Dan Earl admittedly doesn’t pay attention to the environment he’s walking into after leaving the locker room and heading onto the court of University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball games.
But Thursday night he couldn’t really help himself, as for one of the first times during the National Invitation Tournament, the crowds were mostly in UTC’s favor. The Mocs had been the road team in games against Middle Tennessee State and Bradley, and were outnumbered against Loyola-Chicago in the semifinals in Indianapolis as the Rambler contingent had half the distance to travel compared to the UTC fanbase.
But against UC Irvine, in the championship game, the UTC group was the majority. A number of private planes made the trip — easier than driving. The UTC men’s golf team, which was playing a tournament in Bloomington that weekend, was in attendance. Assistant football coaches Julius Miller and Tyrus Ward — the latter a UTC alum himself — stood for the majority of the 45-minute game, which the Mocs won 85-84 to claim the title.
“You heard during the warmups. I mean, they’re going nuts,” Earl said postgame. “Everybody’s been behind us and that’s a tribute to the guys. How hard they play, our style of play, but a tribute to the fans and then getting on board and supporting basketball. Our home game against Dayton (in the second round of the NIT), our arena was rocking, so I can’t thank the fans enough for coming out, supporting us throughout the year.”
Chattanooga has always had a really good fan base for the mid-major level, and that includes former alums that make their way to games, either routinely or casually. Brandon Born is a mainstay at McKenzie Arena games and was in attendance at Hinkle. The Mocs’ career leader in 3-point field goal percentage (44.7%) had a chance to observe the team’s celebration courtside, and was just as much in awe as everyone else in attendance at how the Mocs essentially cheated death multiple times, including being down six with 2:30 to go before forcing overtime and outlasting the Anteaters.