UTC freshman Brody Robinson has habit of proving doubters wrong

Staff photo by Olivia Ross  / UTC freshman guard Brody Robinson, shown during Saturday's 97-47 victory against Johnson University at McKenzie Arena, has started the past two games for the Mocs and made a quick impact, averaging 10 points and 4.5 assists in a pair of wins.
Staff photo by Olivia Ross / UTC freshman guard Brody Robinson, shown during Saturday's 97-47 victory against Johnson University at McKenzie Arena, has started the past two games for the Mocs and made a quick impact, averaging 10 points and 4.5 assists in a pair of wins.

Brody Robinson grew up having to prove himself every time he stepped on the basketball court.

It's really not surprising that a 5-foot-10 white kid playing for the Houston Defenders — a predominantly Black select team that plays on the Under Armour Association circuit — would raise eyebrows, especially when that kid started for one of the top programs in the country.

(It probably didn't help that his name was Brody.)

"Every game," he said when asked how many times he was tested. "I've dealt with that my whole life, so I knew how to approach situations. Some teams would look at me like, 'Am I a shooter? Or am I dog? How am I on the court? How am I starting for a normal team with all Black kids and one white starting point guard?'

"You've got to have that dog in you, and I always thought I could do it, so if I believed in myself, then I knew everybody else would."

Robinson always aspired to play college basketball, but with his recruiting seemingly stalled and no high school eligibility remaining, he had initially chosen to attend a prep school this year. In July, he traveled with his team to an AAU tournament in Cartersville, Georgia, hoping to get some looks that would help him sign with a school and begin college in 2023.

Meanwhile, new University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's basketball coach Dan Earl thought he was done with recruiting for the 2022-23 season before finding out that guard Tada Stricklen would be leaving the program instead of returning, freeing up a spot on the roster. There was also the expectation that Honor Huff, who came from Virginia Military Institute — where Earl had been head coach since 2015 — would sit out this season, per Southern Conference rules for undergraduate transfers in their first year at a new program.

It just so happened that Robinson would have one of his best tournaments as the Defenders won a UAA national championship.

"He played really hard, with a spark," Earl said. "He knows how to play and can shoot the ball, but I think it comes down to how he's a competitor and plays fast and hard. We thought with the uncertainly around whether or not Honor would be available, we needed another guy that could handle the ball, run the offense and provide a spark."

Robinson plays no differently with the Mocs, who beat Johnson University 97-47 on Saturday at McKenzie Arena to improve to 7-3, than he did with the Defenders. Every dribble and every pass is precise, every move has a purpose; that's what's helped him get on the court in his first season at UTC. It's a trait he learned from Teddy Wheeler, who is the coach at Robinson's high school alma mater Houston Christian and the father of Sahvir Wheeler, the starting point guard at Kentucky.

"I just bought into his system," Robinson said, "and he really made it happen for me."

It probably wasn't supposed to happen this quickly, but the current ineligibility of Huff and nagging injuries to fellow point guards Khristion Courseault and Dalvin White have created a need for the next man up, who happens to be Robinson.

And he has performed well, shooting 48% from 3-point range on 27 attempts this season. He has started the past two games, averaging 10 points and 4.5 assists in wins over Milwaukee and Johnson, an NAIA program from the Knoxville area.

"I came here not knowing what was going to happen," he said. "I came here and wanted to be a productive player, a player that came in and was solid for the team. At the beginning, I kind of didn't know my role as much, and talking to Coach Earl and getting an understanding of what's going through his mind, I kind of understood what my role is: to control the team, to knock down shots, to push the ball.

"I kind of just found my role, and I feel like it all worked itself out."

Robinson feels comfortable in any room he's in. It also has helped that the majority of this UTC team wasn't part of last year's SoCon championship run, so he came in as one of eight new guys trying to find their way in Chattanooga. But as this season has gone on, the team seems to be improving game by game, with Saturday's win the Mocs' fifth consecutive and fourth in a row with at least 80 points scored.

Robinson played a game-high 30 minutes Saturday, picking up just one foul while totaling 14 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals. He was one of seven Mocs who scored in double figures, joined by Jake Stephens (15), Jamal Johnson (14), Courseault (13), Demetrius Davis (11), Randy Brady (10) and Sam Alexis (10), who had a game-high 11 rebounds.

Brady and Stephens each grabbed nine rebounds, and Alexis and Stephens each blocked four shots.

"There's no favoritism. It's whoever produces on the court," Robinson said. "I feel like that's what makes us competitive and what makes practices so hard is because there's nobody who's head and shoulders above anybody. It's a brotherhood among the team; I feel like I've known these guys forever. We do everything as a team, and there's nobody that's standoffish in the locker room.

"We're starting to really come together and we're figuring it out on the court as well, because at the beginning nobody has ever played with each other, but now we're starting to jell, getting to know everybody's game, and it's just starting to click."

The Mocs visit Middle Tennessee State (7-3) at 7 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, then host Belmont (6-5) three days later. That will be followed by a Dec. 21 game at Georgia and the Dec. 29 SoCon opener against The Citadel at McKenzie.

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.

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