The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) was founded in 1886 as private and racially exclusive Chattanooga University, which merged in 1889 with Grant Memorial University (now Tennessee Wesleyan) becoming the Chattanooga campus of U.S. Grant Memorial University. In 1907, name change to the University of Chattanooga, which in 1969 joined the UT system becoming the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
UTC occupies 321 urban acres, enrolls 11,638 (10,239 undergrad), $147M endowment, USN&WR No. 315 public school
Famous alumni include Actors Hugh Beaumont (Ward Cleaver), Dennis Haskins (Mr. Belding -Saved by the Bell), Leslie Jordan (Emmy winner, comedian, singer), Chemist Irvine Grote inventor of active ingredient in Rolaids & Bufferin, NFL HOFer Terrell Owens, AFL All-Star Boston Patriot Charlie Long, NY Knick Gerald Wilkins (brother of Dominique)
UTC Athletics: NCAA Div I, Southern Conference (The Citadel, ETSU, Furman, Mercer, UNC Greenville, Samford, VMI, Wofford, WCU). 7 NCAA Titles: 6 Women’s Tennis, 1977 Men’s Basketball D2 National Championship. 26 NCAA individual titles: 19 Women’s Tennis, 6 Wrestling, Men’s Tennis
Colors – Navy & old gold, Nickname – Mocs (since 1996, was Moccasins), fight song - Fight Chattanooga, Mascot – a water moccasin in 1920’s, a moccasin shoe in 1960’s-70’s, Chief Moccanooga until 1996, now Scrappy the Moc, dressed as a RR engineer, a reference to Chattanooga’s history as a RR hub and the song Chattanooga Choo Choo
Basketball started 1915 (1443-1161, .554), 1977 (Div 2) National Champions, 1976 runner-up, 2 Final Fours, 2 Elite Eights, 4 Sweet Sixteen’s, 17 NCAA appearances (last 2022), 14 Conf. championships, 12 conf. tournament championships. 4 NBA draft picks (Russ Schoene (1982 Rd 2), Willie White (1984 Rd 2), Gerald Wilkins (1985 Rd 2), Johnny Taylor (1997 Rd 1)). UDFA Matt Ryan 2020, currently playing in NBA.
Winningest coaches: Mack McCarthy 243-122, .666, John Shulman 145-146, .498, Ron Shumate 139-61, .695
Current - Dan Earl (3rd season) 39-29, .574
Currently: 0-0, first game of season for both teams
All-time: SC leads 1-0, 2008 Puerto Rico Tip-off 73-46 W (Taj Gibson 17 pts, 15 rebs, 5 blks, Dwight Lewis 16 pts, DeMar DeRozan 13 pts, Daniel Hackett 10 pts, 9 assts, Leonard Washington 9 pts, 12 rebs)
UTC NET n/a, KenPom 151, SC NET n/a, KenPom 44
UTC Scores: 78.2 ppg (+6.6), 46.6% FG, 35.9% 3FG, 10.6 3’s/g, 74.5% FT. Rebounds 36.5 pg (+2.2), Assists 13.5 pg, TOs 11.9 pg (-1.5), Steals 6.3 pg, Blks 3.7 pg
UTC Leaders (last season):
UTC Scoring: Honor Huff 17.4 ppg (43.4% FG, 38% 3FG, 82.8% FT), Trey Bonham 16.0 ppg (48.4% FG, 41.3% 3FG. 84% FT).
UTC Rebounding: Bonham 5.0, Assists –Bonham 3.6, Huff 2.6; Steals – Bonham 2.4 stpg, Huff 1.7, Blks – n/a
SC scoring (last season N/A – all new team)
SC Leaders (from last season’s schools)
Pregame
I am the only one with a Muss Bus T-shirt in the Founder’s Room. Assistant Coach Todd Lee is guest speaker. Lee’s relationship with Muss spans 30+ yrs. He was on his Rapid City Thrillers staff from 1992-94 after 3 yrs as asst to legendary USD coach Hank Egan, who was Muss’ coach with the Toreros. He next was an asst coach at CSUB, UCI, head coach at Kentucky Wesleyan, asst at GCU and then head coach of the South Dakota Coyotes (2-time Summit League COY and finalist for National COY) for 4 yrs. In 2023 joined Muss’ Arkansas staff and followed him to SC.
