Chattanooga announces men’s 2021-22 basketball slate

New season set to begin in Los Angeles

The Chattanooga Mocs men’s basketball program and head coach Lamont Paris have announced the upcoming 2021-22 schedule, set to begin Nov. 9 on the road in Los Angeles, Calif., at West Coast Conference-member Loyola Marymount.

Chattanooga will play 15 home games (six non-conference, nine in-conference) inside McKenzie Arena that opens on Nov. 14 against Tennessee Tech. UTC hosts the non-conference likes of TTU, UNC Asheville (Nov. 20), College of Charleston (Nov. 27) and MTSU (Dec. 22) in addition to non-DI opponents Covenant (Nov. 23) and Tennessee Wesleyan (Dec. 12).

The Mocs first road game following the California trip will be inside the famed Siegel Center on Saturday, Nov. 20 against perennial mid-major power VCU. UTC takes in-state trips to Tennessee Tech (Nov. 30), Lipscomb (Dec. 5) and Belmont (Dec. 15) while visiting out-of-state opponents UNC Asheville (Dec. 8) and Murray State (Dec. 18).

Chattanooga will open its run for a Southern Conference regular season title at home against rival ETSU on Dec. 29 before consecutive road games at Mercer (Jan. 1) and Wofford (Jan. 5). The Mocs will play home games against The Citadel on Jan. 8 and Furman on Jan. 15 with a road trip to Western Carolina on Jan. 12 sandwiched in the middle.

Four of the next five games will be away from McKenzie Arena which kicks off with back-to-back road contests at UNCG (Jan. 20) and VMI (Jan. 22). Wofford visits the Roundhouse on Jan. 26 ahead of trips to The Citadel (Jan. 29) and Samford (Feb. 2).

Chattanooga closes the regular season SoCon slate with five of its final seven games at home. The lone road games will be at Furman on Feb. 12 and ETSU on Feb. 23. Home opponents and dates include Mercer (Feb. 5), Western Carolina (Feb. 9), UNCG (Feb. 17), VMI (Feb. 19) and Samford (Feb. 26) in the finale.

Chattanooga will host NCAA Division III member College of Wooster (Ohio) in an exhibition game inside McKenzie on Nov. 4. UTC head coach Lamont Paris graduated from College of Wooster in 1996 following an all-conference playing career from 1993-96.

The Mocs return a heavily experienced lineup to the floor in 2021-22, led by the all-SoCon backcourt duo of Malachi Smith and David Jean-Baptiste. Smith (16.8 ppg) and Jean-Baptiste (16.1 ppg) led the team in scoring last season and return to UTC after testing NBA Draft waters in the offseason.

Chattanooga scored a pair of experienced graduate transfer additions ahead of the season in power forward Silvio De Sousa (Kansas) and center Avery Diggs (UCF). Adding to the experience are returners Darius Banks, A.J. Caldwell, K.C. Hankton, and Jamaal Walker, all who averaged more than 23 minutes per game last season.

Season tickets for the upcoming 2021-22 season are available now and start at under $100. Single game tickets will go on sale October 1. The UTC Box Office inside McKenzie Arena operates 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Friday, and can be reached at (423) 266-MOCS (6627).

For more information, log on to GoMocs.com.