2025-26 Chattanooga Basketball
Postgame Notes & Quotes
Game 30 vs. UNCG – February 26, 2026
 
Site: McKenzie Arena (Chattanooga, Tenn.)
Game Duration: 2:05
Officials: Anthony Jordan, Michael Wallace, Matt Jarman
Attendance: 4,164
 
Quick Records
Chattanooga: 12-18, 6-11 SoCon
UNCG: 13-17, 9-8 SoCon

Series History
Meeting: 60th | UNCG leads 31-29 (H: 15-13; A: 13-15; N: 1-3)
*UNCG leads 28-24 in SoCon regular season meetings

Dan Earl, Head Coach
Overall (11th): 153-195
at Chattanooga (4th): 80-56, 40-31 SoCon
vs. UNCG: 5-17 (H: 2-9; A: 3-8; N: 0-0)
 
Historical Records
All-Time Program Record: 1,466-1,171
Division I Era (since 1977-78): 920-602
All-Time SoCon Record: 494-306
 
General Team & Matchup Notes

• Chattanooga drops to 12-18 overall and 6-11 inside league play following the 85-80 loss to UNCG… UNCG improves to 13-17 overall and 9-8 inside the league.
• Chattanooga has solidified itself as either the No. 8 or No. 9 seed ahead of next weekend's SoCon Tournament in Asheville… will play No. 8 or No. 9 The Citadel in the opening game on Friday (March 6) at 5 p.m. (ET).
• The contest marked Chattanooga's 800^th Southern Conference regular season game since joining the league and Division I ranks in 1977-78… UTC is now 494-306 (.617) all-time in SoCon regular season action.
• Chattanooga is now 6-8 at home this season with one game remaining… solidifies the first time finishing with a sub-.500 home record in a single season across its 44 seasons playing inside UTC/McKenzie Arena.

 
Inside the Game & Player Notables

• Chattanooga never led in the contest… trailed for 39:18… no ties… UNCG's largest lead was 14 down the stretch before UTC's 11-0 run cut the deficit to three with less than a minute left.
• Chattanooga finished the game shooting 42.2% (27-64) from the floor… 31.6% (12-38) from 3PT… 77.8% (14-18) from the FT line… UNCG finished with 43.8% FG (28-64) / 33.3% 3FG (9-27) / 80.0% FT (20-25) shooting splits.
• UNCG has cashed in 41 times at the FT line in the two meetings this season… went 21-31 FT in the first meeting before tonight's 20-25 FT effort… Spartans have drawn 40 UTC fouls in the two games.
• Chattanooga's 38 3FGA marked the most for the team since 46 attempts at Bellarmine on December 17… now 5-5 this season when attempting 30+ 3FG.
• The contest snapped back-to-back games scoring 90+ points… eighth time this season scoring 80+… now 7-1 this season when scoring 80+… 57^th time under Dan Earl scoring 80+… now 51-6 in such games.
• G Jordan Frison poured in a season-high 28 points on 12-17 FG (2-5 3FG; 2-3 FT)… added three assists and two boards in a team-high 35 minutes… closing in on a potential 500+ scoring season… sits with 476 with at least two games left.
• G Billy Smith notched 1,000 career points in his NCAA DI collegiate career following his fourth point of the night (entered with 996)… finished with 12 points on 4-8 FG (all 3FG)… added four rebounds… team-high +7 in 31 minutes.
• UNCG F Justin Neely finished with 18 points and 17 rebounds in 34 minutes… entered the game as NCAA DI's rebounding leader… the 17 rebounds are second most for an individual against UTC since 2004-05… most since Jameel McKay (Iowa State) grabbed 17 on November 23, 2015.

 
Postgame Quotes
Dan Earl, Head Coach
Opening thoughts after 85-80 loss to UNCG.
"First of all, credit to UNCG. I thought this game was going to come down to the tougher, more physical team, and they were both of those. Obviously, Neely and Younger are tough covers. They drive the ball downhill, they're physical and we allowed them to do that over and over and over again. We talked about the first four minutes, about being ready to play. Ready to play is both moving fast and into the game but also communicating doing all the little things. For whatever reason, we didn't do that in the start of either half."
 
On the early struggles:
"We don't have everything figured out, but I would have thought that we would have played more inspired, tougher...more into it to start. In particular at the start, but really both halves. I was a little disappointed in that, and what I worry about a little bit just to be real with you is our shots weren't falling in the first half. Three for 15 or four for 17, something like that. That sometimes seems to have too great of an effect on us in my opinion. But the first couple possessions of the game, we weren't locked in with what you have to do."
 
Jordan Frison, Jr.-G
On frustrations with tonight's performance despite a strong personal stat line:
"It's obviously a team thing in how we are coming out. I'm part of it as well, coming out with these slow starts. Not moving fast and not following the scout early on. In that situation, I gonna take full responsibility. I take pride in that. I got to be better in that sense of being more of a leader to be able to get us out to stronger starts like we've been doing the previous two games."