UTC’s Ronrico White (11) prepares to defend the Mocs side of the court against Alec Rattanaxay (12) during a UTC win against Montreat College at McKenzie Arena in this Dec 8, 2014, file photo.Brandon Born. Gerald Wilkins. Willie White.
Ronrico White?
After Thursday night, he can be considered part of the club.
The 6-foot-3 senior guard from Knoxville scored 12 points in the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s 74-71 overtime basketball win at Furman and became the 20th member of the Mocs’ Division I 1,000-point club, joining those memorable names among others.
Ronrico White topped the plateau on a 3-pointer from the corner, right in front of the Mocs’ bench, with 3:07 remaining in regulation and UTC clinging to a 60-59 lead. At the time, it gave the team some breathing room, but it would take an extra five minutes to put away the young, pesky Paladins.
White came into the game with the knowledge that he needed 10 points to reach four figures, so one glance at the scoreboard in Timmons Arena — which displayed individual point totals — seeing 11 points beside No. 11 on the UTC side confirmed his inclusion to the fairly exclusive club.
In three games at Timmons in his career, he averaged 11.7 points and went 6-for-16 from 3-point range.
“I didn’t know at the time that the 3-pointer put me over,” White said Thursday night. “When I came over to the bench, I saw the score and saw I had over 10, so I knew it was that. I’ve been here a while, but it’s a great honor to be with some of the best basketball players that ever played in UTC history.
“Brandon Born, Willie White, Gerald Wilkins — the list goes on and on.”
Not that he was putting his talents up there with the top three scorers in UTC history, though.
“I’m on that point list,” White said with a laugh. “I’m not saying anything about their talents, but it’s a tremendous honor.”
Thursday was the 52nd double-digit scoring game of his college career and the 20th with three or more 3-pointers — 10 of which have come this season. He’s sixth all-time in free throws made (306), 11th all-time in 3-pointers made (140) and eighth in 3s attempted (403). He also slid Thursdsay into 13th place all-time in assists, with 260.
Throughout his career he has battled injuries. He played only 14 minutes in the win over UNC Greensboro due to a hip injury, but he hasn’t missed a game this season. His presence has been important since Will Wade took over as coach before last season, as the Mocs have won 66 percent of the games (33-17) when White has played.
“It’s great for him,” Wade said. “I’m proud of him. We talked about it in the locker room about how proud we are of him. It’s a great thing, a great accomplishment, and it’s something that’ll always be in the books in Chattanooga.”
The win over Furman kept the Mocs (16-8, 9-2) in second place in the Southern Conference, a game behind Wofford and a game ahead of Mercer. They’ll need a win today over Western Carolina to set up an opportunity to create a tie with the Terriers when UTC travels to Spartanburg, S.C., on Thursday.
“We’ve got a lot more work to do as a team,” White said. “We’re still growing, still getting better, so I’m interested to see where we end up.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.