GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNCG men's basketball team closes out the regular season Saturday evening as the Spartans host Southern Conference foe Chattanooga. Game time is set for 5 p.m. at the Greensboro Coliseum. Prior to the game, the Spartans will honor their senior class in Jamal Mitchell (Charlotte, N.C./Gardner-Webb) and Nicholas Paulos (Salt Lake City, Utah/New Hampton School) prior to the game with Senior Night festivities.
Saturday's game will be broadcast on the SoCon Digital Network in full HD for free. Additionally, the game will be broadcast on 1320 AM and online with the TuneIn App with Tim Bickford and Darryl Kosciak providing the call.
The Spartans enter the final game of the regular season with their Southern Conference Tournament seeding up in the air as they can be anywhere from the No. 6-10 seeds. Only the top three seeds in the SoCon Tournament have been set overall with Wofford the No. 1, Chattanooga the No. 2 and Mercer the No. 3.
UNCG can move up to the No. 6 seed and secure the final bye if they pick up a win Saturday and VMI loses at home to Samford. The Spartans can also be a No. 7 or No. 8 seed with a win, depending on the outcome of the VMI-Samford game and The Citadel-Western Carolina game. With a loss, the Spartans can only been seeds No. 8-10 and that depends on the two previous games along with the Furman-Wofford contest.
Saturday's game marks the 37th meeting all-time between UNCG and Chattanooga. The Spartans trail the all-time series by a 16-20 margin, but have won six out of the last eight meetings, including the last three matchups at the Greensboro Coliseum. UNCG last hosted Chattanooga almost one year ago to the day, posting an 88-84 victory on Senior day last year. In that game, former Spartan Kyle Cain scored 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds while Saddler added 13 and Locke added 12 points. Casey Jones led the Mocs with 21 points and 11 rebounds while Mason had 19 points and 11 rebounds.
Earlier this season, the Spartans travelled to Chattanooga and dropped a hard fought 81-72 contest. The Spartans played one of their best all-around games of league play as they connected on 49.2 percent (30-of-61) from the field and 35.7 percent (5-of-14) from long range. UNCG also won the battle of the glass with a 37-34 advantage, including 10 offensive rebounds. The Spartans out-scored the Mocs 36-26 in the paint, despite battling foul trouble on the front line throughout the game.
The Spartans held the Mocs to 47.1 percent (24-of-51) shooting from the field and 42.9 percent (9-of-21) from long range. The biggest disparity of the game came at the free throw line as Chattanooga went to the line 38 times, compared to just 13 attempts for the Spartans. The Mocs out-scored UNCG 24-7 at the charity stripe as they hit 63.2 percent of their free throws.
Sophomore guard Tevon Saddler (Aberdeen, Md./St. Frances Academy) led four Spartans in double figures with a game-high 22 points in 32 minutes of action. Saddler connected on 9-of-16 from the field and 3-of-5 from the free throw line. Sophomore guard Diante Baldwin (Greensboro, N.C./High Point Christian) added 12 points, seven assists, two blocks and two steals in the loss. Junior forward Kayel Locke (Baltimore, Md./McDonogh) added 12 points on 6-of-12 shooting in 31 minutes of action
Greg Pryor led Chattanooga with 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field. Justin Tuoyo fell just shy of a double-double for the Mocs with 18 points and nine rebounds as he was 10-of-15 from the free throw line.
The Spartans enter Saturday's game with a 10-20 overall record and a 6-11 mark in Southern Conference play. UNCG has won back-to-back games for the third time this season heading into Saturday's game and will be looking to match its season-best winning streak at three games. The Spartans have picked up consecutive home wins against Furman and Samford by an average of 24.5 points.
Saddler leads the team and ranks 10th in the league in scoring at 13.8 points per game having scored in double figures 20 times. Saddler ranks third in the league with 113 assists and leads the league with 4.5 assists per game in SoCon play. He has posted back-to-back career highs in assists with seven against Furman and eight against Samford. Locke is second on the team and 11th in the conference in scoring at 12.6 points per game while ranking 16th on the glass at 5.4 rebounds per game.
Redshirt sophomore center R.J. White (Frisco, Texas/Frisco) is third on the team in scoring at 11.9 points per game. White is second in the league on the glass at 7.1 rebounds per game while also ranking second in field goal percentage at 56.7 percent (144-of-254). He is tied for the conference lead with seven double-doubles. Paulos rounds out the Spartans in double figures scoring at 10.9 points per game. He is second in the conference connecting on 42.9 percent from long range and his 85 3-pointers rank third in the league. Baldwin adds 9.7 points per game and is second on the team with 80 assists.
Chattanooga enters Saturday's game with a 21-9 overall record and a 14-3 mark in Southern Conference play. The Mocs are 6-7 on the year on the road and 6-2 in league play away from home. Chattanooga has already secured the No. 2 seed in the upcoming SoCon Tournament as they are one game behind Wofford and do not hold the tiebreaker. The Mocs enter Saturday's game on a five-game winning streak, including a double overtime victory at VMI Thursday.
Casey Jones leads the Mocs in scoring at 14.3 points per game and on the glass at 7.1 rebounds per game. Jones is shooting 52 percent (159-of-306) from the field and has gone to the free throw line a team-high 155 times, hitting 70.3 percent. Pryor is second on the team in scoring at 11.8 points per game and second on the team with 73 assists. Pryor has hit 43 3-pointers on the year at a 38.7 percent clip.
Ronrico White is third on the team in scoring at 10.8 points per game and leads the team with 98 assists. White is second on the team with 57 3-pointers. Tuoyo rounds out the Mocs in double figures scoring at 10.5 points per game and is second on the team with 6.4 rebounds per game. Tuoyo leads the league in blocked shots with 97. Eric Robertson has hit 62 3-pointers this year and leads the league at a 47.3 percent clip.
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