The Chattanooga Mocs and ETSU Bucs meet for the first time this season Saturday in Johnson City. It's the 89th all-time between the fierce rivals. That rivalry is born out of the sheer number of times one side stood in the way of the other for the Southern Conference crown.
Since joining the league in 1977-78, the Mocs have won more titles than any other program with 30 championships (11 regular season, 11 tournament, 8 division), while the Bucs rank third with 15 (4/7/4). All-time, UTC is second with its 30 and ETSU is tied for fourth with North Carolina.
Just two games separate the top six teams in the league standings.
ETSU leads at 6-1 with Furman (6-2) a half-game back in second. UNC Greensboro and Wofford (5-2) are tied for third ahead of the Mocs and Western Carolina (4-3) in fifth. That's also two games shy of the midpoint in the slate so there's a lot to happen over the next 11 games.
Matt Ryan (14.4 ppg), David Jean-Baptiste (13.4) and Ramon Vila (11.4) lead the Scenic City contingent. Tray Boyd III (13.4) comes off the bench to pace the Bucs along with Bo Hodges (12.8).
Chattanooga leads the Southern Conference in defensive rebound percentage (.758). ETSU is the best on the offensive glass (.346). Often times, overall leaders build a resume against lesser competition. These numbers continue to bear their weight in league games only with the Mocs .764 leading defensively and the Bucs .320 No. 1 on the offensive side.
Senior wing Jonathan Scott leads the SoCon in 3pt shooting at 46.9 percent. He's made 12 of his last 23 (52.2%). The Bucs Jeromy Rodriguez is the league's most accurate shooter to date at 64.7 percent. He's also the most offensive rebounder at 3.0 per game.
The 4 p.m., tipoff in Freedom Hall is on ESPN+ as well over the airwaves locally on WFLI 1070 AM/97.7 FM and the TuneIn app.