Mocs Alex Bran. UTC vs. Samford March 5, 2016 SoCon tournamentSoCon tournament quarterfinals
UTC 59, Samford 54Samford (14-19)Rose 0-4 3-4 3, Peters 0-3 0-1 0, Cunningham 7-17 4-4 18, Shabazz 1-5 2-2 4, Jones-Gibson 2-7 4-4 8, M. Johnson 1-6 3-3 5, Adams 1-1 2-2 4, I. Johnson 1-2 0-0 2, Quinn 4-6 2-3 10. Totals 17-51 20-23 54.UTC (27-5)Ester 0-2 1-4 1, Tuoyo 3-3 1-1 7, McLean 7-14 1-3 16, Pryor 0-2 0-0 0, Robertson 1-4 2-2 5, Oldham 4-10 3-4 12, Burroughs-Cook 2-5 1-3 5, Woods 0-1 0-0 0, Bran 0-2 0-0 0, Ethridge 4-8 4-4 13. Totals 21-51 12-18 59.Halftime—Samford, 36-31. 3-point goals—Samford 0-14 (Johnson 0-4, Rose 0-3, Cunningham 0-3, Shabazz 0-2, Jones-Gibson 0-2); UTC 5-20 (McLean 1-2, Ethridge 1-2, Burroughs-Cook 1-3, Robertson 1-4, Oldham 1-4, Woods 0-1, Pryor 0-2, Bran 0-2). Rebounds—Samford 32 (Rose 6); UTC 34 (Ethridge 11). Assists—Samford 7 (Jones-Gibson 3); UTC 13 (Ester 3, McLean 3, Oldham 3). Turnovers—Samford 13 (Jones-Gibson 4); UTC 16 (McLean 6). Blocks—Samford 4 (Adams 2); UTC 9 (Ester 2, McLean 2, Robertson 2). Steals—Samford 7 (Cunningham 2, M. Johnson 2); UTC 5 (McLean 2, Woods 2). Total fouls—Samford 19, UTC 20. Fouled out—Adams.
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Matt McCall couldn’t sleep Friday night.
With the first Southern Conference tournament game of his career looming in less than 12 hours, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball coach finally got to sleep around 1:30 Saturday morning. He woke up at 4:45, did a little more work and jumped on the treadmill for his usual three-mile jog at 6 a.m.
“I was pretty fast today,” McCall said. “The real record was how early I was on there.”
The first-year head coach had reason to be nervous, as the Mocs were playing a Samford team that had played the SoCon’s top-seeded team tough in both regular-season meetings. Plus the Bulldogs had worked the tournament nerves out of their system Friday night, having beaten Virginia Military Institute 92-85 in overtime to set up the quarterfinal against the Mocs.