The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's basketball team just keeps winning.
Even when, at first glance, it looks like the Mocs have done just the opposite.
On an afternoon when they didn't have their best, the Mocs had just enough to survive Saturday at McKenzie Arena, closing out their home schedule by beating The Citadel 76-75, a surprisingly hard-fought victory that pushed UTC's winning streak to nine games with a week to go in the regular season before tournament time for the Southern Conference.
This one took a little bit of luck, too, as Sola Adebisi's final shot of the game went through the net for the struggling Bulldogs (5-22, 0-16) but -- as confirmed by officials after a brief review -- did so after the final buzzer, allowing the Mocs (21-9, 13-3) to have a happy ending on senior day.
UTC (21-9, 13-3), which took sole possession of first place in the SoCon standings earlier in the week, maintained its one-game lead over second-place UNC Greensboro (19-10, 12-4), which beat the Mocs 78-75 on Jan. 9 in Chattanooga. UTC heads to North Carolina to face the Spartans in a high-stakes rematch at 7 p.m. Thursday, then visits Virginia Military Institute two days later with a 1 p.m. tipoff.
The SoCon tournament begins March 7 in Asheville, North Carolina, but only the lowest four seeds in the 10-team bracket play on the first day, with four quarterfinals set for the second day.
Photo GalleryUTC vs. The Citadel men's basketball on Feb. 22, 2025
Some of UTC's trouble in its latest win might be chalked up to emotions as five seniors -- Trey Bonham, Frank Champion, Garrison Keeslar, Jack Kostel and Bash Wieland -- were honored beforehand, but it wasn't as if the Mocs played poorly overall against The Citadel, which hasn't won a game since early December. In fact, they never trailed -- but they also could never get away from the Bulldogs, who after going down by 14 on a 3-pointer by Bonham with 6:33 to play responded by clawing back, outscoring the Mocs 18-5 over the final stretch only to fall just short -- or just late.
The Mocs have been on the other side of these type of games this season, too, dropping their SoCon opener in overtime at Mercer on New Year's Day, falling to UNCG on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer and needing overtime to defeat Wofford on Jan. 15 in Chattanooga.
"I really didn't miss all of these dramatic games," Wieland said. "We've got to find a way to execute better. A win is a win, but with that being said, we've got to continue to get better."
That's certainly the case on defense, where UTC was bad for the third consecutive game. The Bulldogs -- who lost 81-68 to UTC on Jan. 4 -- shot 53% from the field overall Saturday, including 14-of-23 in the second half, when they were 4-for-8 from 3-point range.
"I thought we played hard," said UTC coach Dan Earl, who has the Mocs on the brink of a SoCon regular-season championship in his third year leading the program.
"They slowed the game down," Earl said of the Bulldogs, "and they are a really tough cover, particularly since we've got some smaller guards that are really good and we'll ride with them any time, but they are coming downhill, crashing, and their shooters made shots as well.
"But you look at their scores, they've been in three or four overtime games, they've been right there, so I did not get a sense that we were kind of messing with the game or didn't have the right mindset. They just played extremely well, we didn't play great, and that's what you get against a good Southern Conference opponent."
Wieland led the Mocs in scoring with 17 points on 8-for-11 shooting.
Bonham added 15 points and junior Honor Huff had 14, but they were a combined 6-of-21 from 3-point range.
Champion -- who had flirted with triple-doubles in each of the past three games -- scored just four points as he was limited to 20 minutes because of foul trouble, but he handed out a a team-high five assists and grabbed four rebounds. Keeslar had eight points and blocked three shots, while redshirt junior Makai Richards, an offseason transfer from Pacific, had one of his better games with the Mocs by scoring seven before exiting after taking a shot in the face in the second half.
The Citadel, which trailed 41-33 at halftime, had four players who finished in double-digit points: Brody Fox (21 with a game-high seven rebounds), Christian Moore (13), Colby McAllister (12) and Paxton Davidson (11).
Compiled by Gene Henley. Contact him at [email protected].