UTC’s Greg Pryor plays in a game against VMI at McKenzie Arena.After sitting out a couple of games due to a lower body injury, Greg Pryor returned to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball lineup on Jan. 15, when the Mocs defeated Samford 82-76.
Yet it wasn’t until Saturday’s game against UNC Greensboro that the 6-foot-1 sophomore from Memphis really looked like his old self.
Pryor had a team-high 19 points, to go along with a pair of assists in 31 minutes as the Mocs improved to 14-7 and 7-1 in the Southern Conference with an 81-72 win over UNC Greensboro. He was 6-for-11 from the field, hit a trio of 3-pointers and made all four of his free throws down the stretch.
During the season, he’s averaged over 37 percent from 3-point range, but had struggled in the conference season, shooting only 3-for-15 before the UNCG game. In the wins over Virginia Military Institute, Pryor had 15 points combined, shooting 3-for-10 from the field.
“After my first two games back, I was real frustrated with myself. I felt I couldn’t get going,” Pryor said after Saturday’s win. “I talked to my coaches, and they told me to just let the game come to me, and that every game wouldn’t be perfect. So I just went in with a clear mindset to go help my team win and let the game come to me, and I was able to put up a couple of points.”
His “bounceback game” came at the right time for the Mocs, as senior Ronrico White, who had picked up the slack in Pryor’s absence, was nursing a wrist injury and could only play sparingly against the Spartans. With only three guards in the active rotation — Pryor, White and Eric Robertson — there isn’t much room for error — or injury — for the Mocs at that position.
“Greg was back to his normal self, which we had to have tonight with Rico’s situation,” UTC coach Will Wade said. “That’s a sign of a pretty good team, when other guys pick up the slack for some folks, and we have a lot of different weapons.”
UTC travels to Mercer (11-10, 6-2) on Thursday. The Mocs get to wear their home white uniforms in Macon, Ga., as the Bears have already sold out the game and are planning a “Black Out” for the fans.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.