Chattanooga guard Casey Jones (24) dunks over Wesleyan guard Charles White during the Mocs’ home basketball game against Tennessee Wesleyan at McKenzie Arena on Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015, in Chattanooga, Tenn.If Matt McCall was worried about a high-major program trying to poach his best talent away from him, the second-year men’s basketball coach for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga didn’t have to worry long.
His players weren’t interested.
With a NCAA rule allowing graduated players to transfer to another program, UTC’s Casey Jones, Tre’ McLean and Justin Tuoyo received a lot of interest after the 2015-16 season. They could have moved on and would have been eligible immediately, with the allure of an Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Ten, Big 12 or Southeastern Conference program possibly too much to turn down.
They each chose to come back to Chattanooga and chase a second consecutive Southern Conference championship in their final year of eligibility.
“It says a lot about those three as people,” McCall said. “It says about them trying to leave their mark and create a legacy here. Chattanooga means something to them, because in today’s day and age that doesn’t happen, especially with three players that caliber. You have basically three first-team All-Southern Conference players on a team that won 29 games, and that doesn’t happen that guys stick around at a mid-major. It doesn’t happen.
“I think there’s something to be said with how much fun they’re having here playing and playing together. This senior class is a rare group, a unique group. They’re rare in the fact they want to stay here and they all wanted to come back. It means a lot to us as a coaching staff, as a program, and it should mean a lot to the people that support this program because that doesn’t happen.”
McLean and Tuoyo are in their third season with the program. Tuoyo, a 6-foot-10 center, is a two-time SoCon defensive player of the year and a two-time all-conference selection who averaged 11.1 points, five rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game last season, while the 6-5 McLean earned first-team all-conference honors after averaging team highs in points (12.1), rebounds (6.3) and steals (1.6). He was also second in assists (2.5) and blocks (0.7).
Jones, who started the first eight games before an ankle injury ended his season, ranks sixth all-time in UTC’s Division I history in rebounds (547), seventh in blocks (82), 13th in steals (95) and 17th in points (1,054). He said he had no interest in leaving, adding that he’s “all Moc.”
“I came here at 17, 18 years old,” Jones said Tuesday. “This is my school. It’s definitely a compliment, a testament to how hard I’ve worked, how well I’ve been coached. Just knowing that the work I’ve put in has paid off and people saw what I could do and believe in my talent, it’s a compliment.”
The three are taking graduate course work and are preparing for the season. They’re half of a six-player senior class, with four-year starting point guard Greg Pryor – the 2016 SoCon tournament MVP – forward Chuck Ester and guard Johnathan Burroughs-Cook the others.
Practice begins Thursday at Chattem Practice Facility, with the first regular-season game at Tennessee on Nov. 11.
McCall said he understands the nature of the NCAA rule and is just pleased his guys all decided to come back.
“I don’t know if the average person in Chattanooga understands that, and that’s part of the reason I think these guys need to be celebrated,” McCall said. “And we need to enjoy and not take for granted this senior class and what they’ve accomplished here and what they’re going to try to continue to accomplish.
“We’re going to snap our fingers and this season is going to be over, and this group – the fact they’ve all decided to come back and play the game for each other with everything they’ve already accomplished here – I think says a lot about them.
“Every single day I’m going to take advantage of coaching these guys. A day won’t go by where I don’t realize how much they’ve done for this program, how much they’ve done for this staff, so we can’t take a single day for granted with them.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.