The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball Mocs played their two best games of the season the last time they were at home on the hardwood of McKenzie Arena.
Their last home stand snapped a four-game losing streak.
After Southern Conference losses last week at the College of Charleston and The Citadel, UTC (13-12, 5-7) is back at home to face Samford (9-15, 3-9) tonight at 7.
"You walk out there in front of some of these fans, and sometimes it ain't so friendly," UTC coach John Shulman joked. "It is good for our kids because we need to be back home.
"We played great against Western Carolina and App State in here. We played good enough to win the league."
That UTC squad that beat the two teams ahead of it in the North Division standings must have missed the bus to Charleston.
The Mocs played only eight good minutes against the Cougars -- after they were down by 29 and Charleston eased up -- and just good enough to be close in the end against the Bulldogs.
"This is a good opportunity to get some wins, get the fans back behind us, because they're probably a little upset with us right now," said UTC sophomore Chris Early, who had 19 points and 10 rebounds in 34 minutes during the recent trip. "Nobody has said anything negative to me, but some friends have told me that they want us to bounce back."
The Mocs are 4-2 at home in SoCon contests and 1-5 away. The road win was at Georgia Southern, which has only three SoCon wins this season.
"I'm not saying we're a home team, but we play well at home," senior captain Ty Patterson said. "It's tough for anybody on the road. You have to be mentally tough. You can't feed off anybody but yourself."
McKenzie is home sweet home to the Mocs. They're 4-2 against SoCon teams in the Roundhouse and 10-3 overall, with the one nonconference home loss coming to then-15th-ranked Georgia Tech.
"Being home gives you energy and you don't feel like you're on an island, where on the road it can feel like that," Mocs point guard Keegan Bell said. "I think on the road we get distracted; maybe our minds aren't into it as much.
"But we'll be fine."
Samford will test the Mocs' minds and patience as much as their basketball skill. The Bulldogs run the rare Princeton offense under coach Jimmy Tillette, who suffered a seizure on the bench at UNC Greensboro and missed a week of coaching duties to recover.
He directs an old-school system that milks the shot clock, involves sneaky back-cuts and wears down a defense before getting a layup or open jumper.
It's the wishbone of basketball, and UTC is sure to lose the time-of-possession battle.
But it's not entirely new to the Mocs. Richmond and Eastern Kentucky used a blood relative of the Princeton system to beat UTC by a combined 35 points earlier this season.
"They're a team you have to be mentally prepared for, and I'm used to it because I played it for many years of my life," Bell said. "Playing Richmond and Eastern will help us because they ran the same stuff."
And it can only help that the Mocs will hear cheers instead of jeers.