It was the night before the night before the night before Christmas, and all through John Shulman’s head a lot was stirring, too much to rest in bed.

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball coach had just watched his team lose at Alabama on Dec. 22, a loss to make the Mocs 2-8 on the season, even if there were plenty of justifiable reasons.

Like Tennessee, and Memphis, and Missouri, and Davidson. Plus Southern Cal and Fairfield — and Bama, of course.

All had come away from home. Five had come in a withering eight-day stretch that carried UTC from Knoxville to Columbia, Mo., to Puerto Rico, then home from Charlotte by bus in the middle of the night. Where’s Santa’s sleigh when you need it?

So understandably short on Christmas cheer on the icy night last week, Shulman confided to a newspaper reporter, “As I’ve told you a long time ago, I’d like to judge our team at the Dr Pepper Classic, and I’d like to stick to that.”

The Dr Pepper Classic ended at roughly 10:23 Tuesday night. Shulman’s Mocs hoisted their 13th trophy over the event’s 19 years by defeating Niagara 99-84.

Some background is immediately in order here. The Purple Eagles entered this contest with a 10-2 record and a No. 21 ranking in College Insider’s mid-major poll. Among all schools they were ranked 50th in the most recent Sagarin ratings.

Conversely, the Mocs walked onto to their own McKenzie Arena court standing 3-8. As much as any home victory against a fellow mid-major can be considered an upset, this one qualified.

But to follow Shulman’s wishes, if you’re judging the potential for UTC the rest of the way, consider it sizeable and surging.

“What I like,” said the coach afterward, “is that we’ve got so much room to get better.”

Certainly any team is better when it’s shooting well, and Stephen McDowell pouring in a career-high 38 points while tying Wes Moore’s school record with nine 3-pointers is a great way to ring in the New Year.

But this wasn’t simply McDowell finding nine pots of gold at the end of his outrageous rainbow jumpers.

This was Khalil Hartwell and Nicchaeus Doaks dominating the paint. This was point guards Keyron Sheard and Jasper Williams making at least as many good decisions as bad, given their combined seven assists and seven turnovers. This was the bench making up in hustle what it lacked in points.

“If we play with the same intensity we did tonight, we can beat high majors, mid-majors, anybody,” said Doaks, who totaled 18 points, 17 rebounds and three assists. “Hopefully, all the teams will see this (score) on ESPN and understand that playing against all those big schools prepared us for the SoCon.”

The SoCon season begins in earnest Saturday at Georgia Southern. Perhaps because of that as much as the opportunity to make a statement against Niagara, Shulman held an unusually long pregame meeting Tuesday morning.

“We started at 10:30,” said Shulman. “We didn’t talk about Niagara until noon. We talked about Chattanooga. People don’t understand what we’ve been through. But tonight we looked like a team; we looked like a family.”

You can’t erase eight losses with one win, however large or important that victory. But this wasn’t just any victory. This was a win against a very good mid-major, one with a better-than-average chance to reach the NCAA tournament.

So what did Niagara coach Joe Mihalich think of the Mocs?

“We believe,” he said, “they have a shot to win their league.”

And whether or not they accomplish that is the only way most folks ever judge the Mocs.

E-mail Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com

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