A lot has changed for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball team since a humbling home loss to UNC Greensboro on Jan. 13.
After that 16-point setback with CBS Sports Network cameras in the house for a national telecast, the Mocs put together a 3-0 road swing with wins against Mercer, East Tennessee State University and Wofford, and that momentum continued Saturday in their return to McKenzie Arena.
After a slow first half defensively against The Citadel, the Mocs controlled the Bulldogs, winning in dominating fashion, 90-62, to extend their streak of victories to four and improve to 14-7 overall this season and 6-2 in the SoCon.
But for the second consecutive season under coach Dan Earl, the Mocs have had to basically reinvent themselves in the middle of the schedule. Last year, the adjustment was forced by an injury to center Jake Stephens, which cost him two months. This season it wasn’t injury as much as change, as starting point guard Trey Bonham — a two-time NCAA transfer — was ruled eligible in December, causing a shift in the team’s rotation, allocation of minutes and playing style.
The Mocs lost three straight shortly after Bonham was cleared, giving up an average of 91.7 points in those games, but now they have won six of their past seven. Then again, Earl — whose first season at UTC produced an 18-17 overall record, a 7-11 regular-season mark in league play, and a run to the SoCon title game after Stephens returned just in time for the tournament — is well aware it’s still January.
“I think the two things that we talk about all the time with the guys is being unselfish — moving the ball to the open man — and then competing at all times as much as humanly possible. I think we’ve made major strides in both of those departments,” Earl said after Saturday’s win. “But trust me, I’m not like ‘Oh yeah, we’re doing great.’ We have a lot of room for improvement, but I think we’re making strides in the right directions, and I’m proud of the guys for that.
“There’s a lot of basketball to be played, and we have no business relaxing at all.”
Although there were some early struggles with the new rotation, players seem to have settled into their roles over the past two weeks, starting with the aforementioned road swing. The consistent performances have come from Bonham, guard Honor Huff and forward Sam Alexis, and on a game-in, game-out basis, team success has been contingent on their teammates’ ability to step up.
In the 74-60 win at Mercer on Jan. 17, it was Demetrius Davis with defense and overall effort. In an 81-74 victory at ETSU last Sunday, it was a hot-shooting Jan Zidek. In a 79-65 triumph Thursday at Wofford, it was more than one Moc making a difference in a balanced showing, with five scorers in double figures and a sixth UTC player with nine points.
It was more of the latter against the Bulldogs on Saturday, when Huff scored 19 points (shooting 4-for-6 from 3-point range), Alexis had 17, Zidek chipped in 13 and Bonham added 12 with a team-high five assists. On top of that, Tyler Millin had nine and Myles Che had seven in his second consecutive game in the starting lineup, while Randy Brady’s eight rebounds were a game high.
UTC was up 45-36 at halftime against the Bulldogs (9-12, 1-7), who had three scorers finish in double figures: Keynan Davis (18), A.J. Smith (14) and Elijah Morgan (13 with seven rebounds), with Madison Durr scoring nine and adding six assists.
With UNCG (15-6, 6-2) losing Saturday night to Mercer, the Spartans are tied with the Mocs for second in the standings behind Samford (18-3, 7-1), which makes UTC coming into its own even more timely.
The week ahead is huge for Earl’s Mocs, who visit Western Carolina (16-5, 5-3) at 7 p.m. Wednesday before starting the second half of their SoCon schedule against Samford at 4:30 p.m. next Saturday. That will be part of a doubleheader at McKenzie, with the SoCon-leading UTC women first facing Furman at 2 p.m.
“We had to spend a lot of time in practice building chemistry, because Trey got back with us and we weren’t used to playing with him,” Alexis said. “But Coach Earl is always talking about being unselfish, and I think we’ve got multiple guys on the team that can score, so we don’t need one person to go for 30 — I feel like if everybody pitches in like 10 points, we’re going to be good.
“We’re moving the ball and being unselfish; it’s a big part of why we’ve been successful so far.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.