DES MOINES, Iowa - Dee Oldham seemed to know that he and the rest of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's basketball reserves were going to have to be ready to step up when their number was called.
All did, to some degree, when their opportunities were there.
The Mocs bench players scored 39 points, doing what they could do in what turned out to be a 99-74 loss to Indiana in the first round of the NCAA tournament at Wells Fargo Arena. They scored 24 of UTC's 37 points in the first half, when the Mocs needed production due to the fact that guards Greg Pryor and Tre' McLean each had two fouls and were on the bench for most of the half.
Oldham had eight points at the break, while Johnathan Burroughs-Cook and Peyton Woods each scored five. The freshman Woods had a tip-in off an Oldham missed shot and a step-back 3-pointer, while Burroughs-Cook had an important three-point play.
"I told Burroughs and Peyton before the game that when we get in there, to play confident and free," Oldham said. "It's going to be one of two things: Either we're going to jump out on their heads (at the start), and we'll be going in there to maintain; or it'll be going rough, and we'll have to go in and get things up. We weren't uptight, and I thought we did a fairly good job in the first half.
"I really do."
Duke Ethridge had 10 of his team-high 14 points in the second half, finding his way to the basket time and time again against the Hoosiers' bigs.
"I was just doing my best to try to bring energy to the team," he said. "Be a spark, try to uplift the team."
But on Thursday, not even a solid effort by the bench could stop what UTC coach Matt McCall called "snowballing." The Hoosiers were effective in every facet of their offense, making 65 percent of their shots from the floor, 63 percent from 3-point range and 79 percent from the free-throw line.
Point guard Yogi Ferrell continually broke down the UTC defense, especially when it seemed as though the Mocs were just about to make a run back into the game.
"It was real frustrating," Ethridge said. "You get it to a certain point and think you've got it, but the next thing you know something happens and you go down (more).
"It drained us. It hurt, but we fought."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/ genehenleytfp.