University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's basketball coach Lamont Paris was curious to see how his team would respond in its first game since Saturday's 20-point loss at UNC Greensboro.
It didn't take long for the answer.
The Mocs led throughout against The Citadel, turning a 12-point halftime lead into 26 in the first four minutes of the second half and cruising to a 92-69 win Wednesday at McKenzie Arena, the team's eighth win in nine home games this season.
UTC (13-7, 4-3 Southern Conference) had five scorers in double figures, led by 17 points from junior Ramon Vila, who was also a big part of the Mocs' 45-31 edge in rebounds with seven. David Jean-Baptiste and Matt Ryan added 12 points each, with reserves A.J. Caldwell and Stefan Kenic contributing 11 apiece as part of a 39-29 edge in bench points.
"It's nice to see," Paris said of the bounce-back win. "I have a tremendous amount of confidence in these guys. It's a sign of potential growth. Is it real? We won't know that until we do it consistently."
The Citadel (6-12, 0-7), the highest-scoring team in the SoCon, stayed within shouting distance in the first half, using back-to-back 3-pointers from Kaiden Rice and three free throws from Rudy Fitzgibbons to make it a 43-36 game with 2:44 left in the period.
The Mocs, though, ended the half with 3-pointers from Jean-Baptiste and Ryan to get the lead back to 12 entering the break. A 16-2 run to start the second half pushed the lead to 26 and ended any upset hopes for the Bulldogs.
WEDNESDAY'S STAR
The UTC bench gets the nod after accounting for 39 points, led by Caldwell and Kenic on 8-of-11 combined shooting. The reserves also contributed 17 rebounds - six from Kenic - seven assists and three blocked shots, with all three by Justin Brown. Maybe even more importantly, none of the starters had to play 30 minutes, and with a potentially grueling game Saturday at East Tennessee State University, the rest could prove valuable.
STANDOUT STAT
69. The Bulldogs came in averaging a league-best 81 points per game and were right on track to get there after a 40-point first half. However, the UTC defense - at Paris' request - turned up the aggressiveness in the second half. The Bulldogs had only 59 points with just more than two minutes to play when Paris emptied his bench.
TURNING POINT
The Mocs never trailed, but the lead hovered between eight and 12 for the majority of the first half. That was taken care of with a sizzling start to the second. UTC went 6-of-7 from the floor during the 16-2 run that provided ample cushion against the high-scoring visitors.
WHAT IT MEANS
The Mocs took care of business and proved once again they will be a difficult team to beat at home. While the Bulldogs came in winless in league play, they have one of the better offenses in the SoCon and gave Paris and his staff some new things to work on defensively after exploiting the Mocs inside. Having those liabilities exposed could be valuable, too, ahead of the visit to ETSU.
QUOTABLE
Paris on trying to translate home success to road games: "I'm trying to get that figured out. If we could get a little bit of that on the road, we could already have a couple of different outcomes. The biggest part is we're making shots better (at home). Road wins are hard to come by, but that's just the way it is in college basketball."
Caldwell on the Mocs' second-half defense: "All week, Coach told us The Citadel gets out in transition and plays fast and can score a lot of points. For us to have that 12-point lead and then to kind of squash that bug in the second half was big. When our defense is playing like that it really helps our offense."
Kenic on second-half adjustments: "They have shot the most 3s in the league and they play really fast in transition, so we knew if we wanted to win we had to stop them in transition. We did that in the second half. We built a wall with our defense, so it was hard for them to score in the second half."
NOTABLE
Wednesday was the fifth time the Mocs have held at least a 28-point lead this season over a Division I opponent. Samford, Alabama State, Wofford and South Alabama were the others. ... UTC's staff sported matching Adidas Superstar sneakers during the game as part of the NCAA Coaches vs. Cancer Week. ... The Mocs' 62 wins over The Citadel are their most against any SoCon opponent. ... Jean-Baptiste has made multiple 3-pointers in seven consecutive games
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6296. Follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.