Doaks’ about-face helps Mocs’ turnaround

As his defender leaned into the paint to help, Nicchaeus Doaks stepped out to the right wing on the 3-point line.

It’s a comfortable spot on the floor for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga junior forward. He knows it well from the countless hours spent there in McKenzie Arena with an iPod tugging on his waistband.

Only this time, he wasn’t in McKenzie Arena but in Elon’s Alumni Gym. This wasn’t pretend, with nobody around to witness the result. This was with the game on the line, 31 seconds to play, a division championship at stake and a team to lift.

It was reality. It was a swish.

“I would have taken the shot last year, but I don’t know if it would have gone in,” Doaks said. “I don’t know if I would have put in enough time to make it.

“I might have second guessed, like, ‘Do I want to take this shot?’ instead of just catching and shooting like I did.”

The 6-foot-7 forward doubted, criticized and questioned his play often during his sophomore season.

He answered those questions during the offseason and returned as a leader for his junior season. Doaks’ improvement and consistency helped propel UTC to a share of the Southern Conference North Division title and the No. 2 seed in this week’s SoCon tournament behind South champion Davidson.

“When we had some adversity, guys out for this or that, he’s a guy that convinced everybody around him that, ‘Hey, we can still do this,’” UTC associate head coach David Conrady said. “He hasn’t let people be saddened about playing time, this or that, or being hurt.

“He has been able to do that not only with work ethic, but vocally.”

Doaks has never been a quiet guy, even during his AAU days with the Mid-State Ballerz or at Peabody High School in Trenton, Tenn. He toned down his act upon arrival at UTC, but he increased his intensity and enthusiasm.

“He’s taken on more of a leadership role without Casey (Long) and Ricky (Hood) around. Somebody had to,” coach John Shulman said, referring to last year’s seniors. “He’s always been an emotional guy, sometimes too emotional, and people take him the wrong way.

“He’s given an emotional lift to our team.”

Doaks appeared to be ready to lift last year’s Mocs after scoring 13 points in 2:36 at Ball State in the fourth game of the year.

That wasn’t the case. He reached double figures only once in the next seven games of that season.

“He would play 10 minutes his freshman year and have eight points,” Conrady said. “Going from his freshman to sophomore year, maybe we expected too much from him. We thought if his minutes go up, all of those other things will go up.

“He was thrown to the wolves, and we were relying on him to do more things than he was prepared to do.”

Sometimes, Doaks walked around before practice with his shoulders shrugged and a defeated look on his face. In games, he would run with his head down after a bad play and proceeded to complicate matters with another mistake.

His sophomore season ended a with an eight-point, three-rebound game against Davidson in the tournament quarterfinals.

Doaks didn’t want another 15-18 season with six SoCon wins. He didn’t want another rocky individual season.

He wanted to live up to expectations — his own, those of the coaches and those of his teammates.

“It started with being more consistent working out and trying to get better every day instead of procrastinating to get better like I did last year,” Doaks said. “I did it every day, instead of maybe two or three times a week. It’s showed off.”

Doaks has scored at least 10 points in 15 straight games. He led the Mocs against SoCon competition with an average of 15 points and seven rebounds per game. He earned All-SoCon second-team honors from the media and will likely be on the 10-man first team selected by coaches.

“As far as basketball skills, he’s improved tremendously, and it’s been really cool to watch how hard he’s worked and benefited from that,” said fellow captain Zach Ferrell, who arrived the same year as Doaks. “You can tell that he had his mind focused that he was going to get better and put in the hours and you that in his confidence level.”

Even when the Mocs played without Khalil Hartwell, Matt Gwynne or Qavotstaraj Waddell, Doaks remained a reliable presence on the block or on his trips to the 3-point line.

“He’s been steady and consistent,” Shulman said. “When we had no Gwynne, no Khalil, no Keyron, he was always there for us.”

He was there Saturday at Elon. He was in McKenzie Arena on Tuesday, with his hair shaking to the music and his head held high.

“I play to have fun, I play with a smile on my face, and I play with a swagger,” Doaks said. “I know I can do it. I know I’m a good player.”