For college basketball teams outside the power conferences, there are only so many opportunities for program-changing wins - the moments when all of the elements are in place: a nationally televised game bringing extra eyes, a great home crowd, a quality opponent.
Those were all there Saturday afternoon for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men as the Mocs hosted Furman in a game shown on the CBS Sports Network. The student section was solid, the overall crowd atmosphere at McKenzie Arena delivered, and the Paladins' presence as a quality opponent brought the chance for a quality win.
For the first time in a long time - perhaps not since the 2015-16 season - the Mocs delivered in such a situation, with a pair of Malachi Smith free throws the difference in a 71-69 win in front of 3,607. It was UTC's largest home crowd since 4,553 witnessed a 77-64 loss to East Tennessee State University on Feb. 2, 2019, and for the first time in a while, the Mocs had a big home game that allowed their fans to go home happy.
They saw Smith go for 17 of his 21 points in the second half. They saw Grant Ledford play his best game in a UTC uniform with 13 points. They saw Darius Banks score seven points, grab five rebounds and hand out five assists while guarding Furman's Mike Bothwell, who was limited to 15 points on 5-for-12 shooting.
They saw UTC improve to 14-4 overall and 4-1 in the Southern Conference, just three days after a surprising 70-59 loss at Western Carolina.
"A game like this allows us to look at what we could have done better," Smith said Saturday. "We didn't even play our best, and this is a team that we're going to see again. Close games like this, you're going to need to say you've been there before. We were down five and we didn't quit, and if the situation comes again down the line, we'll be ready."
Furman (12-7, 4-2) led 38-33 at halftime and rallied from eight down to lead 69-67 with a minute and a half to go before Smith scored the final four points.
In UTC's fifth season under coach Lamont Paris, the Mocs continue building back up to the on-court success and good feelings that characterized two seasons under Will Wade from 2013-15 and the first 20 months under Matt McCall, when attendance was up. Paris, 74-7 overall at UTC, has gone from 10 wins in his debut campaign, to 12, to 20, to 18 in a pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season, with his winning percentage rising each year.
The Mocs visit UNC Greensboro (10-7, 2-3) at 7 p.m. Thursday and play at Virginia Military Institute two days after that before their next home game, Jan. 26 against Wofford.
Had UTC not won Saturday, the loss would have gone beyond the court because it would have caused some of the excitement around the program to fizzle. The casual fan would likely look for something else to do instead of watching this team play.
"Sometimes, you get all these ingredients together, all the circumstances come together, and then it's nice when you can capitalize on that thing too, right?" Paris said. "Because you could also have all those things coming together, and then go out and play poorly and lay an egg or have a flat game or something that's not exciting, and people said, 'I told you. I'm never going back to that game again.'
"I think it's vitally important. I think the crowd and the atmosphere here is a huge step in catapulting us into sustained high-level success. We haven't won the conference since I've been here, so we're not there, and we're trying to get there, and we need that group to be coming along for the ride and helping push us when we need to be pushed."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.