At some point, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball program will have a full roster again.
Since Nov. 30, the Mocs have lost forward Mark Tikhonenko and guard David Jean-Baptiste. They gained forward K.C. Hankton a few days later, and then there was Wednesday afternoon’s news that Jean-Baptiste, a fifth-year senior, had returned to the team after previously putting his name in the NCAA transfer portal. But they played Wednesday’s Southern Conference opener against Furman, which they lost 77-73 to end a nine-game winning streak to start the season, without Trey Doomes, who was at McKenzie Arena but unavailable due to injury.
Doomes had appeared in each of the first nine games, averaging 17.3 minutes, as the Mocs put together the best start in program history. Despite the 9-1 record – which was accomplished with some smoke and mirrors due to the lack of roster continuity – it’s been a pain for the program when it comes to game preparation.
“You have to simplify. You have to have maximum flexibility,” UTC coach Lamont Paris said. “You have guys that aren’t up to speed with everything. We make a tweak or two game to game, and everyone’s not up to speed, so it’s a challenge.”
Wednesday’s challenges came early, and they came late. The Paladins (7-3, 1-0) jumped ahead 9-0, which ended up being the visitors’ biggest lead of the game. The Mocs recovered from that early deficit and even built a couple of three-point leads, the last on a Hankton layup that made it 66-63 with 5:36 to play.