Lee provided a scout on UTC- Mocs won 21 games last season, beat Louisville in opener, shoot a ton of 3’s and run a Princeton offense with a lot of backdoor action. PG Bonham is the pre-season conference POY pick and shooting guard Hoff led the conference in scoring last season and attempted 9 threes/game. UTC is picked 2nd in the Southern Conference.
Muss has set a goal of 5 made 3s against the Mocs who over the last 5 yrs have been top 3 in the nation in 3-pt attempts. In a lighter moment, Lee tells the crowd that if they want to have some fun to watch Muss’ expression any time the Mocs sink a 3, he lives or dies with every possession haha. The way to lose to a mid-major school is to give up 3’s, so they are going to try to take away the 3-pt game. They will also attempt to ‘pressure the QB’ in the Princeton offense and stop their ability to play make with their backdoor cuts.
Lee says that Muss’ teams have consistently been Top 5 in FTA’s (free throw attempts) and will drive to the rim to pick up fouls and get to the line. This is a hallmark of his teams. They had 33 FTAs in the Gonzaga exhibition.
They recognize that their disadvantage is lack of a true center. Their advantage is the size and length of the guards. They think they can post up against the small Moc guards and defend the 3 effectively.
SC will use the same starters as the Gonzaga game, with the possible exception of Terrence Williams II. T-Will is having back spasms and is a game-time decision.
The Game
On the way to the arena a guy asks where I got the shirt, I replied ‘USCBasketball.com’ (free endorsement -hah) and he says ‘I know, I write the practice reports for the site.’ I say ‘are you Sky Lam” and he says he is (Looking happy or surprised to be recognized for his work). Entering the arena, the crowd is a very small, 3294 announced, unfortunately a typical SC crowd for a bball game during football season vs a non-marquee team. This needs to change when the B1G schools come visit us. We can’t let it be their home game!
Very few media are present and no NBA scouts (although 22 scouts have reportedly shown up at SC practices in Muss’ time). Former PG Jaque Hill is here. I spy Mama Agbo (who will be happy that Chibuzo was SC’s top scorer) and T.O. behind the Mocs bench.
After a well done hype video, featuring a real Muss Bus, the man himself enters.
SC sends out a starting line-up of:
G Desmond Claude (Xavier)
G Chibuzo Agbo (Boise St)
F Jalen Shelley for T-Will (FR out of Little Elm, TX)
F Saint Thomas (Northern Colo)
C Josh Cohen (UMass)
After the first game nerves, the teams settled down to play and I am finding myself buying into this team and its frenetic head coach. These guys go hard all of the time, they don’t take plays off and they play a stifling brand of team defense (forced 4 shot clock violations). They play D for every second of every possession! They communicate, keep their hands up, switch on screens, they get in the face of shooters. I absolutely love it. This team dubbed by Muss as ‘sewer rats’ is ready to scrape and claw their way to relevance in the B1G and nationally. I am already thinking Big Dance – too soon?
Offensively, this team of players who were “the guy” at their previous schools plays with a single purpose and without ego. They share the ball freely, getting 21 assists in this game. They all just want to win, get to post-season and advance.
Scoring was balanced with 7 players scoring at least 8 pts, and Agbo 14 (4-9 3FGs) and Matt Knowling 13 (off the bench with 6-6 FGs), in double figures. Fun fact: Knowling (Yale) and Clark Slajchert (Penn) are the first Ivy leaguers Muss has ever recruited, and he was inspired by the success Lindsay Gottlieb had with her Ivy League “nerds” McKenzie Forbes (Harvard), Kayla Padilla (Penn), Kaitlyn Davis (Columbia).
SC holds a 32-22 half-time lead. UTC shot 8-27 FG (29.6%), 2-15 3FG (13.3%) – on track to meet Muss’ goal! 4-4 FT (100%). SC shot 13-30 FG (43.3%), 3-12 3FG (25%), 3-3 FT (100%).
