With an assist from one of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s current players, basketball coach Lamont Paris picked up a future player Tuesday evening.
Maurice Commander, a 6-foot guard in Chicago, gave a nonbinding commitment to the UTC program. Ranked as the No. 19 player in Illinois by PrepHoops.com, he chose the Mocs over UC-Davis. For UTC’s 2018 signing class he joins 5-9 guard Donovann Toatley, who pledged in August.
Commander attends Curie High School but transferred there from Marist in Chicago, where he played with UTC freshman Justin Brown.
“He’s a great friend of mine,” Commander said by phone Tuesday evening. “He’s like a brother to me and he recruited me as much as the coaches did. He wasn’t the main reason I went there (UTC), but it’s definitely a plus to have a friend in the program already and make it easier for me.”
Commander averaged 13 points and three assists last season at Marist. He and Brown were big parts of a team that went 26-3 in 2016-17, and he said Tuesday he felt comfortable with the vision of Paris and his assistants.