The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball team played well enough for coach John Shulman to keep his sport coat on for the entire game Thursday.
But the Mocs made enough mistakes in their 82-52 exhibition win over Tennessee Wesleyan that he’ll be able to easily fill their one-hour video session this afternoon.
He’d probably like to fill the entire afternoon based on his postgame analysis.
“It was a typical exhibition game, and thank God it was just an exhibition,” Shulman said. “We weren’t very good.”
Georgetown transfer Omar Wattad led the Mocs with 14 points but missed four of his seven free throws. Senior DeAntre Jefferson had 12 points and 12 rebounds.
“I think that in every game you have to see the good and be happy about it,” Wattad said. “But moreso, look at the bad and get better because you have to be your own worst critic.”
Junior college transfer Jahmal Burroughs, who began his college career at New Orleans when it was a Division I school, had 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
“I thought he was the lone bright spot,” Shulman said. “I thought everybody else was very mediocre.”
The bigger and stronger team of NCAA Division I athletes cruised on the scoreboard over an NAIA Division II foe.
Marr Harper led the Bulldogs with 12 points and Matt Towry had 11, including a dunk on the first play of the game.
UTC had some flashy dunks – from the likes of Jefferson and Troy Cage – and a few errant passes. They were sloppy at times – such as the 13 second-half turnovers – and brilliant at others, as evidenced by the 15 steals and 17 assists.
The same sort of performance and effort wouldn’t cut it against most other opponents, especially Tennessee, whom the Mocs face next Friday in Knoxville.
“If we couldn’t guard Wesleyan, we can’t guard Tennessee,” Shulman said. “If we can’t out-rebound Wesleyan [UTC did, 51-39], we couldn’t do that against Tennessee. If Omar can’t guard Wesleyan, I don’t think he’ll be guarding Scotty Hopson.
“It’s not a bad thing we looked ugly.”