Chatman gives glimpse of bright future
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The future became the present for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball team during Wednesday night’s game at Samford.
And it looked pretty good. Rodney Chatman started in place of four-year starting point guard Greg Pryor, who was recovering from a concussion and didn’t make the trip to Samford. Chatman, a freshman, finished with 12 points, four rebounds and three assists in the Mocs’ 72-68 loss.
“I just thought of it as another game, another opportunity to get better,” Chatman said. “GP (Pryor) went down in practice, so I knew I had to step up. So I tried to not put nerves on myself, keep it simple, play for my teammates and everything would be all right.”
Chatman played 35 minutes and had only two turnovers, with the first coming when he lost a wet ball that led to a double-dribble. His second came on the final play of regulation when he attempted to drop a pass off to Justin Tuoyo for what would have been the game-winning layup. The ball was stolen. But before that, the 6-foot2 Chatman — 5-for-23 from 3-point range entering the game — made two 3s. He finished the game 2-for-5 from behind the arc.
“Rodney did a great job,” senior Tre’ McLean said. “We know what he’s capable of. Tonight he played awesome. He kept us in the game, kept us calm and kept us going. He did an unbelievable job.”
Chatman’s emergence is a welcome sign for a team that has lost five of its past nine games. If Pryor is forced to miss additional time due to the concussion, the Mocs believe they can count on the steady freshman until the senior can return.
“We just have to learn lessons from all the close games we’ve lost,” Chatman said. “I think we can do that. We’ve got a senior team that doesn’t want to go out any way other than winning the SoCon tournament, so everybody has to be collected and together.
“We start doing that by trusting each other and holding everybody accountable. That’s how we’ll get it done.”