SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Bench play has been inconsistent for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's basketball team throughout its 2016-17 schedule.
But in a move that could be classified as evil genius, coach Matt McCall and the UTC starting five turned to a pair of reserves Saturday at Wofford in one of the most crucial moments of the game - and the season.
And called upon to contribute, sophomore Nat Dixon and freshman Rodney Chatman did just that.
Dixon scored all nine of his points in the final 6:24, including a pair of 3-pointers during a 15-1 run that gave the Mocs the lead. Chatman scored 10 points - his high against an NCAA Division I opponent - and played stifling defense against Wofford senior point guard Eric Garcia, who was 1-for-10 from the floor and missed all five of his second-half shots.
McCall and seniors Casey Jones and Greg Pryor credited Dixon and Chatman for their performances in the 73-65 win.
"They stepped up and played ball tonight," Jones said. "Rodney guarded really well, and Nat came in and hit some big shots. We tell him every day to stop being afraid to shoot the ball and be confident in his shot. I guess he chose this day to be confident in his shot; he took two big ones and made two big ones."
Dixon entered the game 3-for-13 from long range, with two of those makes coming in a win over Jacksonville State on Dec. 21. His second 3-pointer Saturday gave the Mocs the lead for good with 4:01 to play, and he added a transition layup after a long rebound that made it 67-60 with 1:16 remaining.
Chatman was calm throughout, continuing to navigate his way through the Southern Conference. He scored eight of his 10 points in the second half, and he added two assists, a rebound, his first-ever blocked shot and a steal. McCall said after the game that the 6-foot-2 guard "grew up tonight."
"Lately we've been losing a lot of close games, but I saw our seniors staying calm, staying in the moment, so I try to do that," Chatman said. "I just wanted to play hard, get stops on defense and the offense will come.
"Tonight was a big win. We've lost all our close games, so we've got to learn from this lesson how we won and keep pushing forward."
It's no surprise the bench has had its share of ups and downs.
Chatman was in high school this time last season. Dixon missed two years of competitive basketball - his senior season and his freshman year of college - to devote time to football. He played wide receiver and on special teams at Boston College before transferring to East Mississippi Junior College to play basketball last season.
Highly talented sophomore Makinde London, who chipped in two points in six minutes Saturday after having to sit out Thursday's 60-56 loss at Furman because of a violation of team rules, is playing a meaningful role for the first time in college, having redshirted a season before playing sparingly last season at Xavier.
Throw in players such as freshman Makale Foreman and junior Trayvond Massenburg, who didn't join the team until August, and with every new experience comes new struggles. As the primary starters face life as the reigning champions of the SoCon and the league's preseason favorites, the reserves are adjusting to new experiences.
Saturday's game was the type the Mocs - who had dropped three of five entering the matchup - have lost a number of times this season.
Wofford's attendance of 3,004 was the highest this season, topping the 2,675 who witnessed the Terriers beat Furman on Jan. 14. The Terriers, feeding off Saturday's crowd, were coming off Thursday's four-overtime victory over Samford in which four of their starters played more than 50 minutes.
They showed few effects of that for the first 30 minutes against UTC, hitting contested shot after contested shot. Next fall, Wofford will be opening a new basketball arena, the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium, and the Terriers undoubtedly hoped to use some of the magic they elicited Thursday to power through fatigue and stop the Mocs.
It wasn't happening.
"It's huge to come into a place like Wofford that's packed to the top with fans screaming at you and yelling at you," Dixon said. "It's a great experience, and we really needed it as a team coming off that loss, a very close loss to Furman that we wish we could have finished out."