SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- Something is wrong with the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's basketball team.
Actually, there may be a lot of things, including an obvious lack of leadership.
"I'm not trying to point fingers at nobody -- I'm not trying to say I'm perfect -- but we need more guys to step up," senior captain Ty Patterson said after the Mocs lost 78-63 at Wofford on Monday to end a six-day road trip on which UTC lost three games.
The Mocs led by 16 points at UNC Greensboro in the first half but lost 58-45. They led by 14 at Elon but lost 83-80 and have given the Phoenix their only two Southern Conference wins of the season. And they were down by only wo at halftime on Monday at Wofford.
"I think some people are more worried about themselves and not helping the team," said Patterson, who set a career high with 28 points at Elon and averaged 16.7 points per game on this trip.
"We need more guys to step up and buy into what Coach says on the defensive end."
Patterson is the only UTC player with the right -- and the responsibility -- to call out teammates either in private or public. He is the only senior and the Mocs' leading scorer. But he is clearly uncomfortable in the role because he's never had it before.
As coach John Shulman has said several times this season, Patterson either can lead the rest of the team to playing at his level or lower his level of performance to that of the newcomers.
So who falls into that role of spokesman/leader/chief/director/master?
"That would be myself," Shulman said. "The only guy who has been through all the mess is me. You'd like to have great veteran leadership. So it's not the best way to deal with it, but we're going to have to."
The Mocs returned to Chattanooga immediately after the game and took Tuesday off. They needed it, in order to refresh their legs, their minds, and get away from each other a bit.
"We're fatigued. We're exhausted," Shulman said. "Very few teams have to play three in five (days) on the road. Add to that losing a 16-point lead and a 14-point lead, and now what is your morale?
"You're a little funky. But we hung in there and got beat by a better team."
True. Wofford has wins over Georgia and South Carolina and lost at Pittsburgh by three. The Terriers beat UNCG and Elon each by 17 points.
"This is what happens when you have inexperienced guys who don't understand about team," Shulman said. "They're worried about why they're not playing. Some guys are stressed out about not playing. Don't worry about you; worry about the team."
Problem is, there's plenty to worry about there as well. The Mocs had won six straight games before a 24-point home loss to College of Charleston started their four-game slide.
"We have to grow up," point guard Keegan Bell said. "Our demeanor gets down when things get tough. We're supposed to be a scrappy team that fights back, and we haven't been scrappy these last few games."
The losses have dropped the Mocs into the middle of the conference standings and three games behind Western Carolina, which plays Thursday night at UTC. Their standing is two games from a first-round bye to the SoCon tournament, and no team has won the title without a bye.
"When you don't come out with one (win) and you're 0-3 on the trip, it's frustrating," Bell said. "If you look at the standings it definitely hurts us, but Coach says our season is determined in the tournament.
"Being a team is more than talent. We have to learn to box-out, be reliable, when to do things as a team. We have to figure it out."
Or else a long road trip will turn into a long season.