A fired-up Trey Bonham celebrates at last year's Southern Conference Tournament in Asheville.
photo by Ray Soldano/GoMocs.com
The top-seeded Chattanooga Mocs men's basketball team is off to Asheville, North Carolina, in search of the program's 13th Southern Conference Tournament title with the event kicking off for the team in the quarterfinal round on Saturday inside the Harrah's Cherokee Center – Asheville.
No. 1 Chattanooga (23-8), who is riding an 11-game winning streak and coming off a regular season league title, will face the winner of No. 8 Mercer and No. 9 Western Carolina in the quarterfinal stage on Saturday afternoon. Tip-off is set for Noon on ESPN+.
The Mocs enter the tournament with a mass of momentum after winning its last 11 games, the longest win streak for the program since 11 during the 1996-97 Sweet 16 season. Head coach Dan Earl was tabbed the SoCon Coach of the Year on Wednesday and highlighted six total selections for the team in the annual league awards.
Chattanooga is looking to punch its ticket to the NCAA Division I Tournament for the 13th time in program history and first time since 2022. The Mocs have already secured an automatic berth into the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) following its regular season title and necessary KNIT score (specific metric formula).
Fans can find all championship information for this weekend's Southern Conference Tournament at the championship central location HERE and all fan information and schedule of events HERE.
FAN INFORMATION
Highland Brewing Downtown Taproom (56 Patton Ave, Asheville, NC 28801) on the 2nd floor of the S&W Market building is the home of Mocs Central for the SoCon Tournament this year. Socials will occur before each game, starting 90 minutes before tip and ending 15-30 minutes prior. For more info, call the Mocs Club at (423) 425-4233.
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
SoCon Tournament Record: 64-35 (.646) · Set for 100th game on Saturday.
SoCon Tournament Final Apps.: 20
SoCon Tournament Titles: 12 (last 2022)
STORY LINES
CHATTANOOGA NO. 1 SEED; SET FOR NO. 100
Chattanooga (23-8, 15-3 SoCon) enters the SoCon Tournament as the No. 1 seed after earning its 13th SoCon regular season crown, their second appearance as No. 1 seed since 2022. The Mocs are 6-0 as top seed since 2013. This is the 100th all-time SoCon Tournament game for UTC on Saturday, owning an all-time tournament record of 64-35(.646).
Saturday also marks game No. 100 at UTC for Dan Earl, who enters with a 62-37 slate for the Mocs and 4-2 in tournament play.
LENGTHY WIN STREAK
The Mocs have won 11-straight, the longest streak for the program since the 11-game run during the 1996-97 Sweet 16 season. It is also the second-longest active streak in NCAA Division I behind Central Connecticut State’s 12 in a row.
The surge is the third-longest program streak by total wins (11), and the fourth time reeling off 11 in a row. The Mocs reached 12 consecutive wins spanning the end of the 1976-77 season to beginning of 1977-78. The 1982-83 squad has the all-time record with 14 straight victories.
UTC started the SoCon slate 1-2 before finishing 15-3. The 15 SoCon wins is the most since 2015-16 and just the second time with 15 since start of 1993-94. The 27 conference wins over last two seasons is tied for third most (2014-15).
ROAD WARRIORS
The Mocs went 8-1 in SoCon road games, including the last eight after dropping the opener at Mercer to set a program record for consecutive road wins both overall and SoCon only. Chattanooga is 45-29 (.608) in true road games since 2020, the most wins (45) across all of NCAA DI over that span. The next closest are Belmont (42) and UC Irvine (41). UTC went 10-5 on the road in 2024-25, one of 10 NCAA DI teams (as of 3/3) to win 10+ road games.
CHATTANOOGA BACK IN MID-MAJOR RANKINGS
UTC remained at No. 14 in the latest CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 (3/3), the top-ranked SoCon team. Chattanooga is one of two SoCon teams in the Top 25 (Samford, 19), while UNC Greensboro and Furman are receiving votes to rank 38th and 39th, respectively.
DAN EARL(Y) SUCCESS AMONG THE BEST
Dan Earl earned win No. 62 at UTC in his third season, just the third Mocs head coach to reach 60+ wins in first three seasons (DI era). Earl is the first UTC head coach since Mack McCarthy (1985-88) to reach 60 wins in first three seasons. Earl ties McCarthy’s 62 total wins for most by a UTC head coach during the three-season span.
ALL-SOCON AWARDS FEATURE FIVE MOCS
Dan Earl led the All-SoCon awards after being named the 2024-25 SoCon Coach of the Year, his second such honor after winning at VMI in 2020-21. Earl is the 4th UTC head coach to win SoCon Coach of the Year over the past 11 years, joining Will Wade (2014), Matt McCall (2016), and Lamont Paris (2022).
Senior Frank Champion was named the SoCon Newcomer of the Year. Honor Huff (1st Team), Trey Bonham (2nd), Bash Wieland (2nd) and Champion (2nd) also earned all-league laurels.
FOLLOW CHATTANOOGA BASKETBALL
Follow @GoMocsMBB on Twitter & on Instagram for the most up-to-date information and news regarding Chattanooga men's basketball.