The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball team has yet to face Southern Conference opponent Virginia Military Institute even though the regular season is nearly over, but the Mocs will get their share of time with the Keydets over the next two weeks.
UTC (23-4, 12-2) can clinch a share of the SoCon regular-season title with two wins this week. There’s a scenario in which the Mocs can claim the title outright this weekend, but their primary focus is taking care of business against the Keydets (7-17, 2-11) at 7:30 tonight at McKenzie Arena.
Their first scheduled meeting of the season, on Jan. 23 in Lexington, Va., was called off due to a snowstorm on the East Coast. That game will be made up Feb. 29, with the Monday night matchup closing out the regular season for both teams.
“We just have to take it one game at a time,” UTC point guard Greg Pryor said. ” We’ll be familiar with them the second time. We just worry about one game at a time because we know it’s a one-game series right now.”
UTC coach Matt McCall hadn’t done his homework on the Keydets as of Monday afternoon, but by Wednesday he realized that guards Julian Eleby and Q.J. Peterson lead the way, averaging a combined 31.9 points, 10.9 rebounds and five assists per game. Peterson is second in the league in scoring average at 17.4 points per game.