chattanooga (6-8, 0-1) at VMI (5-9, 0-1)
Date: Sat., Jan. 3 ∙ Time: 1 p.m. ET
Site: Lexington, Va. (Cameron Hall)
TV: ESPN+ ∙ Radio: Mocs Sports Network (WFLI)
Follow: Live Stats ∙ @GoMocsMBB on X/Twitter

SERIES HISTORY VS. VMI
71st Meeting: 54-16 (H: 26-5; A: 23-9; N: 5-2)
Last Meeting: Chattanooga 91, at VMI 70 – 3/1/25 (Lexington, Va.)
SoCon Regular Season: Chattanooga leads 48-14  

GAME NOTES
Chattanooga ∙ VMI
 
GAME HEADLINES
MOCS FALTER LATE IN LOSS AT UNCG
• Chattanooga (6-8, 0-1) dropped a tough 77-72 contest at UNCG inside Bodford Arena in Greensboro on New Year's Day... UTC led 69-64 with less than three minutes remaining before UNCG ended the game on a 13-3 run... SoCon opener for both teams.
 
VMI SCOUT
• VMI (5-9, 0-1 SoCon) also opened SoCon play with a tough defeat... fell 78-58 at home to Samford on Thursday afternoon... Keydets led 36-34 at the halftime break before being outscored 44-22 in the second half... VMI shot just 28.1% (9-32) from the floor and 11.1% (2-18) from 3FG in the second half.
 
TJ JOHNSON THE X-FACTOR FOR VMI
• VMI junior transfer forward TJ Johnson ranks 3rd in NCAA DI basketball this season in total 3FGA (130)... ranks 33rd in 3FGM per game (3.15)... 43rd in total 3FGM (41)... 81st in total points (243).
 
SOCON OPENERS UNKIND TO THE MOCS
• Chattanooga has now dropped its last four SoCon openers following Thursday's loss at UNCG... the Mocs have also now lost six-straight SoCon openers on the road... just 10-15 in program history in road openers... 27-22 overall in openers over its 49-year league history.
 
KEYDETS PROVIDE FAMILIAR COMPANY                                                                          
• Head coach Dan Earl will take on his former team VMI for the eighth time as the bench boss at Chattanooga on Saturday... Earl spent his first seven seasons as an NCAA DI head coach at VMI... 2015-22... named SoCon Coach of the Year in 2020-21 at VMI... Earl is 7-0 against the Keydets over the past four seasons at UTC... five of the seven wins were by 10+ points.
 
TAKING CARE OF THE BALL                                                                                   
• Chattanooga ranks 15th in NCAA DI this season with just 9.5 turnovers per game... sits 22nd in A-TO ratio (1.74)... one of 14 DI teams this season with 7+ games finishing with 8 or fewer turnovers.

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