Staff Photo by Angela Lewis/Chattanooga Times Free Press
In this photo taken Nov 4, 2010, UTC’s Josh Odem heads downcourt in the game against Tennessee Wesleyan at McKenzie Arena Thursday.University of Tennessee at Chattanooga shooting guard Josh Odem attended his brother’s wedding Saturday.
He hasn’t been back to Chattanooga since.
He may never play basketball for the Mocs again.
Odem, a sophomore, has been ruled academically ineligible to play in the spring semester, and his future at UTC will be determined over the next few weeks.
“I’ve been waiting on this to go to the next step,” coach John Shulman said. “What we’re going to do is what’s best for J.O. He needs to understand the importance of education.
“This is, in his words, ‘time for him to grow up.'”
Shulman will meet with Odem and discuss options for the player’s academic and athletic future. One option is to remain at UTC as a student and perhaps regain his basketball eligibility.
“He will have many different options,” Shulman said two hours after the Mocs beat Reinhardt 107-48 on Tuesday. “We’ve got a couple weeks to go through all of that. My main concern is him growing up and being a success. We’ll do our best to get him back on track.”
Odem traveled with the Mocs but did not play in their 71-65 win at Elon on Friday. Then he attended the wedding and missed Tuesday’s game.
“We don’t want to focus on the guys we don’t have. We want to focus on the guys who were out there,” point guard Keegan Bell said before receiving confirmation of Odem’s spring suspension.
“Jeff Smith stepped up, Ricky [Taylor] had a huge game and Troy Cage really stepped up for us,” Bell said. “Troy played with a lot of poise [today] and he’s just a bigger guard, and he’s just a very mature player.
“That’s the Troy we see every day.”
Odem was averaging 20.6 minutes, 6.9 points and 1.4 rebounds per game. His season high was 15 points against Austin Peay.
He played in 31 games last season, including 11 starts, and averaged 7.3 points and 2.4 rebounds while shooting 37.2 percent from the 3-point line. He set a career high with 22 points at Georgia Southern.
“Everybody is going to have to step up, and everybody is capable of producing,” Taylor said. “By us not having a player, it’s everybody’s job to step up.”
The Mocs scattered across the Southeast after Tuesday’s game. They will gather again for a light evening practice Sunday.
“J.O. feels like he let himself down, our program down and a lot of people,” Shulman said. “He’s a kid and kids mess up. But you can never give up on kids.”
Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP.