A month after a double-digit home loss to UNC Greensboro, a week after being unable to avoid a regular-season sweep at Samford’s hands and less than 48 hours after needing a late surge to prevent an upset at Virginia Military Institute, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball team showed a much different side.
Putting together quite possibly their best 40-minute performance of the season, the Mocs dominated at UNC Greensboro, winning 89-61 on Saturday to move into second place in the Southern Conference standings with three weeks remaining in the regular season.
The Mocs (17-8, 9-3), who have won seven of eight games since a 70-54 loss to UNCG on Jan. 13 at McKenzie Arena with CBS Sports Network televising the matchup, are home for their next game, facing rival East Tennessee State (13-12, 5-7) at 7 p.m. Wednesday. They’re back on CBSSN the game after that, visiting Furman at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 18.
After the Mocs’ first meeting with UNCG (17-8, 8-4), UTC coach Dan Earl mentioned how he felt his team “wasn’t nearly tough enough” against the Spartans. Saturday in North Carolina, that was clearly a point of emphasis, as the Mocs — particularly junior guard Trey Bonham — were aggressive in getting to the basket on offense and not settling. That allowed UTC to be solid defensively, with the Spartans making 13 3-pointers but shooting 6-for-22 (27.2%) inside the arc.
The result was a 44-point turnaround on the scoreboard.