March is the month that makes or breaks seasons for a lot of low- or mid-major basketball programs. Postseason aspirations can be released or crushed in the matter of a 40-minute game.
And the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's men' team is ready to embrace the challenge ahead of it.
The Mocs started the week, which will end with their Southern Conference tournament quarterfinal at 6 p.m. Saturday, with a light day and massages for the team. It was a relaxing time coming off two road tense games, but today they will resume collective practice to face the winner of a first-round game between The Citadel and Furman at the U.S. Cellular Center in Asheville, N.C.
March-type urgency started about a month ago for the Mocs as they fought to give themselves the best position for the conference tournament. They went 7-1 in February, with their only loss a 72-70 decision at Western Carolina that wasn't decided until the final minute. They enter the tournament on a six-game winning streak, and coach Will Wade said Monday that everything is status quo with his program.
"I think certainly in March with the tournament, the senses are heightened a bit, but for us not a whole lot has to change," he said. "We're a good team. We just have to make sure we have the right frame of mind and have our guys with clear heads. That'll be enough for us in the tournament.
"We're plenty good enough; it's not like we need a lot of crazy things to happen at the tournament. Last year we needed that; this year we don't. We're a good team that's fully capable of winning it. We just have to make sure we play with an aggressive nature, make sure we're confident, make sure we're loose ... make sure we're not burdened or weighed down by it."
UTC's February wins included a road victory at top-seeded Wofford and home games against Mercer and East Tennessee State. But the only loss of the month may have been the most impactful game.
"I think we got a little off our rocker against Western Carolina," Mocs junior Casey Jones said, "but that loss was good for us. It put us in our place and got us right going into the conference tournament. Since then, our intensity has been higher and the focus has been greater, so I think that loss was good for us."
Indeed, the six-game win streak began right after that. The thing about March, though, is that once tournament play starts, the slates are clean, the intensity is higher and games will be even tougher than they were during the regular season, when many were not decided until the final few possessions.
"We have a little momentum going into the (SoCon) tournament, but it doesn't matter because we're not getting an at-large bid (into the NCAA tournament)," guard Ronrico White said. "It's about winning three or four games in this tournament, and everybody's on a level playing field. You want to win three or four games now.
"The win streak is great. We have a lot more important stuff to do."
The senior noted that the team has had the same mentality "for a while now" -- no changes needed going into March.
"We're about improving daily," he said. "Getting better day by day. The outcome of Saturday will start today and tomorrow in practice. We'll work on getting better, and the end product will show up if we get better throughout the week."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.