The consensus was that the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s team has a much-better feeling going into the break this season as opposed to last.
One game can do that to a team.
The Mocs entered the Christmas break at 6-6 after a 107-48 victory over Reinhardt on Tuesday afternoon. Five players scored in double figures and the defense held the Eagles to 25.9 percent shooting in the contest.
UTC coach John Shulman said he feels a lot better about his team at this point than he did after last season’s uninspired, 84-52 victory over Tennessee Temple right before the break, and his team members echoed that sentiment.
“Last year, I think everybody just wanted to get the game over with,” forward DeAntre Jefferson said. “It was a real sloppy game.”
They made it a point not to let that happen this season. All 11 players that dressed earned at least 14 minutes of playing time. Everybody had entered the scoring column at the 8:43 mark of the second half when former walk-on Sam Watson scored on a layup to make it 88-43.
The game was played without sophomore guard Josh Odem, who was suspended for the game due to poor academic performance. Odem has since been ruled academically ineligible for the second semester.
“By not having a player, it’s just everybody else’s job to step,” junior guard Ricky Taylor said.
Troy Cage, Dontay Hampton and Jeff Smith split Odem’s minutes and combined for 26 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists. All three played a season-high in minutes as well — a stat that Shulman said would be vital in the second half of the season.
“Those guys need minutes,” he said. “We’re going to need them in the second half; we just haven’t had the opportunity to get them minutes because we haven’t played any non-Division I teams this season.”
Point guard Keegan Bell noted that Cage’s game could serve as a kick-start for the rest of the season. The senior finished with 14 points, five rebounds and three assists in 22 minutes — all highs.
“Troy played with a lot of poise today,” Bell said. “He’s a very mature player; he just hasn’t had the chance to do it, so I wasn’t shocked with how he played today.”
The Mocs go into the break with a 3-0 record in conference play, with home wins over Appalachian State and Western Carolina and a road victory at Elon. They host the Dr. Pepper Classic on Dec. 29-30, then travel to Austin Peay before entering conference play.
“We feel as though we’ve had some success in conference play, but that has to make us even more focused,” junior forward Chris Early, who had his first career double-double Tuesday, said. “We still have a long ways to go, but [Tuesday’s] win will give us a boost going into the break.”
Said Bell: “We can’t think we’ve arrived, because we haven’t. We still have to believe we can get better. We can’t be satisfied at this point — we can feel pretty good — but not satisfied. We still have to remember those games we struggled in, learn from how we responded and keep being mature.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6311. Follow him on Twitter.com at twitter.com/gh3sports.