The Chattanooga Mocs play their second return game of the 2019-20 season, first in Southern Conference play Wednesday night at Samford. The Mocs swept non-conference opponent Troy earlier this year and start a quartet of back end of home-and-home league matchups with the Bulldogs.
Chattanooga is 13-8 on the campaign, 4-4 in the SoCon lurking in a tie for sixth with Mercer. The top seven teams are separated by a mere three games nearing the mid-point of the conference season. Top six earn first round byes at the SoCon Championships in Asheville.
Matt Ryan continues to pace the Mocs scoring ledger at 14.1 points per contest.
Seven average 5.1 or better with David Jean-Baptiste (13.2) and Ramon Vila (11.6) joining Ryan in double figures, with Vila pacing an ever-increasing rebounding effort at 5.6 per game.
Samford joins the proceedings at 8-14, 2-6 in league play. It features one of the leading guards in league play in dynamic point guard Josh Sharkey. He's 18.0 points, 7.7 assists and 3.0 steals per game. He leads the league in the latter two stats with his five steals in the first matchup tying for an opponent high this year. Brandon Austin adds a 14.0 scoring average shooting an impressive 42.3 percent from 3pt range.
The Mocs are on a strong shooting run over the last seven games making 50.0 percent overall (170-340) and 41.8 percent (56-134) beyond the arc. That’s led by Vila and reserve wing A.J. Caldwell. Vila's made six or more FG in five straight shooting 62.1 percent (36-58). Caldwell is on a tear over the last five games shooting 81.0 percent (17-21) overall including 72.7 percent (8-11) from three-point range. He's averaging 9.0 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.6 assists per contest over that span.
The 7:30 p.m., Eastern time, tipoff in the Hanna Center is on ESPN+ as well over the airwaves locally on WFLI 1070 AM/97.7 FM and the TuneIn app. The Mocs return home Saturday hosting three of the next four against Western Carolina (Feb. 1), ETSU (Feb. 5) and VMI (Feb. 12). The Catamounts contest is reunion weekend with the greats of the Mocs past returning to the Roundhouse.