At first glance, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's 77-65 men's basketball victory over woeful Western Carolina on Saturday would seem anything but as satisfying as last Thursday's 91-68 rout of UNC Greensboro.
Not only did the Mocs avenge an earlier loss at UNCG, but they probably played their best Southern Conference game of the year by hitting better than 50 percent from both the field overall and behind the 3-point line, as well as connecting on 77 percent of their free throws, winning the battle on the boards and forcing 15 turnovers.
Matched against Saturday's stat sheet - which showed the Mocs hitting 32 percent of their 3-point attempts, getting outrebounded by three and struggling for most of the first half against the Catamounts (7-18, 2-9) - this was surely something of a forgettable win.
Just don't ask the Mocs if that's the case.
"You love games like this," senior Tre' McLean said after scoring 12 points and making off with four steals. "Great to face adversity. Come in and have a battle."
Added Casey Jones, a fellow senior who led the Mocs with 19 points and matched McLean in rebounds (six) and assists (three): "It's hard, but it's fun. We're getting everybody's best shot this year. We're used to playing as underdogs. After last year, we're not the underdog anymore."
Last year was one of the best in UTC's long history of very good college basketball seasons. The Mocs went 29-6 in coach Matt McCall's first season on the job, reached the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2009 and posted three stunning nonconference road wins against Dayton, Georgia and Illinois.
But for some reason, Jones said, no one seemed to think the Mocs worthy of such a worksheet until they met vastly superior Indiana in the NCAA round of 64.
"First team to take us seriously was Indiana," said Jones, who missed that game due to an injury.
Everyone is apparently taking them seriously this year.
"Nobody's underestimating us," Jones said. "It hasn't happened one time all year. Everybody has challenges. That was our challenge this season."
A quick look at Saturday's scores showed a lot of teams had a challenging day as the regular season heads into its final month. No. 2 Baylor, No. 3 Kansas and No. 7 West Virginia all lost at home. No. 5 Arizona got blown out at No. 13 Oregon.
"It's the grind of the end of January and the beginning of February," McCall said. "We got out of here (McKenzie Arena) at 11 on Thursday night and were back here for a 5 o'clock game today. You have to try to keep it fresh. We have to go hard (in practice), but not as long."
That grind caught up to the Mocs on Jan. 25. They were pounded 80-64 at home by Virginia Military Institute, which has won but two Southern Conference games all season. Then three days later they lost a gallant struggle at tough and talented East Tennessee State.
But out of that VMI debacle may have come a lesson to produce a win or two down the road, including Saturday's over the Catamounts. And the Mocs need to hold tight to those lessons in the immediate future, because they now must play three straight road games, starting Thursday night at Furman.
"We had some issues we needed to address," Jones said. "We were coming out not excited to play. Didn't respect our opponents. That won't happen again."
If he's right, UTC might again be headed to the NCAA tournament.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.