The highly respectable crowd of 4,229 had long ago left McKenzie Arena to navigate another soggy Saturday night in the Scenic City.
The scoreboards, the ones earlier proclaiming the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's basketball team a narrow 73-71 winner over The Citadel, were now dark. And in a few minutes the coach who had just orchestrated the team's third straight Southern Conference victory was about to leave, too.
"We've still got a lot of improvements we need to make," said second-year coach Lamont Paris, whose Mocs are now 10-10 this season after finishing 10-23 a year ago. "But I'm happy they're seeing the rewards for all the hard work they've put in."
There's no way this should be happening. Not when all of one player - ONE PLAYER - returned from last year's team. And David Jean-Baptiste was more of a hustle guy this time last season. Even if anyone could possibly imagine one player being enough, Jean-Baptiste didn't figure to be the second coming of Gerald Wilkins or Willie White, and he hasn't been.
Mark WiedmerBut he has done everything Paris asked regarding all these guys he had never seen before summer school began. He has schooled his new teammates on terminology and what Paris expects and how to stay off his bad side.
"We met a couple of times before the season started," the coach said of Jean-Baptiste. "He's been great. I think he's definitely shown leadership."
A tangible side of that leadership: In one of those new-age stats that didn't exist until recently (and in reality, the term "new age" is almost old school these days), the Mocs reportedly were 13 points to the positive when Jean-Baptiste was on the floor scoring his six points while hitting all four of his free throws, handing out five assists and hauling in five rebounds in 33 minutes of court time. The only Moc with a higher such stat was guard Jonathan Scott with a plus-16.
"Just trying to do my part to help us win," Jean-Baptiste said.
Asked how many games he thought they would win this season before the season began, he smiled and said, "About the same as last year."
It should be noted that 11 of those 23 losses last year came by six or fewer points or in overtime. The Mocs almost never were awful. They just hadn't learned how to finish under a new coach and without six key seniors lost from the previous season.
Still, how does anyone with just one returning player go from 10-23 a year ago to 10-10 on the 19th day of January? How, too, does UTC not only stand 5-2 in the Southern Conference, but also hold The Citadel - the nation's highest-scoring team entering Saturday - to 22 points below its average?
"It's their character," Paris said. "We've asked them to pass up shots they know they can make to find better ones. We've asked them to play defense. We've asked them to get out of their comfort zone for the good of the team, and they've done it."
Coaching changes almost always are difficult. Especially when a coach who lost 23 games in his first season also loses all but one player from that team.
"We were really diligent in the recruiting process," Paris said. "We spent a lot of time discussing how this player or that player would fit in as a person rather than a player. You're talking about a group of guys that hadn't played one second of college basketball, and we have no control over their timeline on growth. They'll get it when they get it."
But that attention to detail on the recruiting trail, plus the midseason eligibility of transfer Ramon Vila, certainly has gone far better than it might have.
"As well as Ramon's played, his biggest attribute is non-basketball stuff," Paris said after Vila scored 17 points, pulled down six rebounds and blocked two shots to ably back freshman teammate Kevin Easley's team-high 22 points and 12 boards. "He has an infectious positive attitude."
Not that it's only Vila who comes to practice with a smile on his face each day.
"Off the court has been really great," Paris said. "These guys like hanging around each other."
It shows. Both off the court and on it, which is where it matters most to all those folks who are beginning to buy tickets to watch this charming team win as many games through 20 contests this season as it took 32 games to grab that 10th victory a season ago.
It doesn't mean the Mocs will finish with a .500 or better season. This week finds them traveling to Furman and Wofford, not exactly two gimmes. They've also won these past three home games by a total of 10 points.
Joked Paris during his postgame media interview: "We're trying to do our part to makes these games as close as we can."
They had close games last year, too.
"A year ago we didn't win them," Jean-Baptiste said.
That they are now is all the reason needed for Vila's infectious positive attitude to touch not only his teammates, but the entire Mocs Nation.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.