When the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga arrives in Birmingham, Ala., tonight to face Southern Conference opponent Samford, the Bulldogs will be ready to apply 40 minutes of pressure.
And the Mocs should be aptly prepared to handle it.
UTC men’s basketball head coach Will Wade watches his players from the sidelines during a 93-81 UTC victory against Northern Kentucky at McKenzie in Chattanooga.The return of sophomore starting point guard Greg Pryor will give the Mocs (11-7, 4-1) another player capable of handling the Bulldogs’ full-court press. Pryor’s return from a two-game absence from a lower-body injury will give the team another point guard on the floor and help take some of the pressure off senior guard Ronrico White, who played all 85 minutes at the point guard position of the team’s wins over Western Carolina and East Tennessee State University.
The team hopes to get senior forward Lance Stokes — the team’s vocal leader on defense — back as well.
“It’s big having Greg back,” junior forward Casey Jones said. “He’s a big IQ guy for us, and walks us through a lot of our stuff. We need Lance’s energy; we need him out there. He’s a big IQ guy, too, and we need him out there to bring a spark to our team.”
The Bulldogs are winless six games into coach Scott Padgett’s first SoCon season. Their record is a little deceiving: two of their losses to date are to conference leader Wofford, who is 4-0 early.
Samford’s six conference opponents have a combined 18-12 record in SoCon games, which qualifies as the second-toughest schedule to date. The first? The Mocs, whose opponents have won 64 percent (16-9) of their games.
A season ago, the Bulldogs beat UTC in Birmingham, defeating the Mocs 92-85 in overtime.
“We didn’t do very well last time we went down there,” UTC coach Will Wade said. “We’re going to need to be ready to go; we have to bring great energy, great enthusiasm and put our best foot forward. They (Samford) are coming together; they’ve played better in the last month, so it’ll be tough as any conference road game is.
“We have to take a great spirit with us and have some guys step up like we’ve been having.”
Former Tyner standout Michael Bradley is the regular starter at center for the Bulldogs. According to Samford head coach Scott Padgett, the 6-foot-10 senior has battled some injuries that have affected his production, but has averaged 6.1 points and 5.4 rebounds while playing all 19 games, with 12 starts.
Robertson Student-Athlete of the Week
Junior guard Eric Robertson was named the General Shale SoCon Athlete of the Week on Wednesday.
Robertson is a non-profit management major that has a 3.65 grade-point average, and was one of the 41 student-athletes that posted a 4.0 GPA in the fall. He’s the third Moc to earn the honor this school year, joining cross-country’s Teghan Henderson and volleyball’s Lauren Gainer.
With the injuries to Pryor and Stokes, Robertson entered the starting lineup and averaged 15.5 points in the wins over Western Carolina and ETSU. He hit 8-for-15 from 3-point range in the two wins, and tied his career high with 20 points in the ETSU overtime win, which included a career-high six 3-pointers made. He leads the Southern Conference in 3-point percentage, making 38-for-71 (54 percent).
In his last nine games, he’s hitting over 60 percent (29-for-48) from 3-point range.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.