Uch on the Road: A Mocs Blog

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Fresh thoughts and observations from the Mocs' 92-85 overtime loss at Samford:

Opening tip

Will Wade could see this coming.

The first-year UTC coach has had enough of being soft, giving extra days off during the week and allowing a little more lollygagging.

With each game as UTC's winning streak increased, I could see Wade getting on the players more often for things he let slip early in the season.

Not anymore.

His postgame news conference lasted all of about 90 seconds. The two writers here didn't see much point in exacerbating his foul mood.

I spied

• The Blue and Gold can travel. There were certainly more than 50 Mocs backers -- maybe more than 100 -- sitting behind UTC's bench.

• Footer. Jeremy "Footer" Saffore caught most of the game. He said he drove from Nashville and saw the UTC women's team win in Chattanooga before driving down here.

• A new wrinkle. I'm not sure exactly what I saw. But the Mocs played three defensive possessions of a half-court trap that I hadn't seen yet this season.

Stats STAT!

The Mocs grabbed nine offensive rebounds in the first half. They had one through the first 13 minutes of the second half and finished with 15.

The improved free-throw shooting that I wrote about in Friday's newspaper disappeared. UTC went 20-of-31 from the stripe.

The Bulldogs held Zaccheus Mason to nine points. The only other games in which he had single digits were at Davidson, at Georgia and at Radford. UTC's results in those games: loss, loss, loss.

Lights out

And the Samford officials have dimmed the lights in the arena. I think it's a sign.

Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP

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