CHATTANOOGA (2-1) at Missouri (2-0)
GAME No. 4 • Nov. 24, 2009 • Mizzou Arena (15,061)

GAME INFORMATION

TIPOFF:  8 p.m. (ET)  
TELEVISION:  FSN Midwest (Chris Gervino play-by-play; Scott Highmark analyst), Direct TV 647, Dish Network 418 & ESPN360    
RADIO:  ESPN 105.1 FM/Mocs Sports Network (Jim Reynolds, PxP)/GoMocs.com (subscription)
SERIES:  Missouri leads 3-0.     Last Meeting:  11/17/08:  @Missouri - L, 75-103
Coaches:
Chattanooga:  John Shulman (ETSU '89); 92-73 (6th season); 0-1 vs. Missouri
Missouri:  Mike Anderson (Tulsa '82), 67-35 (4th season at Mizzou)/156-76 (8th overall); 1-0 vs. Chatt.

OPENING TIPS

• Chattanooga starts the season 2-1 for the first time since the 2004-05 season. The last time the Mocs started 3-1 was 2003-04 when they began 4-1.
• Chattanooga is 612-358 (.631) since moving to Division I in 1977-78. In road contests, the Mocs are 161-213 (.431)
• This is game two of an eight-day, four-game road trip as part of the South Padre Island Invitational for the Mocs. It began with a 75-49 loss at Richmond and now resumes in Columbia, Mo., and tonight's date with the Tigers. From here, the Mocs head south to South Padre Island, Texas to face the University of Texas-Pan American on Friday in the South Padre Island Convention Center at 3:30 p.m. (ET). The other half of the bracket features Bethune-Cookman and Longwood. The Mocs will face either BCC or Longwood on Saturday. All games will be broadcast on Fox College Sports Broadband. Connection information can be found on GoMocs.com. The other half of the bracket includes Richmond, Missouri, Mississippi State and Old Dominion.
• What's in a name? Depends on who you ask, but as far as the references to the Mocs, the official school name is the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The preferred name is simply Chattanooga while the abbreviated form is UTC. There is no hyphenated version (i.e. UT-Chatt, Tenn.-Chatt, Tennessee-Chatt, UT Chatt, etc.). The nickname is simply Mocs. For more information on the unique nickname, please see page 24 of the media guide.
• The last meeting between the two schools came just last season (Nov. 17, 2008) under similar circumstances. The two teams met in the preliminary round of the O'Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tipoff Tournament in San Juan, P.R. The Tigers topped Chattanooga 103-78 behind 25 points and eight rebounds by Leo Lyons. The Mocs trailed by just six at the break before Mizzou broke out with 60 second-half points. A recap and game statistics are available on page 59 of the Mocs media guide.
• Injuries continue to have a significant impact on the Mocs. Forwards Chris Early (hand), Dante Harvey (knee) and Troy Cage (leg) are expected to be out through the month of November. With Ty Patterson (academics) out until Dec. 12, that leaves the Mocs with just eight scholarship players. At least two of that quartet were expectant starters, while the other two would at least have significant roles.
• The Mocs graduated 77.3 percent of points, 69.5 percent of rebounds, 72.7 percent of assists, 72.2 percent of blocks and 78.4 percent of steals as well as 71.4 of the minutes from the 2008-09 squad. With Patterson out into Dec., Chattanooga is missing 88.1% of its points, 77.9% of rebounds, 83.6% of assists, 88.7% of its steals and 83.4% of its minutes. If you add in Early and Harvey being out, the Mocs are short 92 percent of their points.
• One of the benchmarks of any John Shulman team is rebounding and defense. The fact that the Mocs have been out-rebounded in their last two ballgames does not sit well. In those two games, opponents held a 86 to 68 advantage. The seven-board deficit (42-35) against East Tennessee State included 16 offensive rebounds, but the Bucs managed just eight second chance points. The Spiders were much more efficient as they converted 19 offensive boards into 20 second chance points.
• In its first two contests, Chattanooga made 27 turnovers compared to 42 by its opponents. That was not the case in Richmond as the Mocs recorded 23 turnovers against just 10 by Richmond. The Spiders scored 26 points, over a third of the offensive output, off UTC turnovers.
• The Mocs made just 60.9 percent (14-23) of their free throws in their first game of the season against Virginia Intermont. In the last two games, the Mocs made 35 of 42 attempts, which is 83.3 percent.
• Junior Ridge McKeither leads the Mocs in the paint. His 16.0 points and 8.7 boards per game lead the team and ranks in the top five in the Southern Conference in both categories. The Virginia native posted his first double-double with the Mocs with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
• Junior DeAntre Jefferson is another junior college transfer in the post for the Mocs. He has had his high points over the last two games. The slam dunk following a McKeither miss in the win over ETSU and then in 20 minutes at Richmond, Jefferson scored 10 points with six rebounds and four blocks. He is averaging 8.7 points and six boards in 18.7 minutes per game.
• Sophomore Keegan Bell has been as advertised when he transferred from Vanderbilt to Chattanooga prior to the 2008-09 season. Bell is averaging 12.3 points, 3.7 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game. Bell is shooting 55.0 percent (11-20) from the field, 53.3 percent (8-15) and 87.5 (7-8) from the free throw line.

By the Numbers

0 - Number of starters returning from 2008-09 SoCon Champion team. 
2 - Wins over Big 12 teams in 10 tries.  The Mocs beat Colorado at home on Dec. 27, 1985 and Texas on Dec. 21, 1987, also in Chattanooga.
4 - Fourth meeting between the two schools.
8 - Number of scholarship players available to the Mocs through the first three games.
10 - Number of NCAA Tournament appearances in 32 seasons as a DI member.
27 - SoCon titles for the Mocs since joining the league in 1977-78 (33rd season) - 10 regular season, seven division and record-tying 10 tournament crowns. 
175 - Wins this decade (2000-01 through present).
612 - Wins since the move to DI in 1977-78 (612-358).
942 - Miles from Richmond, Va., to Columbia, Mo.
1140 - All-time win total for the program (1,140-907).
3886 - Miles that the Mocs would cover by car from arena-to-arena on this four-game in eight-day road trip. (541:  Chatt-Richmond/942:  Richmond-Columbia/1223:  Columbia-S. Padre Isle/1180:  S.P.I.-Chatt).