Paris excited to have full roster
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball coach Lamont Paris has made official the addition of some valuable college experience to his already accumulated talent for the 2018-19 season.
Jonathan Scott, a wing who played the past two seasons at Otero Junior College, and University of Alabama at Birmingham graduate transfer Thomas Smallwood have signed with the Mocs, giving them eight new players on the roster next season.
Scott is a 6-foot-4 guard who averaged 12.0 points and 5.3 rebounds while shooting 47 percent from the floor and 44 percent from 3-point range while helping the La Junta, Colo., program to a 49-14 record in his two years. He was named to the National Junior College Athletic Association Region IX all-tournament team and helped Otero reach the national tournament this year.
He will have two seasons of eligibility remaining.
“Jonathan plays extremely hard,” Paris said in a UTC release. “He has good shooting ability and competes very hard on the defensive end, which is probably what I like most about him other than he’s a very mature young man. He’s very serious about being as good as he can be at basketball.
“He takes great pride in being a good defender. That’s a role we’ll likely ask him to perform.”
The 7-foot Smallwood — the first graduate transfer in school history — had his most productive season at UAB as a freshman under previous Blazers coach Jerod Haase, averaging 3.9 points, 1.9 rebounds and 4.7 minutes per game. He had his best performance of the season during Conference USA play, when he scored 13 points against Florida Atlantic.
He has some 3-point shooting ability, making nine in his three seasons at UAB. He was 6-for-13 from behind the arc as a freshman.
“Another experienced and mature guy,” Paris said. “I think that’ll be important for the locker room. Adding that size is the first thing that will strike you.
“Along with his size, he has good feel for the game. He’s comfortable handling and passing the ball and can make shots with range. I think he’s going to surprise — maybe even himself — with what he’s capable of doing.”
The Mocs went 10-23 this past season, Paris’s first at UTC, and had their depth challenged at times.
The former Wisconsin assistant started his time in Chattanooga by picking up Fairfield transfer guard Jerry Johnson, who will have two seasons remaining this year. He then added guards Maurice Commander and Donovann Toatley during the winter signing period before signing Arizona State transfer forward Ramon Vila, who will be eligible after the 208-19 first semester and have three seasons to play.
Paris signed forwards Kevin Easley and Keigan Kerby before the most recent additions.
“I think it’s nice to have a full roster,” Paris said. “With some of the additions we’ve made, we’ll have options that weren’t available last year, from playing bigger or smaller or more skilled. Overall, I’m happy with our skill.
“The guys coming back are more experienced with what we want to do, but I’m excited with adding more experience, more size where we needed it, more shooting ability where we needed, and overall, I love the versatility of this roster.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress. com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenleytfp.