Only a few people noticed the exchange, and even fewer heard Ty Patterson and Keegan Bell.
The conversation lasted just a few seconds, yet it may be one of the most important chats two University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball players will have this season.
It helped the Mocs win Wednesday night. It should help them win other games this year.
“With us, the game isn’t always pretty,” Bell said. “When we play hard, positive things seem to happen.”
He and Patterson had a positive exchange after the under-eight-minute media timeout in UTC’s 68-54 win in the Dr Pepper Classic final.
Owning a perilous 48-46 lead over Eastern Kentucky after the Colonels’ Papa Oppong buried a 3-pointer, the Mocs huddled during the timeout.
Patterson took his place to inbound the ball to Bell. He had a few seconds to spare as EKU returned to the floor.
“Keegan looked at me,” Patterson recalled, “and said, ‘They look up to us and they’re going to follow us. We have to do this together.'”
They did.
“I said, ‘Ty, we’ve got to get this and we have to do it together,'” Bell related. “He looked at me and said, ‘Let’s go.’ From that moment on, we tried to be more aggressive and instill confidence. Then everybody did their part.”
Bell buried the second of two 25-footers for a five-point lead. Ricky Taylor made two layups and UTC maintained control against one of the favorites in the Ohio Valley Conference.
Bell and Patterson combined to score 23 of UTC’s last 34 points. In the second half, Taylor had four, Josh Odem three, Jeff Smith two, DeAntre Jefferson two and Sam Watson one.
In a season so far defined by injury, inexperience and inconsistency, Bell and Patterson proved Wednesday that they are the two leaders of this team. Patterson is the only senior. Bell is the point guard, the quarterback, the on-court extension of coach John Shulman.
“Ty is the lone wolf out there with little children who have no idea what they’re doing,” Shulman said. “He can either go, ‘What am I doing out here?’ or he can raise his game and say, ‘Come with me.’
“I thought he did that.”
He’ll need to continue doing so for the Mocs to fulfill their annual goal of playing in the NCAA tournament. UTC now has nothing but Southern Conference games on its schedule.
Over the next two months, the other Mocs will know whom to look to.
“It’s definitely Ty’s team,” Bell said. “Point guard is always a leadership position. Us out there together, I feel it’s fun, I’m comfortable and we can be successful.”