SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas --- The nine-day, four-game road trip is halfway through for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball team as it is now in South Padre Island, Texas for the tournament portion of the South Padre Island Invitational. The Mocs (2-2) will face the University of Texas-Pan American (0-5) in the first round of their bracket on Friday at 3:30 p.m.
Chattanooga dropped its first two games in the preliminary rounds of the event at Richmond and Missouri before travelling on to South Padre Island. The young team is trying to find its stride in the first road action of the season.
Despite the lop-sided loss at Missouri (99-56), the Mocs did draw some positives from the game. One was, although execution was lacking, the effort was not and the opportunity for positive results are a little better than playing an Elite 8 team from 2009 in Missouri, and one of the top teams in the always tough Atlantic 10 in Richmond.
UTPA is 0-5 on the year with losses at Missouri (100-44) and Mississippi State (75-50) in the preliminary rounds of the tournament. The Broncs are led by Luis Valera, 6-7 senior forward, averaging 8.4 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.
The other half of the Mocs’ bracket includes Longwood and Bethune-Cookman. Longwood is currently 0-5 after a 17-14 slate in 2009 with wins over James Madison and George Washington. BCC is 1-3 this season, while finishing 17-16 last season.
The winners on Friday will play each other at 3 p.m., while the losers play at 12:30 p.m.
WHO: Dante Harvey. Dante returned from an MCL sprain on Tuesday night at Missouri and got a chance to get his legs under him. In 17 minutes, he did not score, but he did grab three rebounds and looks to be back in form playing at the three.
WHAT: Chattanooga (2-2) vs. Texas-Pan American (0-5). UTC will play either Bethune-Cookman or Longwood in the final round. If the Mocs win, they will play at 3 p.m. (EST), a loss will put them in the 12:30 p.m. (EST) time slot.
WHEN: Friday, Nov. 27, 3:30 p.m. (EST) in the South Padre Island Convention Center (2,000)
WHERE: The game will be broadcast on the Mocs Sports Network with Jim Reynolds calling the play-by-play. It can be listened to locally on ESPN 105.1 FM and worldwide on GoMocs.com. Fans can watch online on FCS Broadband and should receive the Mocs play-by-play call. The cost is $8 per game and fans can access through the button on GoMocs.com.
HOW: In an interesting mix of teams, the Mocs bracket includes two teams with long-standing conference ties in Chattanooga (SoCon) and Bethune-Cookman (MEAC). UTPA joined the Great West Conference in 2008 which includes North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah Valley, Houston Baptist, NJIT and Chicago State. Longwood is a DI Independent that moved to DI in 2007-08.
SERIES: The Mocs will be meeting the Broncs for the first time. It will also be the first meeting with either Bethune-Cookman or Longwood.
QUOTABLE: “We have to be more worried about us and what we do than the other teams. It’s important for us to find our identity and find it fast. We beat a good East Tennessee State team and I guess figured we had arrived. Richmond and Missouri cleared that up pretty quickly. I believe in this team and its ability to get where we want to go.” – Head Coach John Shulman
PROBABLE STARTERS: F – Ricky Taylor, So. (7.5 ppg, 2.8 rpg); F – Ridge McKeither, Jr. (13.3 ppg, 8.5 rpg); C – Jeremy Saffore, Jr. (8.0 ppg, 5.3 rpg); G – Keegan Bell, So. (10.5 ppg, 4.8 apg); G – Josh Odem, Fr. (11.5 ppg, 2.8 rpg).