Furman University's Mike Bothwell drove left with the basketball with 7 seconds to go in overtime. Bothwell drove by University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's (UTC) guard Darius Banks, giving 6 ' 9'' Silvio De Sousa a chance to rotate on defense and block Bothwell's shot. However, Sousa was just a bit late and Bothwell arced a floater off of the glass and in, giving Furman a 63-61 lead with 4.3 seconds left in overtime.
image from Chattanooga Times Free Press
Banks inbounded the ball to Guard David Jean-Baptiste on the right side of the court. Quickly, but methodically, Baptiste weaved through the defense to the left side of the court while being double teamed. Without having any time to pass the ball off, Baptiste hoisted a 30 footer with two players guarding him. Swish. Baptiste nailed the 3 pointer at the buzzer giving UTC a 64-63 nail biting win.
The significance in Baptiste's shot was not that it just won them the game, but that it won them the Southern Conference Tournament Championship. This earned the Mocs an automatic bid into this year's NCAA Tournament, their first time back since 2016. By winning on March 7th, UTC took both the regular season conference title and the conference tournament title. However, winning the conference title is often the most important championship to win due to UTC being a mid-major university, meaning that they play outside the so called "Power Five" conferences which includes the Big Ten, Big Twelve, Pac Twelve, SEC, and ACC.
In the NCAA Tournament, there are 36 at-large bids, while there are 32 automatic bids (meaning that those teams who won their conference tournament automatically make the tournament). Since many of the best teams in college basketball play for the Power Five conferences, those teams have the highest opportunity to win at-large bids, due to the fact that they play tougher teams. With UTC playing in a small conference and having won games against lower quality teams, it was necessary for UTC to win their championship game against Furman. Otherwise, they more than likely would not have made the tournament.
In the Selection Sunday Show which aired on CBS on March 13th, the Mocs were handed the 13 seed, as they are set to play the 4 seed Illinois Fighting Illini on a Friday night slate at 6:50 P.M. Eastern Time. While many experts believe that Illinois will be a difficult match up for UTC, some, like Seth Davis, believe that UTC will perform very well in the tournament.
"I love that the Mocs have a core of quality upperclassman guards, but they also have one of the most dynamic guards in all of mid-majordom in 6-4 sophomore Malachi Smith, who averages 20.1 points and 6.7 rebounds while shooting 41.5 percent from 3-point range. Moreover, the Mocs have a bona fide big man in 6-9 junior forward Silvio De Sousa, the transfer from Kansas who averages 11.1 points and 7.0 rebounds and gives this team power-conference swagger," he said. While the majority of the nation will be picking Illinois to advance in their brackets, Davis thinks that UTC could be a potential bracket-buster.
As students at Covenant College prepare for March Madness by selecting their brackets, some students have vested interest in seeing UTC do well in the tournament. Chattanooga native Andrew Davick ‘25 is one student who will be cheering proudly for the Mocs. Davick reminisced about the times in which he grew up supporting UTC.
"For me, it's exciting (that UTC is in the tournament), because UTC is a team I have grown up watching. My dad used to take me to football and basketball games. Now, as I'm older I still have fun watching them even if I don't go to UTC. It makes me proud as a Chattanoogan to see the name of my city in the tournament," he said. While Davick grew up in Chattanooga and has grown up being a fan, it is fair to say that many Covenant students (being so close to the city) are excited to see if the Mocs can do any damage against some of the favored teams in the Tournament.