Mocs see positives in slim win over Lee
Thursday wasn’t going to be a night to form any sweeping conclusions about the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball team.
Playing with eight healthy players against an upstart Lee University team that came in looking to pull off the upset, the exhibition game against the NCAA Division II Flames was more about process than results.
The next tests should be more difficult, as the Mocs open the regular season Tuesday at Charlotte — a young team like UTC — and host Eastern Kentucky the following Saturday.
“It was definitely a growing point for us,” UTC’s Jonathan Scott said. “It was a good test. We have to move on to Charlotte. This next game is way more important, but much props to Lee. They’re a good team and I think they played a lot better than we thought they’d play.”
The Flames jumped out to an eight-point lead and still led by five at halftime, but the Mocs’ defense stiffened in the second half, holding the visitors to 29 percent from the floor and one make in nine 3-point attempts. Still, it wasn’t until a Donovann Toatley layup with 2.5 seconds to play and a turnover on the Flames’ final possession that the Mocs were able to lock down the win.
UTC coach Lamont Paris liked a lot of what he saw from his eight players. At one point, the second-year head coach tried putting the 7-foot Thomas Smallwood on the floor alongside 6-11 Justin Brown. He tried a lineup with both freshman guards, Maurice Commander and Toatley. He had four freshmen on the floor along with junior Scott.
The play of the freshmen was a bright spot for the team. Brown, Commander, Toatley and Kevin Easley combined for 33 points in the win.
“I thought the freshmen handled it well. I did,” Paris said. “We had three of them on the floor on the very last play. There were
some really good things out there. Donovann specifically, that guy has been doing things like that his whole life. That’s something he can provide for this team.
“Throughout earlier stages of the game, he can do some of that stuff like break you down off the dribble. He had a very aggressive attack at the rim. He drove really hard, countered and finished. It was very similar to the stuff he practices. It was nice to see him be able to do that for the team.”
Paris also liked how the young team handled the deficits and a poor 3-point shooting performance — the Mocs were 7-for25, with some wide-open looks missed — that should bode well for the team going forward.
“We definitely feel like we
could build off this,” Toatley said. “Like Jon said, this was a growing point for us. Going through that adversity, even though it was an exhibition game, it was a backand-forth game. But Lee came out guns blazing. They were on fire. I don’t think they missed too much in the first half. We were off. We were giving up back doors.
“It felt like a real game — the energy and the atmosphere of the arena and the fans, what we were going through. I think this is a big turning point for us. Seeing what we can do as a team, as a collective unit when we stick together, we fight and never stop fighting, we could beat anybody.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.