The Chattanooga Mocs and the Furman Paladins meet in college basketball action from the Timmons Arena on Saturday afternoon.
The Chattanooga Mocs will look to build on their three-game winning streak after a 65-47 win over Western Carolina last time out. Malachi Smith leads the Mocs in scoring and assists with 20.5 PPG and 3.2 APG while David Jean-Baptiste has 14.9 PPG and Silvio De Sousa has 11.5 PPG with a team-high 6.9 RPG to make up the trio of double-digit scorers for Chattanooga so far this season. As a team, Chattanooga is averaging 75.7 PPG on 47.2% shooting from the field, 35.8% from three and 75% from the foul line while allowing 64.2 PPG on 41.3% shooting from the field and 29.4% from three this season.
The Furman Paladins will look to bounce back from back-to-back defeats after a 75-71 loss to East Tennessee State last time out. Mike Bothwell leads the Paladins in scoring with 15.4 PPG along with 4 RPG and 3 APG while Jalen Slawson has 15 PPG has team-highs of 7.6 RPG and 3.8 APG. Alex Hunter has 13.7 PPG to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for Furman up to this point in the season. Conley Garrison has 9.6 PPG with 4.5 RPG as well on the year. As a team, Furman is averaging 77.9 PPG on 46% shooting from the field, 38.9% from three and 74.1% from the foul line while allowing 68.4 PPG on 44.4% from the field and 33.4% from three this season.
Chattanooga is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games against a team with a winning record and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 road games against a team with a home winning percentage above .600 while the over is 10-2 in their last 12 road games. Furman is 7-1-1 ATS in their last 9 home games and 6-1-1 ATS in their last 8 games against a team with a winning record while the under is 7-0 in their last 7 games against a team with a winning percentage above .600.
I get the case to be made for Furman at home in this one, but these are two of the top teams in the SoCon this season and I think this is a game that’s going to play out as you think it would with a pair of high-tier teams in the conference. I think this ends up being a heavyweight tilt and for this one to be close throughout, but in the end, I look for Chattanooga to keep this one close if not win outright. Give me Chattanooga and the points here.