For the second season in a row, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball team dropped its Southern Conference opener, this time falling 77-72 to UNC Greensboro on Thursday at Fleming Gymnasium.
The Mocs, who are the reigning SoCon regular-season and National Invitation Tournament champions, have lost three of their past four games to drop to 6-8 overall this season. They will complete a five-game road swing through five states outside of Tennessee when they visit Virginia Military Institute (5-9, 0-1) at 1 p.m. Saturday.
UTC will play at home for the first time in nearly a month when Furman visits McKenzie Arena next Wednesday.
Jikari Johnson led the way for the Mocs in the loss at UNCG (5-9, 1-0) with 15 points, while Jordan Frison, Collin Mulholland and Brennan Watkins added 12 each. Frison also had seven assists, and Tate Darner led the Mocs in rebounds with seven, one more than Johnson.
The Spartans had a trio of scorers in double figures.: KJ Younger scored 24 while shooting 7-for-14 from the field and 9-for-11 at the foul line, Justin Neely notched 17 and grabbed 11 rebounds for a double-double, and Donald Whitehead Jr. added 13 points, four rebounds, three assists and a trio of steals.