2025-26 Chattanooga Basketball
Postgame Notes & Quotes
Game 15 at VMI - January 3, 2026
 
Site: Cameron Hall (Lexington, Va.)
Game Duration: 2:06
Officials: Billy Dunlap, Clyde Owens, Kyle Ray
Attendance: 965
 
Quick Records
Chattanooga: 6-9, 0-2 SoCon
VMI: 6-9, 1-1 SoCon

Series History
Meeting: 71st | UTC now leads 54-17 (H: 26-5; A: 23-10; N: 5-2)
*UTC now leads 48-15 in SoCon regular season meetings
 
Dan Earl, Head Coach
Overall (11th): 147-186
at Chattanooga (4th): 74-47, 34-22 SoCon
vs. VMI: 7-1 (H: 3-0; A: 3-1; N: 1-0)
 
Historical Records
All-Time Program Record: 1459-1,162 (.554)
Division I Era (since 1977-78): 914-593 (.606)
All-Time SoCon Record: 488-297 (.617)
 
Team/Game Notes
· Chattanooga dropped its second-straight game to open SoCon play with a 79-71 defeat VMI on Saturday… UTC is now 6-9 overall and 0-2 in SoCon action… VMI improved to 6-9 overall and evens its league record at 1-1.
 
· Chattanooga begins SoCon play 0-2 for the first time since the 2020-21 season… kicked off league play with a home loss to Furman (L, 73-77) and a road loss at… VMI (L, 79-84)… the Mocs would go on to finish the conference slate 9-7.
 
· Chattanooga suffered its first loss in the Dan Earl era to his former team VMI… UTC entered the day a perfect 7-0 under Earl against the Keydets… 3-0 at home, 3-0 in Lexington and 1-0 on Asheville's neutral floor during tournament play.
 
· Chattanooga trailed 39-23 at halftime… 23 points in the first half marked the fewest in an opening half since 22 in last season's opener at USC on 11/4/2024… fewest in the first half against a SoCon opponent since 23 against Samford on 2/3/2024.
 
· Chattanooga outscored the Keydets 48-40 in the second half… the 48 points tied a season-high (48, @FGCU) for most in the second half against a DI opponent… UTC shot an efficient 14-of-30 (46.7%) from the floor in the half… cut into the deficit with a strong 15-of-16 (93.8%) effort from the free-throw line in the second half.
 
· Chattanooga lost the rebounding battle yet again by a 39-31 (-8) count… fifth-straight game with a rebounding disadvantage… eight of the nine losses this season have come when losing the rebound count.
 
· Chattanooga never led in today's contest as VMI went wire-to-wire… third wire-to-wire defeat of the season… VMI led for 39:21 of the possible 40 minutes… led by as many as 19 in the second half… UTC used a 16-0 run after the 19-point deficit.
 
Player Notes
· G Billy Smith led all Chattanooga scorers with 17 points… most points this season since November 22's win over North Alabama… went 6-of-12 FG (4-of-5 FT)… tied a season high with three steals… surpassed 900 career points (entered with 893).
 
· G Tate Darner tied a season high with 16 points off the bench… played a season-high 31 minutes… went 4-of-11 FG (2-of-7 3FG; 6-of-6 FT)… added five rebounds, three assists and two steals.
 
· G Jikari Johnson appeared in his 80^th career game at NCAA level between DI, DII and DIII… finished with eight points and four rebounds over 14 minutes of action.
 
Postgame Quotes
Dan Earl, Head Coach
Opening thoughts after 79-71 loss at VMI.
"Yeah, that really was one of the tougher first halves we've played in the last couple years. Talking to our team at halftime today, we had to ask what's going on here and understand that it was real. It's not an example, it's real. And we have some guys, just to be honest with you, trying to figure out who they are, what their 'why' is, and how they can be effective. You have to be a basketball player, which means to be aggressive, confident, and doing what is asked of you and for your teammates. It's about making decisions and making the right decisions, and that's something we have to figure out."