Staff photo by Matt Hamilton / UTC’s Darius Banks, left, and Malachi Smith celebrate after a score during the Mocs’ 71-60 win against Wofford on Jan. 26 at McKenzie Arena. Banks and Smith, who are roommates, hope to help lead the SoCon regular-season champions to a sweep of the conference titles by winning the league tournament in Asheville, N.C.In hindsight, Darius Banks and Malachi Smith realize it was a bad idea.
Fresh off helping the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga to an 82-52 home win over East Tennessee State University in a Southern Conference men’s basketball opener on Dec. 30, the two teammates who are also roommates hopped in a car and made an overnight trip to Florida. Their destination was the Tampa Bay area, where Smith’s mom Connie and Banks’ mom Latasha Bristol both live, and where Banks was once a prep star.
The two Mocs shared driving duties, though, and never fell asleep during an eight-hour ride that allowed them another chance to bond by making memories beyond those on the court during their college basketball careers, neither of which started at UTC. That’s what college is for, right?
“It’s special,” Banks said, “especially because we can talk without it being forced or without it being like, ‘I have to talk to this person.’ I want to talk to him. I want to tell him everything. I want to tell him about me and my family.
“I look at him as a brother.”