The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball team wrapped up a solid finish to a rough regular season Saturday, shooting 50% from the field in both halves and defeating Virginia Military Institute 86-79 in front of 3,824 at McKenzie Arena.
The Mocs can feel a little bit better about themselves going into the Southern Conference tournament after winning three of their final four games and improving to 13-18 overall 7-11 in league play during the regular season. UTC will be the No. 8 seed in the 10-team SoCon tournament and will face The Citadel (10-21, 7-11), which is seeded ninth, at 5 p.m. Friday at Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville, North Carolina.
It’s one of just two games in the men’s bracket that day — last-place VMI (6-25, 1-17) and seventh-seeded UNC Greensboro (13-18, 9-9) follow — with the top six seeds receiving byes into the Saturday quarterfinals.
The Mocs and The Citadel split their regular-season series, with each team winning on the other’s home court. The winner gets top-seeded East Tennessee State (21-10, 13-5).
Against VMI, the Mocs shot 17-for-31 in each half and made 12 3-pointers in the contest. The star of the day was junior Jordan Frison, who scored a career-high 33 points on 14-for-18 shooting from the field. The 6-foot guard took advantage of some holes in the VMI defense, shooting 8-for-11 on mid-range jump shots and 3-for-4 on 3-pointers.
UTC vs. VMI basketball on Feb. 28, 2026
He had plenty of offensive help, though. Billy Smith, another player who has come on strong of late for UTC, was 5-for-11 from 3-point range and finished with 15 points. Redshirt sophomore Collin Mulholland added 13 points and 10 rebounds for the second double-double of his UTC career, and both have occurred in the past three games.
Teddy Washington Jr. had 10 points in 14 minutes of game action.
In his past four games, Smith is 15-for-33 from 3-point range and has averaged 13.3 points.
“I’ve just been sticking to the same routine and having teammates and coaches around you that are encouraging you constantly,” said Smith, one of five players honored on senior day for the Mocs. “A couple of games ago, Coach (Dan) Earl told me you just get one senior year so to go out, play as confidently as you can, play free, enjoy it and everyone else trusts you.
“I think that’s helped and just sticking to the work and knowing that the numbers find themselves.”
(READ MORE: UTC’s Makai Richards has embraced Chattanooga off the court, too)
Smith has made 208 3-pointers in a career that includes stops at Miami of Ohio and Bellarmine.
Offense and shooting were going to be key for this team to be successful this season, and in the wins over Mercer, The Citadel and VMI, the offense has clicked. It didn’t so much in Thursday’s home loss to UNCG, but that’s what it was going to take, and the Mocs were really good on that end Saturday.
It allowed them to build an early lead and hold on to it throughout. The Mocs led for more than 37 minutes of game time and withstood 13 3-pointers from VMI, which was led by 21-point performances from Cal Liston (with nine rebounds) and TJ Jonston 9with seven rebounds). The Keydets haven’t won since their 79-71 victory against UTC on Jan. 3 early in the first week of SoCon play, and the Mocs kept the program Earl coached from 2015-22 before coming to Chattanooga from getting the regular-season series sweep.
(SIGN UP: Get the daily sports newsletter in your email box by clicking here)
“I thought we hung with it, got stops when we needed to and kind of never hung our head on offense,” Earl said. “We got some open shots. I think it got close, and we just kept taking good shots and firing away, so I’m proud of the team.
“Hopefully this allows us to build some confidence going into the Southern Conference tournament, where anything can happen.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.