UTC 7-footer Thomas Smallwood hopes to stand out in games as well

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Thomas Smallwood is hard to miss at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

Between his 7-foot frame making him the tallest person on the school's campus or the fact that his preferred method of transportation is a bike, the former Alabama-Birmingham basketball player sticks out.

"When I got to Birmingham, I didn't have much money, so I saved up," Smallwood said recently. "I figured it wasn't worth (getting a car); everything was close, and here it's the same way, so I figured it was just as easy to bike."

He's also been very visible since arriving in Chattanooga. He attended a Chattanooga Football Club match this summer. He also threw out the first pitch for the Lookouts, has visited a number of swimming holes and paddleboarded with the team. He is doing an internship at the Chattanooga Zoo three times a week.

The hope is that he can similarly be a visible part of the Mocs' basketball team due to his play.

Smallwood became the program's first graduate transfer when he made the decision to come to the school in April after three seasons at UAB. He played in 36 games with the Blazers, including a freshman season in which he averaged 3.9 points and 1.9 rebounds in just under five minutes per game, making 46 percent of his shots from 3-point range.

"It's been great," Smallwood said of his time at UTC. "It's always a pleasure to talk with (coach Lamont) Paris and the staff. It's fun to pick their brains of how they see us playing basketball, how they see the system we need to play and what they think of the team."

Smallwood is one of seven 2018-19 players who weren't with the program a season ago, so they've played a lot of pickup basketball to get acclimated to each other and figure out each other's strengths, weaknesses and how they like to play.

It's also helped the team start to develop a level of chemistry, although that hasn't been tested yet.

"We have a pretty good mix of young guys, halfway guys and a couple that have been around a little longer," Smallwood said. "Jerry (Johnson) and I have to be aware that the young guys look up to us to see how it's supposed to be done. We're pretty close, but it's also the first few weeks and nothing has been tough yet. We haven't been challenged, so when we start to think we may be close, things start getting tough with conditioning and practice getting harder.

"When guys start getting yelled at, we'll see how close we are and see who can take it."

But for now, Smallwood is just thankful for one final opportunity to play.

"I like it here," he said. "I'm looking forward to getting things started."

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.

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