Mark Wiedmer
It has often been said that there are two happy college basketball teams at the end of the season: The one that wins the men’s NCAA title and the one that wins the National Invitation Tournament crown.
As of this morning, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Mocs, our Magical Mocs of 2025, are 40 minutes from being one of those two teams. That’s because on Tuesday night in historic Hinkle Fieldhouse, against a bigger, more athletic Loyola-Chicago Ramblers squad, UTC won its NIT semifinal 80-73, its comeback victory punctuated by an emphatic dunk at the horn by leading scorer Trey Bonham, who finished with 23 points.
Said sixth-year senior forward Bash Wieland afterward on the Mocs radio network, recalling how Honor Huff nailed the 3-pointer that put UTC ahead by four inside the final minute, “Trey and Honor are playing unbelievable. Those dudes are unreal.”
Then he took a deep breath and added, “This feels surreal.”
These last two weeks have felt unreal and surreal and unbelievable for Moc Maniacs the region over. Four wins over the best of the rest left out of the NCAA Tournament. A spot in Thursday’s NIT championship game against Cal-Irvine and former Moc Myles Che. A chance to win a national tournament, a highly respected tournament, if not exactly a national championship, before ESPN’s cameras at 9 p.m.
This one somewhat mirrored the three NIT wins that had come before it. The Mocs got behind at halftime by four — “We’re not a first-half team,” chuckled Wieland in his post-game interview after scoring 12 points, six in each half — before outscoring the Ramblers by 11 (47-36) in the final half.
Added Bonham, “They left it too close at halftime. Even if we’re down 20, we think we’re going to win. The second half is our time to shine.”
Said Wieland: “We came out the second half and tried to do the little things better.”
They’ve done the little things better for four straight second halves. They outlasted Middle Tennessee State in three overtimes in Round One. They smacked overall No. 1 seed Dayton by 15 in Round Two. They came from 16 down against Bradley in the quarterfinals, then rallied against Loyola in the semifinals.
They never got down 20 on this night. They actually held the lead for the final 13:47 of the game, playing smart, playing aggressive, playing to win with coach Dan Earl’s exquisite offense that slices and dices any defense with precision passing and cuts to the basket.
What was it that ESPN announcer Fran Fraschilla called it? “The Princeton offense on steroids.”
But here’s where Earl shined brightest when his team needed him most. Late in the game, the Mocs up a point, Loyola was initially whistled for a goaltending call, which would have had UTC up 76-73 was less than two minutes to go. The officials somehow later reversed it, leaving UTC up one and Loyola with the ball.
“Bad break, bad break, bad break,” Fraschilla said at least three times.
It was such a bad break that Earl could easily have been justified in earning a technical.
“That hurt a lot,” said Wieland, recalling that moment. “I give a lot of credit to Coach Earl. He just said, ‘Let’s get a stop.’”
And that’s just what UTC did. Loyola never scored again. And then Huff, one of the most cold-blooded 3-point shooters in college basketball, let go a triple off the right wing that found …nothing … but … the … bottom … of … the … net! Swish! Mocs up 77-73. Game all but over.
A half a minute and a couple of free throws later it was over. And the most highly anticipated game in UTC basketball history since playing for, and winning the Division II national title in 1977, was less than two days away.
The debate will surely begin around the Scenic City between now and Thursday night. If UTC can beat Che and the Anteaters for the NIT title, would that win eclipse the Division II title or the Sweet 16 run of 1997, when the Mocs were one of the last 16 teams standing in the NCAA Tournament?
Tough question. Perhaps no right answer. As the venerable Voice of the Mocs, Jim Reynolds said late Tuesday night, his voice cracking ever-so-slightly with emotion as chants of “U-T-C, U-T-C” filled Hinkle: “You don’t get many moments like this in your life. You should enjoy it, and (the Mocs) are.”
So enjoy this next 40 hours or so, Mocs Nation. Bask in the glory of being one of six college basketball teams still standing, still playing, still chasing the dream of a national tournament title. Enjoy this Mocs Magical Victory Tour as long as you can.
Said Wieland as Tuesday night rolled into Wednesday morning, the glass slipper still firmly on UTC’s feet: “It’s fun playing basketball this time of year. We don’t want it to end.”
Ever. Or at least not without an NIT championship to make all of Mocs Nation one of college hoops’ two happy programs at the end of year.
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Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@mccallie.org