There were questions prior to the season about how well the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball team could shoot.
If Wednesday night was any indication, the answer is pretty well.
The Mocs set a school record with 17 3-pointers and had four players score in double figures in a 102-54 victory against Hiwassee College at McKenzie Arena.
UTC (2-1) is on the road this weekend, playing in the Maui Invitational Mainland event in West Point, N.Y. The Mocs face Central Arkansas on Saturday before a game against either Arkansas State or Army on Sunday afternoon.
The Mocs shot 58 percent from the field against Hiwassee (4-3), including 66 percent in the second half. They finished with 20 assists, with both Tre’ McLean and Greg Pryor handing out six. Pryor added four steals to his nine points.
“I thought our starting five came in with the right mindset in the game and got us off to a great start,” Mocs coach Matt McCall said. “Coming off a weekend like we had, it’s easy to come in complacent, but we were trying to get better.”
UTC’s game against the National Christian College Athletic Association program from Madisonville, Tenn., came after a season-opening win at Tennessee on Friday and a loss at top-10 ranked and 2016 national runner-up North Carolina on Sunday.
Freshman point guard Rodney Chatman led the Mocs with 16 points Wednesday, and Justin Tuoyo had 15 points and four blocks in 18 minutes of playing time. Johnathan Burroughs-Cook added 13 points, making all five of his shots, while Makinde London had 12 points and a team-high six rebounds in his first career start. He was 5-for-10 from the field and hit two 3-pointers.
“It was a great experience,” said London, a redshirt sophomore and offseason transfer from Xavier. “I’m just happy to be able to contribute to the team and give everything I have right off from the opening tip.”
London started in place of senior forward Casey Jones, who tweaked an ankle in practice and was held out. He is not expected to miss much time.
McCall said turnovers and rebounding had been areas of concern, but the Mocs had 13 turnovers Wednesday and out-rebounded the Tigers by five.
“We wanted to sharpen our offense and key in on defense,” Tuoyo said. “We wanted to try to tie it all in together because we know if we don’t take things serious, we could lose.
“We wanted to get everybody on the same page tonight and try to get better, and I think we did that tonight.”
The 3-point exhibition started early. Burroughs-Cook hit one, then Pryor followed with two before McLean hit one for a 12-0 lead. The lead was in double digits by the 16:46 mark of the first half, and the Mocs never let up. They led by 29 at the break, and the advantage ballooned to 49 in the second half on a 3-pointer by Chatman with 10:19 to play.
Daniel Graves led Hiwassee with 14 points, and Jay Cade added 10. Former Ooltewah standout Ben Snider had three points, as did former McMinn County standout Jay Johnson. Senior captain Jeulian High was held scoreless, missing all four of his shots.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.