Staff Photo by Angela Lewis/Chattanooga Times Free Press
Jan 27, 2011–UTC’s Chris Early takes a shot as UNC Greensboro’s Aaron Bracket blocks Thursday at McKenzie Arena.The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga will play basketball Thursday at Western Carolina without power forward Chris Early. His one-game suspension was upheld Monday by Southern Conference commissioner John Iamarino.
Reserves Jahmal Burroughs and Jeff Smith likely will receive a bulk of what would have been Early’s playing time.
“This is a one-game deal,” Mocs coach John Shulman said. “We’ll be prepared, and we’ll rally and play our tail ends off.
“You think Western feels bad for us? Nope. We have to move on without him for a game.”
Early, the SoCon’s sixth-leading rebounder, will not play because rule 9.2 in the league’s basketball regulations states that if a player is ejected from a game, he must sit out the team’s next contest.