One game remains in the regular season.
And the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is guaranteed at least one more in the Southern Conference men’s tournament. But that can wait.
“This one game can boost us up,” DeAntre Jefferson said about today’s matchup in Cullowhee, N.C. “We need to be ready for this game and then play the 6 seed in the tournament.”
The Mocs (14-16, 6-11) take on Western Carolina (20-10, 10-7) at 3 p.m. in a game to be televised on SportSouth.
A win secures UTC the No. 3 North seed in the tournament that begins next Friday in Charlotte. A loss could drop the Mocs all the way to No. 6, depending on the outcome of other SoCon games.
“I think we’re pretty excited about this game,” said Ricky Taylor, who had 22 points in an 80-74 loss at Appalachian State on Thursday. “We’re still hungry and I think we’ll be hungrier in the tournament.”
The Mocs could have locked up the No. 3 seed from the North on Thursday, but they trailed from start to finish. UTC was down by 13 points before pulling within 65-64 on a steal and layup by Ty Patterson. But ASU pulled away as Josh Hunter converted a three-point play and Donald Sims buried two 3-pointers.
“We were down two, then Sims goes back-to-back making shots that I would not want Keegan (Bell) to shoot,” UTC coach John Shulman said, referring to his point guard. “Ballgame. Sims made two huge shots, and we defended both of them good.”
Those were plays ASU made down the stretch. The Mountaineers — the SoCon North’s top seed — whipped UTC on the glass 36-26, including 11 offensive rebounds resulting in 15 points.
“They beat us on the glass, which is just bad,” Jefferson said. “They beat us like we beat them at our place. It shouldn’t have happened.”
But it did, and UTC lost its sixth game in its last seven outings. The win came last Monday at home against Davidson.
That leaves just one more pre-tournament game, and it’s senior day in Cullowhee, where the Catamounts will be looking to avenge an 80-67 loss to the Mocs earlier this season.
“You know it’s going to be a war because they’re very physical and it is senior day,” Bell said. “We’re going to have to bring out our boxing gloves and fight, because that’s how it was the first time.”