SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Two things became the focus of Matt McCall’s halftime speech to his University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball team during Monday’s game at Wofford.
Defend the Terriers and get the ball to the paint on offense.
Because they did both, the Mocs pulled out a big Southern Conference win. They scored 20 points in the paint in the second half of their 77-68 win, and 12 of those came on their first seven field goals of the half.
After combining for only 13 points and five rebounds in the team’s 30-point first half, UTC forwards Chuck Ester, Duke Ethridge and Justin Tuoyo totaled 23 points and eight rebounds in the final 20 minutes. Their production opened up the floor, and the Mocs were able to hit half of their eight 3-point attempts in the second half after missing all seven of their first-half 3s.
All of that resulted in 17-for-31 shooting from the Mocs in a second half in which they scored 47 points.