If there is a positive for coach Matt McCall and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's basketball team after Thursday's disappointing showing, it's that there won't be very much time to dwell on it.
The Mocs' nine-game winning streak ended in Cullowhee, N.C., in a 67-61 Southern Conference loss to Western Carolina. It was a game marked by turnovers (46 total), with first-place UTC committing 18 in a first half in which it scored only 19 points.
The Mocs rallied, cutting the deficit to five in the final minutes, but could never get over the hump when they had opportunities to really put pressure on the Catamounts earlier in the second half.
"That game was lost in the first half," McCall said, citing the early turnover rate of one per minute. "To win on the road, you have to take care of the ball, and we didn't take care of the ball and they outrebounded us."
The Mocs (22-4, 11-2) were outboarded 32-31 and had 26 total turnovers. They'll play East Tennessee State in a televised contest at 4 p.m. today at Freedom Hall in Johnson City. The Bucs are 9-3 in the league and can draw even in the loss column with a win.
After an emotional two-week span that included road wins at Mercer and Samford, a 125-point eruption against The Citadel and big home victories over Wofford and Furman, the Mocs didn't produce that same energy against the Catamounts, who are 9-2 at home but 1-13 on the road. The crowd was announced at 1,982 - a season high for WCU - but lacked energy, something the Mocs typically thrive on when playing on the road.
Today's game in what promises to be a hostile environment - ETSU is planning a "Gold Out" - has gone from simply ending a grueling stretch of games to an almost must-have for the Mocs.
"Tonight showed there are some things we need to work on as a team," junior guard-forward Tre' McLean said after Thursday's loss. "It's good that we can put this behind us and go play on Saturday, but if we want to achieve greatness and be the team we want to be, we've got to get back to work."
Mocs out for now
With Selection Sunday three weeks away, the NCAA released its first "mock seeding," and it's not a Moc seeding.
David Worlock, the NCAA's director of media coordination/statistics, invites a select group of media members to NCAA headquarters as a "Mock Selection" committee. The group spent 16 hours over the course of two days putting together an NCAA men's tournament bracket from start to finish.
Kami Mattioli, college basketball editor for The Sporting News and one of the media members present, said UTC, Valparaiso, Seton Hall and Washington currently are the first four out of the NCAA tournament. Those four teams would be the No. 1 seeds in the National Invitation Tournament.
To save time, teams from automatic qualifying conferences - leagues that typically get only one NCAA bid - were chosen randomly.
The Mocs' defeat Thursday is considered their only "bad" loss of the season. Iowa State, Furman and Louisiana-Monroe, which is only 12-12 but 10-0 at home, provided UTC's other defeats. The Mocs own quality wins against Dayton and Georgia and swept Mercer, which the committee currently has representing the SoCon.
The fact that the Mocs' resume is getting dissected this much could bode well down the stretch of selecting at-large teams for the NCAA tournament. There's also the foolproof method for UTC to get in: winning the SoCon tournament.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.