It’s been a long and winding road for the Chattanooga Mocs over the last week as the squad travels to UT Martin for the final contest in three in a row away from the Scenic City. The busy stretch comes within a compressed seven-day period.
Tuesday night’s matchup is an 8:30 p.m., Eastern time start. It broadcasts on ESPN+ with UT Martin’s radio team providing the call in a dual role. “Voice of the Mocs” Jim Reynolds can be found on 96.1 FM in Chattanooga and online on GoMocs.com or on the TuneIn app.
The Mocs are on an offensive upswing over the last five games with 70 or more points in each.
The 81.4 scoring average is nearly 15 points per game better than the squad posted over the opening seven contests (66.7). An uptick in ball movement is a key factor along with better shot-making which can be attributed to…you guessed it, better ball movement.
The Gig City lads have dished out 94 assists over the last five, an average of 18.8 per game, with no fewer than 17 in an appearance. That’s led to a surge in ball control. The assist-to-turnover ratio over the past five? 1.3. Prior seven? 0.8.
Two Mocs are on a serious hot streak. David Jean-Baptiste reached double figures in each of those five games we just talked about. His averages over that span are 16.4 points and 3.4 assists shooting 56.9 percent (33-58) from the floor including 46.2 percent from 3pt range (12-26).
Jonathan Scott is on an impressive run as well. After starting the year 2-for-11 from 3pt range (18.2%), the junior from Colorado has made 11 of 16 (68.8%) over the last three with three apiece against VMI and at Ole Miss sandwiching a career-best five at Georgia State. The team as a whole is shooting 42.2 percent (54/128) from beyond the arc over the last four games making 11 or more every time out during the stretch.
UT Martin is 4-4 with wins over Cumberland, Western Illinois, UNC Asheville and Brescia, all coming in a 4-0 home slate. The Skyhawks losses occurred at Western Kentucky, Mercer, Tulane and ETSU where they led at the half.
Former Citadel guard Preston Parks leads UTM at 13.8 points per game. Derek Hawthorne, Jr., adds 13.3 points and a team-best 5.6 boards per contest. The Skyhawks scoring average is 94.5 in the Elam Center, 89.5 against DI competition.