In the 2nd half SC stretched its lead and shut down UTC’s shooters. Trey Bonham was held to 6 pts (1-10 FG, 0-5 3FG, 4-4 FT). Honor Huff hit 5 threes for a game high 17 pts but it took 15 shots. Still, great perimeter defense (6-34 on 3s,17.6%). UTC shot 25.9% FG in the 2nd half to finish at 27.8% for the game.
SC turned up their offense and shot 55.9% FG to finish the game 32-64 FG (50%). The strange thing is that SC only shot 7 FTs for the game (5-7, 71.4%) surely the lowest mark of any game Muss has coached. So that is one thing to work on, the other would be rebounding, as the Mocs were able to grab 13 offensive rebs, which led to 11 second chance points.
After playing an up-tempo game against the Zags and scoring 96 pts, SC had 0 fastbreak pts and scored 77 pts in the 77-51 victory. They did force 16 TOs while committing only 9. They dominated in the paint with 34 pts to 16 for UTC and the roster depth showed with a whopping 41 bench pts, 30 more than the Mocs.
Replying to a “we want Hornery chant” from Harry’s closest friends haha, Muss summoned the new crowd favorite for a 4 min run. He knocked down a 3-ptr and grabbed a reb.
Three players saw their first collegiate action. Wesley Yates, UW xfer, showed out. Plays with confidence and scores from all three levels, despite a bit of a quirky looking shot. He played 21 min. scoring 9 pts (4-8 FG, 1-4 3FG), with 3 rebs, 3 asst, 2 stls. Jalen Shelley got the start, but after shooting 0-3 played only 9 minutes. Isaiah Elohim was impressive scoring 8 pts (4-6 FG) and grabbing 3 rebs in 13 min. These 3 players along with the injured Kevin Patton are the only sure returners next season. Desmond Claude has another year of eligibility but has a choice on whether to opt into the draft.
This game showed how Muss wants his team to play and they will only get better, especially after T-Will returns to the line-up.
Next up: Idaho State Bengals from the Big Sky Conference on Thursday at 7pm at Galen Center. The Bengals (0-1) are coming off a 55-48 loss to ASU in Tempe.
Fight On! Beat the Bengals!
UTC occupies 321 urban acres, enrolls 11,638 (10,239 undergrad), $147M endowment, USN&WR No. 315 public school
Famous alumni include Actors Hugh Beaumont (Ward Cleaver), Dennis Haskins (Mr. Belding -Saved by the Bell), Leslie Jordan (Emmy winner, comedian, singer), Chemist Irvine Grote inventor of active ingredient in Rolaids & Bufferin, NFL HOFer Terrell Owens, AFL All-Star Boston Patriot Charlie Long, NY Knick Gerald Wilkins (brother of Dominique)
UTC Athletics: NCAA Div I, Southern Conference (The Citadel, ETSU, Furman, Mercer, UNC Greenville, Samford, VMI, Wofford, WCU). 7 NCAA Titles: 6 Women’s Tennis, 1977 Men’s Basketball D2 National Championship. 26 NCAA individual titles: 19 Women’s Tennis, 6 Wrestling, Men’s Tennis
Colors – Navy & old gold, Nickname – Mocs (since 1996, was Moccasins), fight song - Fight Chattanooga, Mascot – a water moccasin in 1920’s, a moccasin shoe in 1960’s-70’s, Chief Moccanooga until 1996, now Scrappy the Moc, dressed as a RR engineer, a reference to Chattanooga’s history as a RR hub and the song Chattanooga Choo Choo
Basketball started 1915 (1443-1161, .554), 1977 (Div 2) National Champions, 1976 runner-up, 2 Final Fours, 2 Elite Eights, 4 Sweet Sixteen’s, 17 NCAA appearances (last 2022), 14 Conf. championships, 12 conf. tournament championships. 4 NBA draft picks (Russ Schoene (1982 Rd 2), Willie White (1984 Rd 2), Gerald Wilkins (1985 Rd 2), Johnny Taylor (1997 Rd 1)). UDFA Matt Ryan 2020, currently playing in NBA.
