University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball coach John Shulman didn’t know it, but Santa Claus came to the UTC campus early – and brought a big bag of 3-pointers.
The Mocs hit 14 3s – nine in the first half – and placed five players in double figures Tuesday afternoon in a 107-48 victory over Reinhardt at McKenzie Arena.
UTC (6-6) will break for the holidays before returning to action on Dec. 29, when it hosts another NAIA Division II member, Montreat College, at 7 p.m. in the Dr Pepper Classic. Georgia State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi play in the other semifinal at 4:30 that day.
All 11 Mocs who dressed for Tuesday’s game played at least 14 minutes, and each scored. Ricky Taylor led them with 21 points, while Chris Early had his first career double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Troy Cage added 14 points, while Omar Wattad and Jahmal Burroughs each chipped in 11. All except Wattad’s scoring numbers were season highs.
The game was moved up from 7 p.m. to noon, and Shulman said he liked the early start. There were 2,370 in attendance for the contest.
“I’d like to do it more often,” he said. “Instead of sitting around all day, we did something different for a December 21st game. It’s the holidays, and it’s giving our players a chance to get home and people an opportunity to spend time with our families.
“I think we had more people here with this being a day game than we would have tonight.”
UTC, which shot 52.6 percent for the game, had 22 assists, won the rebounding battle 60-26 and held Reinhardt to 16-for-62 shooting (25.8 percent) from the field. Twenty offensive rebounds helped the Mocs hold a 44-12 edge on points in the paint.
“We shot the ball very well, we were unselfish, and I thought we were pretty sharp,” Shulman said. “We did a good job of being alert and paying attention to detail; they knew who [Kevin] Nordeen was and were able to identify him at all times.”
Nordeen, who had eight 3s in Reinhardt’s last game against Atlanta Christian, finished with five points on 2-for-9 shooting. Ismael John led the Eagles (4-10) with 14 points.
“I think the biggest thing we did was limit the other team to one shot,” UTC’s DeAntre Jefferson said. “That gave us the chance to get out in transition and score buckets.”
UTC shut out the Eagles for a six-minute stretch of the first half, stretching a 17-16 lead to 35-19 with 7:53 to go. The Mocs led 55-27 at the half, setting a new team standard for first-half scoring this season.
The nine first-half 3s and 14 for the game were also season highs, eclipsing the 12 UTC hit against Marshall.
Shulman said he was pleased with how the Mocs performed against a team that had lost by only 14 points at Murray State earlier in the season.
“If you look at the names on the jerseys, you can get beat on any given night,” UTC point guard Keegan Bell said. “Reinhardt had been playing tough against other [NCAA] Division I teams, and you just have to know that as a basketball player, there are good players everywhere.
“We’re just trying to get better every day as a team. We can’t get satisfied. We’re 6-6 overall and 3-0 in the conference, which is great, but it’s not what we set out to do. We have the break, and we have to come back with a fresh mind, ready to roll, because we’ve got some tough games ahead.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6311. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/gh3sports