The Chattanooga Mocs return to McKenzie Arena for three straight at home in Southern Conference play. It starts this weekend with Western Carolina and ETSU visiting.
Western Carolina enters Thursday night’s game on an upswing. The Catamounts started the year 1-5 but are 4-3 over the last seven including wins over Appalachian State and UNC Asheville. They began SoCon play Saturday with their first road win of the year, 81-79 at The Citadel.
ETSU won eight of nine heading into Thursday’s game at Samford.
The lone loss over that stretch was a 68-66 heart-breaker at Xavier. The Bucs opened conference play with a 74-55 win over preseason favorite Mercer in Macon.
The Mocs look to bounce back from back-to-back losses bookending the holiday break. The squad shot just 32.7 percent (37-113) in the meetings with Georgia State and Samford. More troubling, they allowed the Panthers and Bulldogs to make 61 percent (61-100).
The Catamounts and Bucs are two of the Mocs oldest rivals. This is the 90th meeting with Western and 83rd with ETSU. The top 5 in school history:
1) Samford: 95 (57-38)
2) Western Carolina: 89 (65-24)
3) ETSU: 82 (47-35)
tie) Furman: 82 (54-28)
5) The Citadel: 79 (62-17)
Thursday night’s game is Alumni Night for the doubleheader with the ladies facing UNCG. Special $8 ticket for both games for student section seating for alums to relive the past. Free t-shirts for the first 100 alums buying the package, call (423) 425-5740 to order.
Saturday is Gold Rush night with fans encouraged to wear gold to the game along with a t-shirt giveaway. America’s favorite dunk team AcroDunk performs at halftime.