Give Chattanooga basketball coach John Shulman and his players credit. A seven-game losing streak has changed the focus of a team that was the preseason pick to win the SoCon’s North Division, but it hasn’t broken the Mocs’ spirit.
Instead of playing for a first-round bye in the conference tournament, Chattanooga (9-16, 3-9) now has to hope it can win four games in as many days to claim the SoCon’s lone bid to the NCAA Tournament. Anything less and this season will be considered a bust, but no one on Shulman’s bench has written it off just yet.
“Tears get you sympathy,” Shulman said before practice on Wednesday. “Sweat gets you change. Adversity introduces you to yourself.”
If that latter comment is true, the Mocs should know themselves pretty well by now. The losing streak that has lasted nearly a month has run the gamut, including two one-point losses, a loss at the buzzer when Georgia Southern buried a 3-pointer, and one double-figure beat down. The latter came in Chattanooga’s last game, at Davidson last Saturday, when the Wildcats buried 17 3-pointers and shot 42 percent from the behind the arc.
Despite it all, the Mocs haven’t begun to feel sorry for themselves.
“If you want to whine and cry about it, you’re a loser and a baby,” Shulman said. “If you continue to work, to me, you’re a winner.”
So far the Mocs have continued to work.
“We had a great day of practice yesterday,” said senior point guard Keegan Bell. “That shows there’s still life on this team. If we have to go out and win four in a row (in the SoCon tournament), we’re a confident team. We know we can do that.”
The Mocs can end the streak and start preparing themselves for some March heroics on Thursday night when Elon comes to McKenzie Arena. The Phoenix has played a part in Chattanooga’s losing streak, handing the Mocs loss No. 3 in a row on Jan. 21.
Since that game, the two teams have gone in different directions. Elon has won four of five, and Chattanooga has lost four straight. The Phoenix (13-10, 8-4) leads the SoCon North and is coming off an 82-59 win over Appalachian State, a team it had lost to seven straight times.
Balance has been the key to Elon’s success so far. Five players average between 9.2 and 13.1 points, led by the current SoCon player of the week Jack Isenbarger. Last week Isenbarger, a 6-2 sophomore, averaged 23.3 points, 7.0 rebounds and 5.6 assists.
Home has not been an antidote for losing; the Mocs’ fifth and sixth straight losses came at McKenzie. As the streak has grown, Shulman admits, the Mocs may have started playing a bit tighter than normal.
“A little,” Shulman said. “Guys may be trying to do a little too much. Part of it is natural, and part of it is my fault because I’m a competitive guy. You don’t lie about what’s going on. But the more I make them stress and the more I rip them, the tighter they get. I don’t think they need more negativity.”
Quite the contrary, says senior guard Omar Wattad.
“So many games (in the streak), the ball just bounced the wrong way,” Wattad said. “That doesn’t make us that much worse of a team. Last year we had so many lucky bounces and we started off 7-0 and 10-2 in the league. The bounces went our way in those close games. This year, the bounces just haven’t gone our way.
“(But) we have to stay positive and believe that we can do this. We’ve got to believe in ourselves and make it happen.”
