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.