Malachi Smith sat in front of members of the media, the sophomore guard having been thrust into a leadership position for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's basketball team moments after Saturday's workmanlike 81-63 win over NCAA Division II member North Georgia.
Smith was tasked with summarizing the thoughts of the Mocs after the surprising exit of senior guard David Jean-Baptiste.
"It's going to take the entire team," Smith said. "We still have to be confident in ourselves and know that one person doesn't define the team."
The good news for the Mocs is they are 6-0 for the first time in the program's Division I era after controlling the matchup against the Nighthawks, the Dahlonega program that had already dropped exhibitions against Mercer, 79-48, and Georgia, 82-64. The bad news is UTC coach Lamont Paris is currently down to eight available players.
Jean-Baptiste chose to put his name in the NCAA transfer portal after Wednesday's win at Bellarmine, a decision that was made official Saturday. The lone holdover from previous head coach Matt McCall's second recruiting class played all four seasons under Paris, having redshirted as a freshman under McCall.
The 6-foot-1, 194-pound guard from Miami, a preseason All-Southern Conference selection, has already graduated and is looking for a new opportunity to finish his college basketball career. He still has one year of eligibility due to the NCAA giving all basketball players an additional year to play due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
His decision apparently caught everyone off guard. Jean-Baptiste was leading the team in points (18.0 per game) and shots (81), and he finished his UTC career with 1,015 points, recently becoming the 34th member of the program's 1,000-point club and moving ahead of both Greg Andrews (1968-71) and Ashley Champion (2002-04) on its list of all-time scorers. He also recently became the 12th player in program history to top 150 career 3-pointers.
"It came as a surprise to me, just with how the year's gone, his decision to come back knowing that this was, in theory, his last year of eligibility," Paris said. "I don't know the complete reasons; we talked and it sounds like there are some nonbasketball things that are certainly involved in it.
"I love the kid. But that's where he is in his current state."
UTC senior forward Stefan Kenic scored a game-high 23 points, while Smith continued to stuff the stat sheet with 19 points and 13 rebounds. A.J. Caldwell had 15 points for the second consecutive game, and Trey Doomes added 11 with a team-high four assists. Jamaal Walker, who took over Jean-Baptiste's starting spot, finished with six points in 36 minutes, second only to Smith's 37.
For North Georgia, which trailed 48-24 at halftime, Malik Hardy and Kody Shubert each scored 13 points and Zach Brown added 12.
The Mocs host UNC-Asheville on Wednesday before road matchups against Alabama-Birmingham on Dec. 19 and Tennessee State on Dec. 22.
Mocs star
Smith leads the SoCon and is in the top 10 nationally at 11.5 rebounds per game, but with Jean-Baptiste out, he had to assume a far bigger role as the team's primary ball handler. He made solid decisions throughout and affected the game on both ends of the court, with the Mocs outscoring the Nighthawks by 21 points during his minutes.
Key stats
The Mocs shot 67% from the field in the first half and played nearly flawless basketball, making six 3s while scoring 21 points off 11 North Georgia turnovers. That made the second half more of a formality, although the Nighthawks attempted to make things interesting late.
Turning point
That came early as UTC went on a 23-3 run after the Nighthawks had scored the first two points of the game.
Quotable
"I'm one of the oldest guys here, and I've got to lead this team. Malachi and A.J. and I, we know what this program is about." - Kenic on how his role might change
Final thought
It's going to be easy to write this UTC team off after it lost a 1,000-point scorer. Remember, though, the Mocs are playing without junior forward Mark Tikhonenko, who has missed the past four games due to being out of the country dealing with visa and passport issues. In addition, two players currently sitting out - James Madison transfer guard/forward Darius Banks, a 1,000-point scorer in three seasons with the Dukes, and Saint Louis transfer forward K.C. Hankton - are expected to be available as soon as Wednesday because the NCAA is reportedly moving to grant all transfers immediate eligibility. Finally, it's easy to forget that sophomore guard/forward Grant Ledford, who was in the mix to start this season, was injured prior to the opener but will be back in a couple of weeks. Sure, it stinks to lose Jean-Baptiste, who became a fan favorite after so many others had transferred out of the program over the years, but once all the pieces have a little time to mesh, the Mocs will be fine.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.