A pair of teams from the Southern Conference take the floor in the Palmetto State in search of a victory. The Chattanooga Mocs are on the road as they take on The Citadel Bulldogs Wednesday night. Chattanooga was defeated 58-53 on the road by Furman Saturday in their previous contest. The Citadel came up on the wrong end of a 74-62 home defeat at the hands of Samford Saturday in their last contest. The Mocs own a 63-15 advantage in the all-time series and have won the last three meetings, including a 92-69 home win in the first meeting this season on January 22.
Chattanooga Mocs Look to Earn Season Sweep
Chattanooga has been up and down in conference play, which is why they find themselves as a .500 team in the Southern Conference heading into the final four regular season games. The Mocs come in 16-11 overall and 7-7 in the SoCon, leaving them tied for sixth in the standings but only one game behind fourth-place Western Carolina and Wofford. Chattanooga started the year 10-5 after a four-game win streak from mid-December to early January but things have slowed since that point. The Mocs are 6-6 in their last 12 games with no win streak or losing skid longer than two games in conference action.
The Mocs are 145th in the nation in scoring offense with an average of 72.1 points per game on the year. Chattanooga pulls down an average of 35.3 rebounds and dishes out 14.2 assists a night this season. The Mocs are solid defensively as they are 135th in the nation in scoring defense by allowing 67.9 points a night. Matt Ryan leads the team with 15.3 points plus 4.4 rebounds per contest this season. David-Jean Baptiste (12.6 points, 3.8 boards) and Ramon Vila (12.2 points, 5.5 rebounds) are each averaging in double figures. Stefan Kenic, Rod Johnson, Maurice Commander, A.J. Caldwell and Jonathan Scott each average at least four points a night for the Mocs. Chattanooga shoots 44.8 percent from the field as a team this season. The Mocs connect on 8.6 three-pointers a night while shooting 35.4 percent from beyond the arc. Chattanooga is a mediocre free throw shooting team as they convert 71.8 percent of their attempts.
According to KenPom, the Mocs have put together solid offensive numbers and mediocre numbers on the defensive end of the floor. Chattanooga is 129th in offensive efficiency and 196th in defensive efficiency on the year. The Mocs are 78th in effective field goal percentage (51.7 percent), 99th in turnover percentage (18 percent) and 67th in three-point shooting on the season. Chattanooga is 43rd in offensive rebounding percentage allowed (24.6 percent) but they are 351st in block percentage (4.2 percent) and 335th in steal percentage (6.7 percent) this season. The Mocs play a slow pace as they are 269th in tempo with 66.8 possessions per game.
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The Citadel Bulldogs Try to Earn First Conference Victory
The Citadel continues to have problems as they have been miserable stopping opposing teams from putting points on the board. That’s a major reason that the Bulldogs come into this game 6-19 overall and 0-14 in the Southern Conference. The Citadel has as many wins against non-Division I teams (three) as they do against actual Division I foes and they haven’t beaten a team ranked higher than 314th in the KenPom rankings. The Bulldogs got off to a 6-5 start but their last win was a 102-99 triple overtime win over Longwood back on December 19. Fourteen consecutive losses and two months have passed since the last time The Citadel managed to come up with a victory.
The Bulldogs enter this game 61st in the nation in scoring offense with an average of 76 points per game this season. For the season, The Citadel collects 35.3 rebounds per game and they dish out an average of 14.9 assists a night. The Bulldogs have been awful on the defensive end of the floor as they are a miserable 341st in scoring defense by allowing 79.9 points per contest. Kaelon Harris leads the team with 13.7 points and 7.4 rebounds per game this season. Hayden Brown (13.3 points), Kadien Rice (13.1 points) and Fletcher Abee (12 points) each average in double figures. Eddie Davis III, Rudy Fitzgibbons III, Tyson Batiste, Alex Reed, Brady Spence and Jackson Gammons each average at least four points a night. The Citadel shoots 43.6 percent from the field this season. On the year, the Bulldogs knock down 9.4 three-pointers a night while sinking 33 percent from beyond the arc. The Citadel sputters at the free throw line as they convert only 68.1 percent of their attempts. Davis III left the team last week while Spence, Gammons, Brown and Jerry Higgins III are all missing in action as well.
KenPom’s numbers show that the Bulldogs have been abysmal on both ends of the floor. The team stands 301st in offensive efficiency and a dismal 323rd in defensive efficiency this season. Looking deeper into the numbers, the Bulldogs are 333rd in effective field goal percentage defense (54.3 percent) and 350th in two-point field goal percentage defense (57.1 percent) on the year. The Citadel fires up the 12th highest percentage of their shots from beyond the arc in the nation as 47.7 percent of their attempts come from the outside. There aren’t many teams that play at the pace that the Bulldogs do as they are seventh in the country in pace with 74.3 possessions per game.
UNDERDOG of the Day
The Citadel +9 over Chattanooga
