With four players who hadn’t earned consistent minutes at the NCAA Division I level coming into the season, it was expected that there would be a learning curve for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball team.
And while junior Duke Ethridge and sophomores Chuck Ester, Tre McLean and Justin Tuoyo haven’t always been great, they’ve showed enough progress throughout the season to have good moments in big spots.
They’ve also had some not-so-good moments to show that, while there is potential, there will be some growing pains.
Tuoyo said the hardest part of those pains is trying to shake them off. He had his worst outing of the season in last Thursday’s overtime loss to Mercer, finishing with three points, six rebounds and two blocked shots in 35 minutes.
“It’s not easy. You focus on it and you’re ready to play them again,” Tuoyo said Monday. “After the Mercer game, I talked to the coaching staff, and they told me to wash it out (of my mind) and let it go. I was still stuck on it Friday and talked to the coaches and they told me to let it go, so I just went out Saturday with an open mind, just played and let it go.”