UTC guard Casey Jones (24) drives to the basket in the first half against Furman at McKenzie Arena on Saturday.If you were a University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball fan the last couple of days, you couldn’t help but wonder. Was Thursday night’s 94-51 loss at Davidson one bad night or one very bad sign? Was the momentum from the Mocs’ eight Southern Conference victories in their first eight league games now lost for good? Or did it merely need a reboot come Saturday night against fragile Furman?
At least 5,023 inquiring minds couldn’t wait to reach McKenzie Arena to find out. And help out.
“First of all, I want to thank the crowd,” UTC coach Will Wade said after this 67-52 Mocs win. “Thank them for showing faith in us after a loss.”
Losses are one thing. Forty-three-point massacres are something else. Especially when you have only 48 hours to move on. Most especially when you don’t return home until 4 a.m. Friday and your players have class at 8 a.m. Then practice, the mental scars of Davidson still fresh in your head.
“I talked about it at the beginning of yesterday’s practice,” Wade said late Saturday. “Then we moved on. Just kept to the normal routine. Nothing different than when we’ve won on Thursday.”