Every athletic season has a low point. Whether you lose one game, 20 games or no games, there's always one outing worse than the rest.
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball coach John Shulman needs to hope that Wednesday night's 78-54 embarrassment against Samford was as bad as it can get for these maddening Mocs.
Against a Bulldogs bunch that had failed to crack 20 points through the first half of three of its last four contests, UTC surrendered 38. Against a team that was just 3-9 in the Southern Conference entering this game, the Mocs never pulled closer than 10 over the final 13 minutes and trailed by at least 15 over the final 6:32.
"I apologize to our fans," said Shulman after what might be the most shocking home loss of his six-year tenure, if only for the margin of defeat. "We're going to have to be really special to climb out of this hole."
They have been special enough two of the past five years to reach the NCAA Tournament, even if both berths were won atop McKenzie Arena's comfortable court.
They have beaten big brother Tennessee in Knoxville on Shulman's watch. They have beaten perennial mid-major powers Creighton, Niagara, Belmont and Murray State.
So this is not to say Shulman's seat needs a fire extinguisher, even as the Mocs fall to 13-13 on the season and 5-8 within the SoCon. At least not yet.
Nor was the biggest reason for this loss necessarily a negative. A few hours before the Mocs took the court, the athletic department released a statement that junior forward Ridge McKeither and freshman guard Josh Odem had been suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules.
Sometimes such suspensions temporarily breathe life into a struggling team. Tennessee, for instance, immediately after the Tyler Smith incident, though the Vols weren't exactly a .500 team.
This suspension, however justified, apparently had the opposite impact.
"We put our heads down," said sophomore guard Ricky Taylor, who hit just 3 of 12 shots.
"Our mental ability in this game was not there," said point guard Keegan Bell, who hit just 3 of 11 shots. "We came out with no urgency on the defensive end."
Added senior captain Ty Patterson, "I think we just sit back and wait to see what the oter team does, and you can't do that against good teams."
Problem is, Samford isn't even a good team. Yes, they're a difficult team to play because of their Princeton-style offense. As Shulman accurately noted, "It's like defending the Wishbone in football, it's completely different from what you usually see."
He's also right that last year's three-game sweep of Samford came with five UTC starters no longer around while the Bulldogs returned four starters this season.
Nevertheless, in three of their last four games, Samford had scored 15 points in the opening half against College of Charleston and trailed by 24, scored 18 points in the opening half against App State and trailed by 20 and scored 19 in the opening half against Western Carolina and trailed by 13.
Against UTC the Bulldogs scored 38 while shooting 52 percent from the field and 59 percent (10-of-17) from the 3-point line.
They finished with 15 triples, the 10th time this season that UTC as surrendered at least 10 3-pointers.
Even then, UTC had a chance. The Mocs pulled within 40-38 with 16:23 to play. Samford scored the next 14 points. Game over.
But the bigger question is whether or not this hugely perplexing season is over. Shulman said after the game that he wasn't yet sure if he would bring McKeither and his 9.4 points and 6.4 rebounds and Odem and his 8.0 ppg and 2.6 rebounds back against Furman on Saturday.
He did say, "I doubt it."
And that's what makes Shulman special, despite his 103-84 overall record.
As he said in the press release regarding the suspensions, "Basketball-wise, it is a disappointment to not have them in the lineup at this time. (But) we have an obligation in their growth off the court as young men. We ave to teach them to become accountable adults and that is my responsibility, and it is one I do not take lightly."
Unfortunately, the UTC fan base is beginning to take this team lightly. The official crowd of 3,031 was probably twice the real crowd. The student section began booing in the final two minutes, long after half the crowd had already headed home to presumably watch the Duke-North Carolina game, American Idol or the Weather Channel.
Even Shulman admitted during his postgame radio show, "I know my job isn't to mold young men -- it's to win basketball games. But hopefully, I'll mold some good men, too."
Hopefully, he'll get back to doing both before UTC decides it no longer wants him to do either.