Winningest coaches: Mack McCarthy 243-122, .666, John Shulman 145-146, .498, Ron Shumate 139-61, .695
Current - Dan Earl (3rd season) 39-29, .574
Currently: 0-0, first game of season for both teams
All-time: SC leads 1-0, 2008 Puerto Rico Tip-off 73-46 W (Taj Gibson 17 pts, 15 rebs, 5 blks, Dwight Lewis 16 pts, DeMar DeRozan 13 pts, Daniel Hackett 10 pts, 9 assts, Leonard Washington 9 pts, 12 rebs)
UTC NET n/a, KenPom 151, SC NET n/a, KenPom 44
UTC Scores: 78.2 ppg (+6.6), 46.6% FG, 35.9% 3FG, 10.6 3’s/g, 74.5% FT. Rebounds 36.5 pg (+2.2), Assists 13.5 pg, TOs 11.9 pg (-1.5), Steals 6.3 pg, Blks 3.7 pg
UTC Leaders (last season):
UTC Scoring: Honor Huff 17.4 ppg (43.4% FG, 38% 3FG, 82.8% FT), Trey Bonham 16.0 ppg (48.4% FG, 41.3% 3FG. 84% FT).
UTC Rebounding: Bonham 5.0, Assists –Bonham 3.6, Huff 2.6; Steals – Bonham 2.4 stpg, Huff 1.7, Blks – n/a
SC scoring (last season N/A – all new team)
SC Leaders (from last season’s schools)
PregameI am the only one with a Muss Bus T-shirt in the Founder’s Room. Assistant Coach Todd Lee is guest speaker. Lee’s relationship with Muss spans 30+ yrs. He was on his Rapid City Thrillers staff from 1992-94 after 3 yrs as asst to legendary USD coach Hank Egan, who was Muss’ coach with the Toreros. He next was an asst coach at CSUB, UCI, head coach at Kentucky Wesleyan, asst at GCU and then head coach of the South Dakota Coyotes (2-time Summit League COY and finalist for National COY) for 4 yrs. In 2023 joined Muss’ Arkansas staff and followed him to SC.
Lee provided a scout on UTC- Mocs won 21 games last season, beat Louisville in opener, shoot a ton of 3’s and run a Princeton offense with a lot of backdoor action. PG Bonham is the pre-season conference POY pick and shooting guard Hoff led the conference in scoring last season and attempted 9 threes/game. UTC is picked 2nd in the Southern Conference.
Muss has set a goal of 5 made 3s against the Mocs who over the last 5 yrs have been top 3 in the nation in 3-pt attempts. In a lighter moment, Lee tells the crowd that if they want to have some fun to watch Muss’ expression any time the Mocs sink a 3, he lives or dies with every possession haha. The way to lose to a mid-major school is to give up 3’s, so they are going to try to take away the 3-pt game. They will also attempt to ‘pressure the QB’ in the Princeton offense and stop their ability to play make with their backdoor cuts.
Lee says that Muss’ teams have consistently been Top 5 in FTA’s (free throw attempts) and will drive to the rim to pick up fouls and get to the line. This is a hallmark of his teams. They had 33 FTAs in the Gonzaga exhibition.
They recognize that their disadvantage is lack of a true center. Their advantage is the size and length of the guards. They think they can post up against the small Moc guards and defend the 3 effectively.
SC will use the same starters as the Gonzaga game, with the possible exception of Terrence Williams II. T-Will is having back spasms and is a game-time decision.
The Game
On the way to the arena a guy asks where I got the shirt, I replied ‘USCBasketball.com’ (free endorsement -hah) and he says ‘I know, I write the practice reports for the site.’ I say ‘are you Sky Lam” and he says he is (Looking happy or surprised to be recognized for his work). Entering the arena, the crowd is a very small, 3294 announced, unfortunately a typical SC crowd for a bball game during football season vs a non-marquee team. This needs to change when the B1G schools come visit us. We can’t let it be their home game!
Very few media are present and no NBA scouts (although 22 scouts have reportedly shown up at SC practices in Muss’ time). Former PG Jaque Hill is here. I spy Mama Agbo (who will be happy that Chibuzo was SC’s top scorer) and T.O. behind the Mocs bench.
