The way University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball players and coach Jim Foster spoke after Saturday's home game against UNC Greensboro, it was almost as if UTC lost.
The Mocs didn't, but Saturday's 58-55 Southern Conference win was referred to as a learning experience.
And with good reason.
The Mocs led by 19 points with three minutes to go in the third quarter, but they made three of their final 15 shots and had to hold on for the narrow victory. UTC (11-8, 5-0) returns to competition at 11 a.m. Thursday at Wofford (12-8, 2-3).
"A game like this will keep us confident," junior guard Chelsey Shumpert said. "It will keep us on our toes. Some people just want to win conference games by 30 or 40, but to have a scare makes us think and realize we do got competition in the SoCon and everybody want to beat us every single night."
Foster said a number of mental lapses hurt the Mocs later in the game. The Hall of Fame coach, who is seven wins away from 100 in his UTC tenure and 24 from 900 in his career, said his players quit cutting and moving, which led to bad shots late in their possessions, usually resulting in misses.
He also pointed out a number of times the Mocs defended well initially but had a mental lapse that led to an open basket.
"I don't think they created shots," he said of the Spartans. "I think we created them. We'd made an adjustment to what they were doing, and the weak side fell asleep."
Saturday's win extended UTC's dominance in league play under Foster, who's 49-2 against SoCon opponents. But it also helped reset the Mocs' collective mindset, because UNCG reminded them that a team's success makes it a target.
"Because we've run through the SoCon the past two years, some people may get relaxed," junior Keiana Gilbert said. "I think this game helps us see that we need to get better every day in practice. We can't go easy on any team we play in the SoCon."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.