Mocs earn tight win at Samford
Lamont Paris didn’t have to provide much encouragement for A.J. Caldwell to work on his free throws.
Caldwell’s mom Denene took care of that for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball coach.
“She was just texting me every day: ‘Shoot more free throws. Shoot more free throws,’” Caldwell said after the Mocs’ 70-64 Southern Confrence win Wednesday night at Samford. “She didn’t care about anything else, if I was eating dinner or anything. It was ‘shoot more free throws.’”
Caldwell knocked down his only two foul shots — his first makes of the season — and finished with 10 points as the Mocs (12-4, 3-4) won a tight battle with the Bulldogs (6-8, 2-5) at the Pete Hanna Center in Birmingham, Alabama.
However, Paris had implored Caldwell to do something earlier in the week: Be more aggressive, and Caldwell listened to that as well, knocking down a pair of 3-pointers after the Bulldogs had gone on a 12-0 run early in the second half.
The Mocs welcomed K.C. Hankton back from injury for their most complete lineup since beating Tennessee Tech on Nov. 30 in their second game of the season. There is still one key player, Mark Tikhonenko, missing from the rotation, but the additions of Hankton and Darius Banks have softened the loss of the 6-foot-9 junior, and those two players were vital for UTC in the second half.
Banks scored half of his 12 points via free throws. Hankton, Caldwell and freshman Jamaal Walker, who was awarded a scholarship Monday, were all part of the closing unit on the court as the Bulldogs furiously attempted to come back.
Malachi Smith led the Mocs with 16 points, adding nine rebounds, and David Jean-Baptiste matched Banks with 12 points, including a big 3 late. Stefan Kenic was limited to eight points but knocked down a 3 from the corner to put the Mocs ahead 55-52 with 4:33 to play.
Samford’s scoring was paced by Logan Dye (13), Preston Parks (12) and A.J. Staton-McCray (11).
The Mocs host UNC Greensboro at noon Saturday, the first game of a doubleheader with the UTC women hosting Samford at 5.
MOCS STAR
Hankton didn’t dominate in any fashion, but nobody for UTC really did. The Mocs still outscored Samford 44-29 during his 20-plus minutes of game action and were outscored by nine in the time he didn’t play. A big reason for that was his versatility on the defensive end.
KEY STATS
The Mocs scored 25 points off 20 Samford turnovers, while the Bulldogs — one of the nation’s fastest teams — forced only 14 UTC miscues which directly led to 12 points. The plus-13 edge was a key in the game.
TURNING POINT
The Bulldogs got hot early in the second half, with Dye dunking and scoring another basket in the paint, which had him flexing at the crowd as Samford’s lead stretched to 38-32. The Mocs responded with a run of their own, led by the two Caldwell 3s (and the free throws) that brought the momentum back to UTC.
QUOTABLE
“If we can keep this group of guys that we have in uniform right now healthy and ready to roll for the rest of the way, I would have no complaints from a personnel standpoint.” — Paris
“Tonight was the first time since November that I made a decision that had to do with how a guy was playing or how fatigued he was.” — Paris
“I think if we stick with what we have, we’re going to be in good shape.” — Smith
FINAL THOUGHT
We’ve seen a glimpse of what this UTC team could be. This was the first time this season Paris was able to use this eight-player rotation, and no Moc played more than 34 minutes, with coaches able to make rotations based off fatigue and performance. It will take a couple games for Paris to get the rotations how he wants them and for the team to jel, but this group a fair amount of potential to be in the thick of things late.