The original schedule called for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball Mocs to have Sunday, Monday and today off to prepare for final exams.

Coach John Shulman altered that schedule after they thumped Tennessee Temple 108-67 on Saturday. The team lifted weights, practiced and met Monday.

“We were in the locker room and everybody was talking about being off three days,” freshman Ricky Taylor said. “Then he just said it, and we were like, ‘Come on, Coach.’”

Said Shulman: “We need it.”

A two-week break between games allows time for the players to concentrate on finals Wednesday through next Tuesday.

It also allows the Mocs extended time to prepare for their next game — their first Southern Conference game of the season — Dec. 13 at 22nd-ranked Davidson.

“While everybody else is playing games, we have to make improvements,” Shulman said. “We’re not close on either offense or defense.”

The Mocs can essentially take this week to work on their own improvement during practice and team meetings, then gear up for facing the Wildcats (5-1) and their All-America guard, Stephen Curry, next week.

“We have to get better,” said UTC senior Nicchaeus Doaks, who is tied for seventh in the nation with 11.7 rebounds per game. “We can’t just worry about Davidson. There are things we have to get better at.”

Shulman can dissect every play of every Davidson game this season while the players study and wrap up the fall semester.

He already watched the two UTC-Davidson games from last year: an 85-58 loss in North Carolina and a 78-71 loss in McKenzie Arena.

“I don’t know if in two weeks we can be ready for Davidson,” Shulman said. “I need two and a half months, not two weeks.”

Davidson will play North Carolina State on Saturday in Charlotte and face West Virginia next Tuesday in Madison Square Garden as part of the Jimmy V. Basketball Classic.

“Everybody knows about Davidson, so we’ll prepare over the next 12 days as best we can,” Mocs senior Keyron Sheard said. “We’re going to practice, prepare, get better as a team. We can work on X’s and O’s, offense and defense.”

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