The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball team shot 58% from the field in the second half of its 85-72 win over Furman on Saturday at McKenzie Arena, but after the game, UTC third-year head coach Dan Earl was even more pleased by what his players did on the other end of the court.
The Mocs limited the Paladins to 30% shooting in the final 20 minutes and got complete defensive performances against Furman guards Nick Anderson and PJay Smith to improve to 17-8 overall and 9-3 in the Southern Conference. They completed a sweep of their regular-season series with the Paladins (18-7, 6-6), with Saturday’s result joining a 75-71 road win from Jan. 18.
With their own victory and other results around the SoCon on Saturday — Samford’s 66-59 loss at East Tennessee State University along with UNC Greensboro’s 74-70 win over Western Carolina — the Mocs moved into a three-way tie for first place in the standings. Tiebreakers would currently have UTC as the No. 3 seed for next month’s league tournament behind Samford (19-6, 9-3) and UNCG (16-9, 9-3), although the Mocs still have a chance to split the regular-season series with each of those teams via a road win.
At this point, one thing is fairly firm about this season’s Mocs: Offense is offense, and execution is pretty much a given for them on that end. It’s what they do on defense that will make the difference, and in the second half Saturday, Furman’s Smith — who played two seasons at NCAA Division II program Lee University in nearby Cleveland before joining the Paladins — was 3-for-12 from the field and 2-for-10 from 3-point range, while Anderson made only one of his seven attempts.
Smith still finished with 22 points, nine assists and seven rebounds — each of those the game high or tied for it — and he was joined in double-digit scoring by teammates Cooper Bowser (14), Anderson (11) and Garrett Hien, but it was the Mocs’ ability to protect their lead and close out the win that stood out.