Uch on the road: Mocs blog from Kennesaw

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KENNESAW, Ga. - Fresh thoughts and observations from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's 65-51 basketball win Saturday at Kennesaw State:

The opening tip

UTC won its first game on the road since Feb. 26, 2011. I was tempted to look up the price of gas, the cost of a burger at McDonald's and a movie ticket because it just seems that it's been that long.

Z Mason said after the game that he planned on getting a card game going on the quick bus trip back to Chattanooga. I should have asked what game: Poker? Spades? Rummy? Certainly not bridge.

Maybe with all the young guys -- a game of Go Fish?

UTC won the game in the first half, held on during a disgusting first 10 minutes (for both teams and the officials) of the second half and made some plays late to prevent KSU from having a chance.

Mocs' chalk talk

Coach John Shulman has not yelled the word "FIRE" once this season.

The Mocs are switching defenses at a record pace under Shulman. They're playing some zone, some trapping zone and some extended defenses.

I'll get into all of that more in Monday's paper.

Stats STAT!

UTC attempted seven 3-pointers against the Owls. Seven -- that's it.

Last year's Mocs probably had a game or two when they took seven 3s in the first seven minutes. Let me dig in the record book to find a significant stat that applies.

Last year's Mocs attempted 20 or more 3-pointers 21 times. They attempted 30 or more in their last two games of the season.

They attempted 20 or fewer nine times with a season low of 14 -- in a close loss at Butler, an overtime loss at Charleston and a one-point loss to Davidson.

Freshmen report

This is an addition to my Road Trip, so it will evolve through the season.

For today, I'll just name a freshman of the day. Other times, I'll share a short story of catching up with one of the new cats. Other times, well, who knows what I'll type about something from this class.

Your freshman of the day is Gee McGhee. He scored 12 points, hit four of seven shots and went 3-of-5 from the free-throw line.

Shulman said: "Gee to me is a really good player. He looked very cool, calm and collected."

Hard to argue that.

The open forum

Here is where I open the floor for you to post smart, funny, insightful and odd-ball observations from your perspective. It will usually start with a question -- as it will this time -- or me throwing out a statement to debate.

The question: Retired chancellor Roger Brown gave me a wave. I saw women's golf coach Colette Murray and her star Jordan Britt in the stands along with about 50 other UTC fans. Why did you make the trip to KSU, or not make the trip to KSU?

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