The Chattanooga Mocs and UNC Greensboro Spartans end the regular season on Senior Day in the Roundhouse. The good guys honor their departing seniors Matt Ryan and Jonathan Scott playing for the final time in the regular season.
It’s not the final time these two schools plan to meet on a late winter Saturday. They’ll line up again at 8:30 p.m., in Harrah’s Cherokee Center Asheville for the Ingles Southern Conference Championship presented by General Shale. But first is this matchup in the Scenic City.
The Spartans won the first meeting 72-52 in mid-January.
The Mocs were held without a field goal over the final six-plus minutes breaking open a close contest. Ramon Vila led the Mocs with 15 points and five rebounds. The Spartans were paced by Isaiah Miller’s 26 points, five rebounds and three steals.
Chattanooga is coming off a 71-64 win at VMI Wednesday night, while the Spartans fell at home to Furman. Both teams feature nationally relevant players. Ramon Vila is 11th in the nation in FG percentage (62.0%) and Matt Ryan is 19th in FT percentage (88.3%), 55th in 3pt made/game (2.7) and 67th in percentage (35.9%) for the Mocs.
Isaiah Miller is sixth in steals at 2.7 per game and James Dickey 45th in rebounding (9.3 rpg) for the other side. UNCG leads all DI programs in turnover margin (6.7) and is fifth in steals (9.5) with the 17th stingiest defense (62.3 ppg).
The back-to-back matchups is not a first. Last time it happened was against Elon in 2007-08. The squad ended that season with a 57-56 road win on a late 3pt by Nicchaeus Doaks capturing the North Division crown that night before losing in the quarterfinals to the Phoenix 60-57 in North Charleston, S.C. Elon marched to the tournament title tilt eventually losing to Steph Curry's Davidson squad.
The regular season finale has a lucrative vibe with one fortunate soul’s challenge to win $25,000. The innovative "pick-a-spot" promotion makes its first appearance in the Roundhouse. The contestant picks one spot, anywhere on the court, to shoot for the $25k. The catch is they take two shots, one at each goal. Make them both, and they're the stuff of legends.
Ticket offers abound as well. Not only is it Sequatchie County Day with $10 lower level seats for our friends and neighbors there, it's also Leap Year Day. Fans can purchase two 300 level General Admission tickets for ONLY $9 or they can also purchase 4 Lower Level seats for ONLY $29. There's also the new "All You Can Eat" option.
The 4:30 p.m., tipoff in the Roundhouse airs on ESPN+ as well over the airwaves locally on WFLI 1070 AM/97.7 FM and the TuneIn app.