STATS | NOTES | QUOTES | PHOTOS | ABOUT CHATTANOOGA BASKETBALL
CHATTANOOGA---The Chattanooga Mocs claimed their first Southern Conference win of the season toppling visiting Samford 73-68 in McKenzie Arena. Four Mocs reached double figures as the squad got back to its normal defensive ways.
David Jean-Baptiste scored 22 to lead the way which was one more than Malachi Smith's 21. A.J. Caldwell narrowly averted a triple-double with 11 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. Josh Ayeni contributed 10 points. Myron Gordon's 18 paced the Bulldogs.
The Mocs gave up season highs in points over the first two SoCon outings with 77 last Wednesday to Furman followed by 84 at VMI. Tonight's 68 is the eight time with less than 70 allowed out of 12 starts with an 8-0 mark in those cases and 2-2 with 70 or more.
"I thought we did a good job defensively," Coach Lamont Paris noted. "I looked down at the stat sheet at halftime, and they only had two transition points, which for them is a big part of what they do. We held them close to 20 points or so below their average. That's more of what we're trying to get done defensively."
Jean-Baptiste was huge early, and Smith took over late. DJB scored 16 of his 22 in the first half, while Smith registered 13 in the final 6:59 of play.
Samford cut the Mocs seven-point advantage to two, 59-57, on a Gordon three-point play at 7:08. Smith stopped the spurt with a three and then his drive into the paint at 6:19 got the led back to seven, 64-57. The Bulldogs scored the next six points to get back within one on Christian Guess' hook at 2:46.
Smith and Triston Chambers traded threes before Smith got back in the lane for a three-point lead, 69-66, with just 1:44 to go. Samford scraped and clawed its way back to a one-point game after Gordon's short jumper with 1:08 to go.
The Mocs were clinical from there. Caldwell drove and scored a strong, floating jumper inside the free throw line. Gordon was fouled inside 20 seconds but missed both free throws. Caldwell boarded the second and got it to Smith who welcomed the foul with 16 seconds to go. He stepped to the line and hit both ends of the one-plus-one to secure the final.
This is the second straight game the Mocs were limited to eight student-athletes on the bench and playing just seven. Paris was quick to highlight the work of Coach Tyler Dobratz in athletic performance and Brenda Paider in sports medicine.
"The one success I had tonight, no one played 40 minutes," Paris shared. "They have done a phenomenal job. These guys have worked very hard in the offseason. Before we were even allowed to touch a basketball with the workouts we were doing, they made a huge commitment along with the strength and conditioning staff, the trainers, to be in the best condition we have ever been."
The Mocs are back on the road this weekend at The Citadel. Saturday's tipoff is at 1 p.m., in Charleston airing on ESPN+ and over the airwaves in Chattanooga via WFLI 97.7 FM and 1070 AM. Links for video, audio and live stats for each contest is located on the men's basketball schedule page.
RECORDS
Chattanooga 10-2/1-2 | Samford 5-5/1-2
QUOTABLE
"There's skills, abilities, and all of that, but there's another thing that allows you to perform in those circumstances. You can't buy that in the stores, it's hard to describe it. You don't just have it, you have to get it from certain situations. He believes in himself and he knows we believe in him. He has a lot of confidence in those situations. It's nice to have a lot of guys you trust to touch the ball at the end of the game. To have three or four of those guys, you feel really confident. We have a lot of guys we trust in that situation." – Lamont Paris on clutch play of Malachi Smith down the stretch
"I think after watching film, we were talking more, communicating, being more aggressive. They're a fast-paced team and held them 20 points under their average. We were discipline and solid. We did our roles and we lacked that last game. Coach made an emphasis on that coming into this game." – Smith on the defensive play
"Anytime you have 21 assists on however many field goals, it's good to see the ball moving. You get a lot of guys open and we have a lot of guys who can knock them down. Dave getting hot early was big and they started paying attention to him and opened Malachi a little bit. I just benefited off of that." – A.J. Caldwell on the team's assist season high
Check out all we heard at the link above.
3 NOTES TO KNOW
- David Jean-Baptiste started the day in 30th at UTC in scoring with 1,062 career points. His 22 moved him into a tie with Gary Stitch in 26th (1,084) bypassing Johnny Taylor (1,070), Stephen McDowell (1,075) and James Jones (1,081). Ronrico White is 25th with 1,100.
- Jean-Baptiste's six 3pt made today vaulted him from a tie for ninth with Brandon Born (159) into seventh with 165. He passed Toot Young (160) and Keegan Bell (161). Wes Moore is sixth with 167, while Omar Wattad (168) holds down the fifth spot…for now.
- A.J Caldwell nearly posted the Mocs fourth triple-double and first since Bell on Dec. 3, 2011 at College of Charleston (12/10/10). Caldwell's 10 rebounds and eight assists were both career highs. He has 15 assists in two career starts against the Bulldogs.
Check out all the notables at the link above.
3 STATS TO KNOW
- 22 points tonight for David Jean-Baptiste gives him 51 over his last two. That's the highest in back-to-back games by a Moc since Nat Dixon in 2018 with 30 in the 2OT win over UNC Greensboro on Jan. 29 and 21 at Western Carolina on Feb. 1. DJB is averaging 23.0 ppg in SoCon play.
- Season-high 21 assists topping the 19 at Bellarmine on Dec. 9.
- 22 points scored on 16 Samford turnovers. +3 in TO margin (13/16) and +6 in points off turnovers (22/16).
Take a deeper dive into the numbers at the link above.
SERIES
- 104th meeting is the longest series against an opponent in school history…28 of those games are in Southern Conference play.
- 65-39 all-time against Samford, 41-12 in Chattanooga. The Mocs are 18-7 in regular season conference matchups with the Bulldogs.
- 16-1 in the Roundhouse vs. Samford.
SOCON SCOREBOARD
UNC Greensboro 84, at Wofford 75
Furman at Western Carolina, PPD
VMI at ETSU, PPD
Citadel at Mercer, PPD
NEXT 3 OPPONENTS
Jan. 9: at The Citadel, 1 p.m. | Current Record: 7-0/0-0 | Next Up: Chattanooga (Jan. 9)
Jan. 13: Mercer, 7 p.m. | Current Record: 7-3/0-2 | Next Up: at UNCG (Jan. 9)
Jan. 16: Wofford, 2 p.m. | Current Record: 5-4/2-1 | Next Up: at Chattanooga (Jan. 16)
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January 07, 2021 at 10:22AM
https://gomocs.com/news/2021/1/6/mens-basketball-mocs-post-73-68-win-over-samford.aspx
Men's Basketball Grabs a Hard-Fought SoCon Triumph - University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Athletics - GoMocs.com
https://news.google.com/search?q=hard&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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