After a well done hype video, featuring a real Muss Bus, the man himself enters.
SC sends out a starting line-up of:
G Desmond Claude (Xavier)
G Chibuzo Agbo (Boise St)
F Jalen Shelley for T-Will (FR out of Little Elm, TX)
F Saint Thomas (Northern Colo)
C Josh Cohen (UMass)
After the first game nerves, the teams settled down to play and I am finding myself buying into this team and its frenetic head coach. These guys go hard all of the time, they don’t take plays off and they play a stifling brand of team defense (forced 4 shot clock violations). They play D for every second of every possession! They communicate, keep their hands up, switch on screens, they get in the face of shooters. I absolutely love it. This team dubbed by Muss as ‘sewer rats’ is ready to scrape and claw their way to relevance in the B1G and nationally. I am already thinking Big Dance – too soon?
Offensively, this team of players who were “the guy” at their previous schools plays with a single purpose and without ego. They share the ball freely, getting 21 assists in this game. They all just want to win, get to post-season and advance.
Scoring was balanced with 7 players scoring at least 8 pts, and Agbo 14 (4-9 3FGs) and Matt Knowling 13 (off the bench with 6-6 FGs), in double figures. Fun fact: Knowling (Yale) and Clark Slajchert (Penn) are the first Ivy leaguers Muss has ever recruited, and he was inspired by the success Lindsay Gottlieb had with her Ivy League “nerds” McKenzie Forbes (Harvard), Kayla Padilla (Penn), Kaitlyn Davis (Columbia).
SC holds a 32-22 half-time lead. UTC shot 8-27 FG (29.6%), 2-15 3FG (13.3%) – on track to meet Muss’ goal! 4-4 FT (100%). SC shot 13-30 FG (43.3%), 3-12 3FG (25%), 3-3 FT (100%).
In the 2nd half SC stretched its lead and shut down UTC’s shooters. Trey Bonham was held to 6 pts (1-10 FG, 0-5 3FG, 4-4 FT). Honor Huff hit 5 threes for a game high 17 pts but it took 15 shots. Still, great perimeter defense (6-34 on 3s,17.6%). UTC shot 25.9% FG in the 2nd half to finish at 27.8% for the game.
SC turned up their offense and shot 55.9% FG to finish the game 32-64 FG (50%). The strange thing is that SC only shot 7 FTs for the game (5-7, 71.4%) surely the lowest mark of any game Muss has coached. So that is one thing to work on, the other would be rebounding, as the Mocs were able to grab 13 offensive rebs, which led to 11 second chance points.
After playing an up-tempo game against the Zags and scoring 96 pts, SC had 0 fastbreak pts and scored 77 pts in the 77-51 victory. They did force 16 TOs while committing only 9. They dominated in the paint with 34 pts to 16 for UTC and the roster depth showed with a whopping 41 bench pts, 30 more than the Mocs.
Replying to a “we want Hornery chant” from Harry’s closest friends haha, Muss summoned the new crowd favorite for a 4 min run. He knocked down a 3-ptr and grabbed a reb.
Three players saw their first collegiate action. Wesley Yates, UW xfer, showed out. Plays with confidence and scores from all three levels, despite a bit of a quirky looking shot. He played 21 min. scoring 9 pts (4-8 FG, 1-4 3FG), with 3 rebs, 3 asst, 2 stls. Jalen Shelley got the start, but after shooting 0-3 played only 9 minutes. Isaiah Elohim was impressive scoring 8 pts (4-6 FG) and grabbing 3 rebs in 13 min. These 3 players along with the injured Kevin Patton are the only sure returners next season. Desmond Claude has another year of eligibility but has a choice on whether to opt into the draft.
This game showed how Muss wants his team to play and they will only get better, especially after T-Will returns to the line-up.
Next up: Idaho State Bengals from the Big Sky Conference on Thursday at 7pm at Galen Center. The Bengals (0-1) are coming off a 55-48 loss to ASU in Tempe.
Fight On! Beat the Bengals!
