In the long, proud history of University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball, it would be tough to find a more productive point guard than Casey Long. Actually, it would be impossible since Long is the only Moc to finish his career with more than 1,000 points, 450 rebounds and 350 assists.
But the second-year Murray State assistant coach freely admits he may have met his match regarding Racers sophomore point guard Ja Morant.
Asked Monday afternoon if he thought he could win a one-on-one matchup with the high-flying, high-scoring Morant, who is projected to be the overall No. 2 pick in the June NBA draft behind Duke's Zion Williamson, Long replied: "My heart tells me 'yes,' but he's really good."
Morant certainly looked good over the weekend in making sure Murray State would become the first team in the country to be guaranteed a spot in the NCAA tournament thanks to its 77-65 victory over Belmont in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament championship game.
Including a semifinal win over Jacksonville State, Morant scored a total of 65 points in the two games, handed out 11 assists and played all 80 minutes.
"Ja is a walking (ESPN) 'SportsCenter' highlight," Long said. "He's supremely talented. A magnet of positive energy. You can build a culture around him."
How talented is Morant, who's averaging 24.6 points, 10 assists and 5.5 rebounds a game?
When Long led the Mocs to the 2005 NCAA tournament, UTC faced Wake Forest and future NBA All-Star Chris Paul in the opening round. Fourteen years later, Paul has been the 2006 Rookie of the Year and the 2013 NBA All-Star Game MVP, has scored over 17,000 points and passed for more than 9,000 assists and currently earns $24 million a season with the Houston Rockets, not including whatever he's paid for all those clever State Farm commercials he appears in.
That said, Long isn't averse to favorably comparing the two as collegians.
"I knew Chris personally from when we were both playing high school ball in North Carolina," Long said. "They're both tremendous leaders and they're both extremely competitive. Chris willed Wake Forest to a lot of victories, and Ja has done the same for us."
Where they're not so similar is how they win those games.
"Chris was very methodical. Ja blocks shots as well as he dunks. He's very athletic. It's tough to deal with a guy who can jump 40-something inches above the ground."
Fourteen springs ago, Long was symbolically floating 14 feet above the ground when the Mocs knocked off UNC Greensboro inside McKenzie Arena to return to the NCAA tourney for the first time since the Sweet 16 run of 1997.
"I can still vividly remember every detail of how we won," Long said. "Big C (Charles Anderson) taking that charge. Ricky (Hood) coming off the bench to play so well defensively. Mindaugas (Katelynas) flying everywhere. We were in the Southern Conference title game three of my four years, but that was the year we won. It created a forever bond for the players and Coach (John) Shulman."
Anderson's drawn charge on UNC Greensboro star Ricky Hickman was more than the play that saved the victory, according to Long.
"We were a defense-first, low-scoring team," he recalled. "If Charles doesn't draw that charge, if they call a block, we would have been behind and we might have lost. But that play epitomized our team. Coach Shulman emphasized defense, so it was fitting we won on a defensive play."
In improving to 27-4 for the season, Murray State has won with both offense and defense. And the Racers could be a nightmare draw come March Madness, given that two of their four losses came by six points at Alabama (78-72) and five points at Auburn (93-88).
"We've learned to win when we score a lot of points, but also when we don't," Long said. "There aren't a lot of two-way players out there (equally focused on offense and defense), but Ja's one of them. And his attitude makes everybody on our team better."
There have been better days for college basketball than the three or four just past. The indefinitely suspension of former UTC coach Will Wade for supposedly arranging to pay players to come to LSU personally stings Long more than most. Wade kept Long on staff when he took the Mocs job in 2013, then brought Long with him for two seasons at Virginia Commonwealth.
"I was shocked," Long said when asked about the Wade mess. "But I haven't had time to read a word about it. All my focus this past weekend was on helping us win the OVC tournament. I just hope that (LSU) story doesn't take too much attention away from all the great stories out there about players such as Ja. This is their time to shine."
Or at least it was in 2005 for Long and his scrappy Mocs teammates.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com