Chattanooga Mocs Men’s Basketball Opens Season At USC On Monday Night

The Chattanooga Mocs men's basketball team will kick off its 2024-25 campaign in the national spotlight on Monday night with a prime-time matchup at Southern Cal inside the Galen Center in Los Angeles, Calif. The nationally televised tip-off is set for 10 p.m. ET on the Big Ten Network.

Chattanooga opens the season on the west coast for the second time in the past four campaigns after earning a victory over Loyola Marymount to open the 2021-22 slate. The Mocs will make it a two-game California stretch with perennial power St. Mary's (CA) on tap for Thursday night in Moraga.

SERIES DETAILS
All-Time: USC currently leads the all-time series 1-0
Last: USC – W, 73-46 – November 21, 2008 (San Juan, P.R.)

GAME NOTES
WEST COAST BOUND
Chattanooga opens its 2024-25 campaign with a pair of West Coast contests beginning in Los Angeles, Calif., against USC on opening night before making a trek northward to face perennial power St. Mary's (CA) on Thursday. UTC is 0-1 against the Trojans all-time with its only meeting coming back in 2008 at a neutral site in San Juan, P.R. It's the first-ever meeting with the Gaels.

PRESEASON EXPECTATIONS
Chattanooga was picked second in the Southern Conference Presea­son Coaches Poll after collecting a pair of first-place votes, trailing only defending league-champ Samford. The Mocs bowed out in the SoCon Tournament semifinal round last season with a heartbreaking overtime defeat to rival ETSU, finishing the 2023-24 campaign 21-12 overall.

BONHAM BACK, NAMED PRESEASON POTY
Senior guard Trey Bonham returns for his second season at UTC (and final collegiate season) after very briefly entering his name in the ev­er-popular transfer portal this past offseason. Bonham was tabbed the SoCon Preseason Player of the Year ahead of the upcoming season after averaging 16.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game last year while shooting a team-best 48.4% from the floor and 41.3% from deep.

HONOR BEING HONORED
Chattanooga's junior guard Honor Huff was one of the country's top three-point shooters a year ago after finishing the season with 109 made 3PT FG's, the seventh-best total in the country for the 2023-24 season and the third-most in UTC single-season history. Huff earned SoCon Preseason All-Conference Team honors and will anchor with Bonham as one of the best mid-major backcourt duos in the country.