Shorthanded Men’s Basketball Shows Tough Fight in 92-78 Loss to No. 21 Auburn

GoMocs- Despite entering the game with just 10 available student-athletes, the Chattanooga Mocs men’s basketball team went toe-to-toe with No. 21 Auburn during an eventual 92-78 defeat inside State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Ga., as part of the Holiday Hoopsgiving event on Saturday afternoon.

Chattanooga (5-6) trailed by just five, 43-38, at halftime to No. 21 Auburn (8-3) and pulled within one possession multiple times throughout the second half. The Mocs entered the day missing a plethora of its roster due to game-to-game style injuries and featured just eight scholarship players on its active bench.

Quick Records/Series
Chattanooga: 5-6| #21 Auburn: 8-3
Series: Sixth all-time meeting in the series… Auburn now leads the series 4-2.

Dan Earl, Head Coach
Chattanooga (4): 73-44 | Overall (11): 146-183

Details: Stats | Notes | Quotes

Game Breakdown
Entering the game with just 10 active players, Chattanooga battled in the early stages as a Tate Darner transition three kept the squad within three, 9-6 (16:30). Auburn opened an eight-point lead, 18-10, after a 9-1 scoring run featuring a pair of Simon Walker (AU) triples.

Auburn led by as many as 13, 29-16 (8:50), before Chattanooga clawed its way back within four, 33-29 (4:55), after Jordan Frison capped off seven-straight points for the squad with a contested floater in the lane. With the Mocs faithful making noise inside State Farm Arena, Teddy Washington Jr. and Makai Richards converted and-one opportunities late in the half to help the squad stay in striking distance at the half, 43-38.

Chattanooga created early momentum out of the halftime break as Washington came away with a steal and found Brennan Watkins in the corner for a fastbreak triple to make it a one-point Auburn lead, 45-44 (17:57). A pair of Watkins free throws allowed for a two-point UTC deficit, 54-52 (14:27), before the Tigers answered with a 16-2 scoring run to create its largest lead of the game, 70-54, with 9:41 remaining.

The Mocs once again rallied with key defensive stops and timely buckets to help trim its deficit back into single digits, 80-72, with just under four minutes left in the contest. Auburn sealed the game down the stretch from the free throw line and hit a late three to ultimately claim its 92-78 decision.

Inside the Stats | Box Score
G Jordan Frison – 20 points, 6-12 FG (8-10 FT), six assists, four rebounds, steal
G Teddy Washington Jr. – 16 points, 6-11 FG (1-2 3FG; 3-3 FT), five steals
G Billy Smith – 14 points, 6-13 FG (2-8 3FG), three rebounds, three assists.

Chattanooga – 45.8% FG (27-59); 35.0% 3FG (7-20); 85.0% FT (17-20); 20 rebounds (-22); 17 assists (6 TO); 10 steals

3 Notes to Know | More

• G Jordan Frison led the Mocs in scoring for the third-straight game with 20 points on 6-12 FG (8-10 FT)… added six assists, four rebounds, and a steal… third game this season with six assists… 14 assists over past three games.
• Chattanooga finished the game with 17 assists while committing just six turnovers… the 2.83 A/TO ratio marks the highest against a ‘high major/power’ opponent in program history… bests a 2.00 (14/7) mark set against No. 16 Georgia Tech on December 22, 1992… also fewest turnovers against ‘high major/power’ team with 7 being the previous mark in the same game.
• Chattanooga entered the game with just eight scholarship players active due to injuries… 10 in total… roughly 50 points-per-game were missing from today’s lineup.

Quotable | More
Dan Earl‘s opening thoughts after 92-78 defeat to #21 Auburn – “There’s a lot to work on still for us. We have to keep feeling each other out and we have some challenges with injuries, but you know, I hope that our guys don’t look at this and be overly satisfied. If you want to be a really good basketball team, you can’t be like, oh, we stayed close the whole time. That’s just not a good enough mindset to be a really good basketball team, you have to be upset that we didn’t figure out how to make it even more interesting or winning this game. So again, I’m proud of the guys fight tonight and the mindset to head in the right direction, we’ll get back to work.”