MOCS’ BEST SEASONS (WINS)
› 27: 1981-82› 27: 1976-77› 26: 1992-93› 26: 1982-83› 24: 1996-97› 24: 1984-85› 24: 1983-84› 23: 1993-94› 23: 1991-92› 23: 1975-76› 22: 2014-15› 22: 2015-16Remaining schedule› Feb. 11: at Western Carolina› Feb. 13: at East Tennessee State› Feb. 18: VMI› Feb. 20: UNC Greensboro› Feb. 27: Samford› Feb. 29: at VMI**Makeup game
Matt McCall was a newborn when the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's basketball team won 27 games in the 1981-82 season.
That number is well within reach for his first season as the Mocs' coach.
The Mocs (22-3, 11-1), who have won nine straight games and lead all of NCAA Division I in wins, are five wins away from a school record for a season. Murray Arnold's 1981-82 team won 27 games before falling by one point to Minnesota in the second round of the 1982 NCAA tournament.
The 1976-77 team, the program's last season as a Division II school, won 27 games including the national championship.
The program record for wins in a regular season is 23, last accomplished in the 1992-93 season. That team won 26 games before losing to Wake Forest in the first round of the NCAA tournament. This season's team can top that regular-season win total with two wins in its final six games - three of which are at home.
The Mocs play next at Western Carolina on Thursday.
They have two road wins over teams in the top 100 of the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI): 61-59 over No. 12 Dayton on Dec. 12 and 92-90 over No. 64 Georgia in the season opener on Nov. 13. Their own RPI is 36.
UTC's third best victoroy was an 80-69 defeat of Tennessee Tech on Dec. 15.
In addition, the Mocs defeated Big Ten opponent Illinois 81-77.
In conference play, the Mocs have outscored opponents by an average of 10.9 points per game, with the third-best scoring offense and second-best scoring defense. They rank fourth in both field-goal percentage and 3-point percentage.
"Offensively, there's firepower on the floor," McCall said. "When we play unselfish, pass, share and move the ball, they're special. We have a special group offensively."
Throughout the season, McCall has brought up different points of emphasis that he has wanted his team to work on. At first, it was 3-point defense, and the Mocs have responded after starting slowly. They rank third in the Southern Conference in league games at 32.6 percent allowed.
Prior to their current gauntlet of five games in 10 days, with two more this week, the Mocs had a week off and spent that time working on defense.
"With the talent we have on this team, if we commit ourselves to guarding people, the sky's the limit," senior guard Dee Oldham said.
Another emphasis was valuing the basketball and not turning it over. Since 20 turnovers in the Jan. 9 loss at Furman, UTC has brought its average down to 11.1, the fewest in the league - and has won every game.
Most recently, it's been rebounding. The Mocs held an eight-rebound advantage at halftime against Mercer on Monday, but the Bears - who lead the league in rebounding margin - outglassed the Mocs 26-18 in the second half and overtime.
"We have to clean up some little things," McCall said. "Some executing late in games. We need some actions we can go to with the game on the line. We made some good strides in our off week, and that was big for us. We're a different team defensively, and being able to take that off week to tweak some things will be big for us as well."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.