Basketball Mocs have worked on ball security for opener tonight

Makinde London (22) directs the offense.  The Francis Marion University Patriots visited the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Mocs in a exhibition game at McKenzie Arena on Nov. 4, 2017
Makinde London (22) directs the offense. The Francis Marion University Patriots visited the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Mocs in a exhibition game at McKenzie Arena on Nov. 4, 2017

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's basketball team already had spent a fair amount of time focusing on little details such as taking care of the ball in practices.

After last Saturday's exhibition loss to Francis Marion, the Mocs did more this week.

They begin their 2017-18 season, the first under coach Lamont Paris, tonight at Wyoming as part of the Cayman Islands Classic. Tipoff is scheduled for 9 p.m. EST.

Paris's team - the youngest in NCAA Division I by average age - had 22 turnovers to Francis Marion's nine in the 68-63 exhibition loss.

"We did more work (on ball security) than we normally do, which is already a lot," Paris said Wednesday before boarding a bus for the airport. "Hopefully it will begin to pay dividends; the sooner, the better."

With a roster full of freshmen, sophomores and juniors, Paris is expecting mistakes along the way. But he expects the players to learn from those mistakes and not continue to make the same ones over and over and over. The Francis Marion game offered a chance to let the Mocs identify potential problems so they could spend this week fixing them.

And they definitely worked on them.

"We had to get more reps in practice with making good decisions with the ball," sophomore guard Makale Foreman said. "We worked on it every day: getting guys to make the right decisions, when to make that decision and trusting yourself and having confidence in those decisions.

"Now it's a new season, a new team, and Friday will be a good experience for the new guys and the old guys that came back from last year."

There aren't many of those "old guys," though. Five to be exact, with only four - Foreman, sophomore guard Rodney Chatman, junior forward Makinde London and junior guard/forward Nat Dixon - playing in the exhibition. Foreman, Chatman and London combined for 47 of the team's 63 points, and they know they must be consistent as the freshmen get their feet wet and go through highs and lows.

"I'm excited for the guys to take their first trip and begin a different side of the bonding experience," Paris said. "Develop as a team and all that goes with the trip. I'm more excited about that than anything, for that to have an effect on this team in a positive way."

Chatman, who had 13 points and 12 rebounds from the point guard position last week, said he's confident the team can put forth a great effort tonight.

"We have to do the small things, like not turning the ball over," said Chatman, who had six turnovers against the Patriots. "We think we can go get a win. I'm confident in the team, and we'll see what happens."

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.

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