There was probably plenty of reasons for Lamont Paris to be unhappy about what he saw from his University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball team Monday night at Tennessee Tech.
A game after knocking down 13 3-pointers, the Mocs could only make three. Shooting inside the arc wasn't much better, as UTC made only 31% of its attempts.
But this isn't the year to complain about a win. And a win is what the Mocs walked away with, using a late 14-2 run to pull away for a 62-54 win over the Golden Eagles in Cookeville to improve to 2-0 on the season.
"We manufactured some stuff," Paris said postgame. "It wasn't beautiful, but we manufactured some things, just to get some points on the board when we needed and we got some stops and we rebounded by committee.
"I was frustrated by our overall performance. I just thought we would play better basketball than that, but from a rhythm and timing standpoint, it's been a weird year. So we're fortunate to come out with a win on the road, and those are always good no matter what."
' Now comes another long break: it was five days in between the Mocs' season-opening win against Lander on Nov. 25 and Monday's game against Tech, and it will now be a week until they play again, as a Dec. 6 date against Middle Tennessee State has been moved back a day to Dec. 7, to accommodate MTSU's home football game against Alabama-Birmingham, which was moved to Sunday.
The Mocs played Monday's game without sophomore forward Prosper Obidiebube, who suffered a poke in the eye in the Lander game, and they lost A.J. Caldwell in the first half of Monday's game after taking an elbow to the head.
Here are three next-day observations from the win.
* Went small: The primary lineup in the second half consisted of three guards - Malachi Smith, David Jean-Baptiste and Trey Doomes, wing Jamaal Walker and big Stefan Kenic. Walker's length and ability to guard multiple positions gives the Mocs a number of ways to use him, and Paris played him at a forward position in the second half, giving the Mocs defensive versatility. It also gave the team some more freedom offensively, as Doomes was able to find some driving lanes while Jean-Baptiste and Smith had room to create. Kenic, who can play inside and out, had a big basket inside and made four key free throws to help put the game away.
* Board control: One would think that going small may have had an adverse affect on the Mocs, especially coming off a half where the Mocs were outrebounded by seven. But Smith and Kenic combined for 12 rebounds in the second half, and UTC was able to control the glass at a 22-16 margin to lose that battle by one for the game (41-40). The swing in rebounds, and 13-for-15 free-throw shooting in the second half (compared to 5 of 11 for Tech) made the difference in the final margin.
* Technical support: People can point to numerous times throughout history to see instances of coaches receiving technical fouls that ultimately ignited their teams. Maybe that was the case with 4:57 to play in the game, when Paris received one after arguing that a foul should have been called on a Kenic shot attempt inside. The Mocs trailed by two at the time of the technical, a deficit that grew to 52-48 after the two ensuing free throws by Tech guard Keishawn Davidson. But it was also the last points the Golden Eagles would score until a meaningless layup with 10 seconds to play, as UTC outscored the home team 14-2
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.