The Chattanooga Mocs are ready for some home cooking. It’s been a long 5-game road swing. The last time the Mocs saw the Roundhouse faithful, they treated the masses to a thrashing of South Alabama. The next viewing is Sunday at 1 p.m.
Tough losses at Florida State and Western Carolina book-ended a strong fight at a nationally-ranked opponent before the squad capturing the 37th regular season tournament trophy since the program’s move to Division I (43rd season). The group won five games in November for just the third time in the team’s proud history.
The bright spots are fully evident.
Matt Ryan (14.7 ppg) and David Jean-Baptiste (13.9) lead the squad in scoring, while Rod Johnson, who sat out the loss at Western, is atop the rebounding leaderboard at 6.1 per game. Maurice Commander is the assist leader at 2.6 per contest with an assist/turnover ratio of 1.8.
The Mocs start the non-conference stretch run with a visit today from Tennessee Wesleyan. The Bulldogs come to the Scenic City as a historic rival. They're 4-5 so far not counting this Saturday's AAC matchup at Truett McConnell. This is their third exhibition game (at Lee, L, 74-55 & at Carson-Newman, L, 103-70).
It’s also the start of a run of holiday ticket offers connecting the Mocs with the community. Sunday’s game features a Teddy Bear toss with fans getting buy one, get one free tickets when donating a stuffed animal for a local child in need this holiday season. Fans loft the fuzzy bundles of love onto the court at halftime.