UTC's Moses Johnson heads past Villanova's Kendall Burton on Friday at McKenzie Arena.Read moreSouth Florida edges Villanova at McKenzie
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's baskeball team survived its first test of the season, beating Villanova 49-45 on Friday night, and now the Mocs face another tough opponent after a single day of rest.
The Mocs will host South Florida today at 2 p.m. in the final game of the three-team Chattanooga Tip-Off Challenge at McKenzie Arena. USF edged Villanova 57-56 Saturday afternoon at McKenzie in its season opener, and the Bulls should pose a more athletic challenge for UTC.
"They're a lot more aggressive," UTC sophomore Jasmine Joyner said of today's opponent. "Instead of just being a 3-point shooting team, they can drive and post up.
"We focused our defense around the 3 (against Villanova), because they have really good 3-point shooters, but next game we can't do that."
UTC coach Jim Foster said following Friday's game that he needs more offensive punch from his young Mocs, who are not used to taking big shots after playing behind a veteran group of five seniors last season.
"We have some reluctant shooters out there. ... We'll get that taken care of," Foster said. "They're young and haven't been in that position; (former star) Taylor Hall's been taking a lot of big shots for this program the past couple years. You're going to keep looking around for her, and she's in Poland (playing professional basketball).
"As soon as they figure that out, they'll start to figure out it's on them now."
The offensive hesitancy almost cost the Mocs the win against Villanova, as they managed just 22 points in the second half and squandered amost all of a 16-point lead with 12 minutes remaining before Joyner capped her 16-point, 20-rebound night with two clutch free throws to seal the victory.
UTC's defense became a bit of a concern in the second half as well, and Foster switched the lineup around. Starting point guard Chelsey Shumpert sat for the final 6:07 of the game, with freshman Keiana Gilbert moving from forward to point because backup point guard Alicia Payne missed the game with an illness and senior Ka'Vonne Towns coming into the game to bolster the defense.
"I thought defensively, (Shumpert) started to be taken advantage of," Foster said. "Ka'Vonne is a very versatile player and gives us a lot of depth at that position, so we played her at the point.
"She's bigger ... a senior who has played a lot of good games out there and taken care of the ball."
South Florida starting point guard Laura Marcos Canedo played only 11 minutes Saturday, all in the first half, and coach Jose Fernandez said he'll need better offense than his team's 22-of-62 field-goal performance to beat UTC on its home floor.
"They're very well coached, and they do very well defensively," Fernandez said of the Mocs. "We're going to have to shoot the ball a lot better than we did today."
Staff writer Gene Henley contributed to this story.
Contact Jim Tanner at jtanner@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6478. Follow him at twitter.com/JFTanner.