The Chattanooga Mocs men's basketball team suffered from early shooting woes and couldn't eliminate a 14-point halftime deficit during an 82-68 loss at Lipscomb during non-conference action on Wednesday afternoon inside Allen Arena in Nashville, Tenn.
Following the defeat, Chattanooga drops to 5-2 on the season. It was the first time since November 20, 2019 (L, 53-89 at Florida State) that UTC has dropped a non-conference game by more than 12 points. Lipscomb improved to 6-3 on the year following consecutive wins over SoCon opponents (Wofford).
"At times, I don't think we handled that [cold shooting] and adversity very well.
Whether it was a missed shot, a turnover, getting driven to the basket, we did not respond well to the adversity of the game," said head coach Dan Earl following the game.
"It was more than just not making shots, though. We did not play well. We have a choice now to learn from it and get better, or not. We have to look forward to getting more confident as a group."
Lipscomb opened the game with a 7-3 lead at the first media timeout following an 0-of-6 start from the field for the Chattanooga offense. UTC continued to struggle from the field, starting 1-of-12 including an 0-of-7 mark from deep, before Sean Cusano's first collegiate bucket made it 12-9 with an even 12:00 left in the opening half.
After the Bisons grabbed a 17-14 lead on a successful and-one conversion, Rudy Fitzgibbons III knocked down a three at the shot clock buzzer to lock things up with 8:32 left on the first half board. The Bisons went on a quick 6-0 run after a 19-19 deadlock to build a 25-19 lead before a Tyler Millin triple ended the run and made it 25-22 at the 5:13 mark.
The Millin three would just be a drop in the bucket during Lipscomb's run as the hosts ended the opening half on a 16-5 run which led to a sizable 41-27 edge at the break, the largest deficit at the half for the Mocs since 12/15/21 (at Belmont, 39-23). UTC finished the opening 20 minutes shooting just 7-of-29 (24.1%) from the field including a 4-of-16 (25.0%) mark from deep while turning the ball over seven times in the process.
A fast-scoring start for both teams in the second half saw Lipscomb continue to push its lead, 51-34, at the first media timeout (15:49). The Bisons kept controlling the game over the next four-plus minutes, 55-39, with 11:37 remaining in the game despite suffering from a two-plus minute scoring drought.
The Bisons lead stretched to as much as 28 (77-49) at the 5:32 point of the second half before Chattanooga ultimately ended the contest on a 19-5 run to calculate the 82-68 final. The Mocs never held a lead in the contest and only experienced three tied scenarios, all occurring early in the first half.
RECORDS/SERIES – Chattanooga 5-2 · Lipscomb 6-3 · Series: Lipscomb currently leads the all-time series 19-12.
NEXT UP – at Morehead State – Sunday, Dec. 3 – 4:00 p.m. ET – Morehead, Ky. (Johnson Arena) – ESPN+