It is a crowded stretch of games as the regular season winds down for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball team. Chattanooga (13-14/5-9) plays four games in eight days beginning at Samford (10-16/4-10) Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. (EST).
The Mocs are in third place in the Southern Conference North Division by a half-game over Elon and a full game over Samford. Following Saturday’s contest, Chattanooga hosts Davidson on Monday (7 p.m.) in its home finale before a weekend trip to Appalachian State (2/25) and Western Carolina (2/27).
Senior Ty Patterson's 15.4 point-per-game average leads the Mocs. He chips in 5.0 rebounds, which is second on the team, and makes 3.3 three-pointers per game shooting 38.4 percent from beyond the arc. He has scored in double figures in eight straight games averaging 17.1 points and 5.4 rebounds per game over that span.
Samford is led by a trio of double-digit scorers paced by Josh Davis’ 12.8 points per game. Trey Montgomery and Bryan Friday contribute 10.8 and 10.2 points per contest, respectively. Montgomery also leads the Bulldogs with 74 assists and 33 steals.
WHO: Keegan Bell. Bell is second in the SoCon in assists averaging 4.6 per contest. Against Furman, Keegan had 14 points, seven assists (one turnover), three rebounds and three steals. In his last four games, Bell has 19 assists and six turnovers for a 3.2:1 ratio.
WHAT: Chattanooga (13-14/5-9) at Samford (10-16/4-10). Chattanooga holds a 45-33 series lead against Samford, winning 10 of the last 11 meetings. The Mocs won all three meetings in 2008-09, Samford's first season in the SoCon. The last Samford home win was Feb. 21, 1974 (87-77). Samford won the first contest this season 78-54 10 days prior (2/10) in Chattanooga.
WHEN: Saturday, Feb. 20, 3 p.m. (ET) in the Hanna Center (5,000).
WHERE: Chattanooga games are 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 where fans can watch select games online. All non-televised home events are available via Chattanooga All-Access.
HOW: The Chattanooga athletics department in conjunction with the Student Government Association (SGA) is giving out free t-shirts to the first 250 students at Monday night's home finale against Davidson. The SGA is also providing students free food for around 300 students beginning when the gates open at 6 p.m.
PROBABLE STARTERS: F –Ty Patterson, Sr. (15.4, 5.0); F – Chris Early, So. (4.4 ppg, 3.1 rpg); C – Jeremy Saffore, Jr. (6.2 ppg, 3.3 rpg); G – Keegan Bell, So. (7.3 ppg, 4.6 apg); G – Ricky Taylor, So., (11.0, 3.5).