Twenty games into his first season as the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's basketball coach, Dan Earl is still trying to figure things out.
Who should play for the Mocs. Who can be counted on to make plays for the Mocs. Injuries early in the season caused some players who were expected to be rotation pieces to miss time, but everybody's healthy now. So the conversation has moved on to consistency: Who can Earl trust?
He named four players.
Of course there's Jake Stephens. The 7-foot graduate transfer with multiple Southern Conference player of the week honors this season will always be expected to get around 20 points and 10 rebounds per game. He fell just short of that but still got 18 and eight, respectively, in the Mocs' 77-69 loss to Furman on Wednesday night at McKenzie Arena.
There's Jamal Johnson, the senior guard who scored 10 points against the Paladins, and there's Dalvin White, the senior point guard who typically makes good decisions with the ball and hits open shots when needed. White had eight points and a pair of assists with just one turnover Wednesday.
A.J. Caldwell, the lone holdover from last season's team consistently in the rotation, remains a steadying force on both ends.
Then? Insert emoji of guy shrugging his shoulders.
And that's the problem.
The inconsistent patterns of the team have yielded inconsistent results, as the Mocs sit at 11-9 overall and 3-4 in the SoCon with rival East Tennessee State (7-13, 3-4) coming to McKenzie on Saturday for a 3 p.m. game. The same Mocs who lost at The Citadel in their SoCon opener turned around and smacked Mercer by 29 points less than 48 hours later, also on the road. Before that, in nonconference play, they had Belmont on the ropes before falling in overtime at home, but they also beat down a good Middle Tennessee State team in Murfreesboro.
In its previous game before facing Furman, the Jekyll-and-Hyde nature of this UTC team was in full display. Are the Mocs the team that built a 19-point second-half lead at first-place Samford? Or the one that let that lead dwindle away in a disappointing one-point loss?
"I think we have good kids and they battle," Earl said. "We are trying to have the defensive side of the ball be a staple for us where we're bringing the energy regardless. We have a little bit too much of when we're making shots, we've got a lot of energy and pop, and when we're not, we don't have as much pop in our step.
"We have to figure that out along with the execution standpoint."
With so much inconsistency, Earl said that every day, be it practice or games, has become an evaluation period.
That's why freshman guard Brody Robinson — who had averaged less than six minutes off the bench in conference play and didn't play at all in two league games — found himself on the floor for some key second-half minutes against the Paladins (14-6, 5-2), knocking down a pair of 3s, drawing Furman senior forward Jalen Slawson into a pair of offensive fouls and finishing with nine points in just seven minutes. It's why seldom-used freshman post Sam Alexis, who had played in only three conference games, found himself in the second-half rotation.
Jamaal Walker struggled to make shots at the rim, but he was an active presence on the defensive end for UTC and earned almost 26 minutes, his second most this season.
Furman had four scorers in double figures: Mike Bothwell (22), Slawson (21), JP Pegues (11) and Marcus Foster (10), with three of those four on the court for 34 minutes and Slawson playing 31 minutes.
As for UTC, it appears the evaluation process will continue, except instead of 25 games to figure things out, the Mocs are down to 11 before the SoCon tournament in Asheville, North Carolina, where they are the reigning champions, thanks to last March's buzzer-beating overtime victory against Furman.
For now, everyone not named Stephens, Johnson, White or Caldwell must remain prepared — because time is slowly running out, and Earl and staff will need some answers.
"It's hard, but you've just got to stay mentally prepared always," Robinson said. "Always talking to coaches about just staying ready, being ready for my moment. Just doing what's best for the team, and if I'm not playing and we're winning, then I'm not worried. Obviously as a competitor you want to play, but if that's what you have to do, you just have to remain ready."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.