Chattanooga Tops UC Irvine For First NIT Crown

INDIANAPOLIS, IN—Garrison Keeslar’s jumper with 11 seconds left in overtime gave Chattanooga a one-point lead, and the Mocs were survive a missed point-blank layup attempt at the buzzer by UC Irvine’s Jurian Dixon, allowing the Mocs to claim the 2025 National Invitational Tournament (NIT) title following a thrilling 85-84 victory in front of 2,825 fans at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse.

The win was historic. It was UTC's first NCAA sanctioned tournament title in its Division I history, as well as marking the first by any program in SoCon history. The only other NCAA sanctioned title for Chattanooga's basketball program came in 1977, as the Mocs won the NCAA Division II National Championship.

Simply put, the championship- tilt between Chattanooga and UC Irvine was one of the best postseason basketball games in any of college basketball’s postseason tournaments so far, as the contest featured 14 lead changes and nine ties, with neither team holding more than an eight-point advantage throughout the contest.

With the win, Chattanooga matched a school record for total wins, finishing the season 29-9, while UC Irvine, which had already recorded a school-record for wins by virtue of its 81-77 semifinal win over North Texas, finished its 2024-25 season with a 32-7 mark. The Mocs closed the season winning 17 of their final 18 games of the season, with the lone loss since Jan. 23 coming in the SoCon semifinals to Furman, 80-77, in what was another overtime classic.

The 29 wins for the Mocs matches UTC’s 2015-16 team, which also won 29 games, finishing 29-6 and won both the SoCon Regular-Season and Tournament titles before losing in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament to Indiana (L, 74-99).

In terms of where such an accomplishment stands in the history of a program with a league standard 13 regular-season SoCon titles and also a league-best 12 SoCon Tournament titles, it will likely go alongside UTC’s 1997 run to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament under then head coach Mack McCarthy, as well as UTC’s 1977 NCAA Division II National Title under head coach Ron Shumate among the program’s crowning achievements.

As for the tournament title for the Mocs, it ranks as the first championship in an NCAA sanctioned tournament in the 105-year history of Southern Conference Basketball, and also marked just the second time in league history in which a SoCon team had played in an NCAA sanctioned tournament championship game, joining the 1959 West Virginia Mountaineers, who dropped a 71-70 heartbreaker to California at Louisville’s Freedom Hall.

For a league like the SoCon, which has never had a second bid to an NCAA Tournament, Thursday night’s win for the Mocs will go a long way in helping perhaps pave a way for the league to see a second bid to the Big Dance come its way with the league's recent run of success as one of the elite mid-major conferences over the better part of the last decade. In the past three years alone, the SoCon has an NCAA Tournament win and an NIT Tournament title. Chattanooga was one of three teams from the Southern Conference (SoCon) that set a league record by being invited to participate in this year's competition. The other teams invited were Samford, with a 22-10 record, and Furman, with a 25-10 record.

Trey Bonham and Colin Mulholland led Chattanooga with 19 points, while Honor Huff and Garrison Keeslar chipped in with 14 points apiece to round out the Mocs. Bonham added a double-double with 10 rebounds, and he scored his 19 points on a 9-of-18 shooting effort from the field, including going 1-for-3 from long range. The senior guard was named NIT’s Most Outstanding Player. Mulholland finished the game going 6-of-19 from the field, which included connecting on 5-of-17 from three-point land.

Keeslar added a notable stat line in addition to his 14 points, as he matched Huff’s double-double, with 10 boards, while also dishing out five of the team’s 18 total assists in the championship win. The Anteaters would finish the game with five in double figures, led by Devin Tillis, who posted 19 points, eight rebounds and three assists, while Bent Leuchten finished with his 20th double-double of the season, finishing with 15 points and 11 boards. Justin Hohn added 17 points, while Jurian Dixon added 16 and Myles Che rounded out the double-figure scorers with 13 against his old team.

UC Irvine finished the night shooting a solid 48.6% (29-of-62) from the field, which included just a 31.3% (5-of-16) from long-range. The Anteaters finished just 61.8% (21-of-34) from the charity stripe after entering the title tilt shooting at an 80.1% clip on the season.

Chattanooga struggled shooting it much of the evening. The Mocs finished with just a 36.8% (28-of-76) shooting clip, which included just a 31.8% (14-of-44) clip from three-point land. The Mocs were only slightly off their 77% shooting from the line coming into the game, connecting on 15-of-21 charity stripe to finish with a solid 71.4% performance from the line.

Chattanooga finished the game holding advantages in total assists (18-12), second-chance points (17-12) and bench points (10-4). The Anteaters held a huge advantage in points in the paint (42-20), while also finishing with advantages in points off turnovers (11-10), fast-break points (8-7), and total rebounds (44-40).

How It Happened:

It appeared Chattanooga would have all the momentum when Trey Bonham’s halfcourt heave at the buzzer allowed the Mocs to take what was a narrow 38-37 lead into the halftime locker room, however, UC Irvine would open the second half with a 11-2 run to assume what was a 48-40 lead when former UTC Moc Myles Che connected on the first of two free throws after being fouled in the act of shooting with just over 14 minutes left.

To their credit, the Mocs would never let the Anteaters lead by more than eight, and though it was a strong start to the second half, the Mocs kept the score within a manageable margin, despite struggling shooting the basketball for much of the evening, finishing the game with just a 36.8% (28-of-76) shooting clip, which included just a 31.8% (14-of-44) clip from three-point land.

With 10:40 remaining, it appeared the Mocs might be ready to re-take the lead after Honor Huff connected on a pair of free throws on a three-shot foul to bring the Mocs to within two, at 54-52, with 10:40 remaining, and following a missed layup by UC Irvine’s Devin Tillis, the Mocs had the ball back with a chance to take the lead following a Garrison Keeslar rebound.

However, an uncharacteristic turnover by Jack Kostel led to a layup by Anteaters guard Justin Hohn in the open floor, giving UC Irvine a two-possession lead once again, at 56-52, with 10:10 left. On UTC’s ensuing possession, Collin Mulholland, who shared team-high scoring honors with 19 points, connected on one of his five three-pointers with 9:43 left to bring UTC back to within one.

The Mocs could never quite get the lead, however, despite getting to within a point on the scoreboard five more times over the next six minutes. The Anteaters were threatening to once again put the game out of reach late after Bent Leuchten’s layup with 3:28 left gave UC Irvine a six-point lead, at 71-65. With the score 73-67 in UC Irvine’s favor with 2:30 remaining, the Anteaters continued to dare UTC’s big men to shoot the three, and on this occasion as it did in other crucial moments in the contest, backfired, as Keeslar connected on his first of back-to-back threes allowed the Mocs to stay alive, cutting the Anteaters lead in half, at 73-70, with 2:13 remaining.

The Mocs fouled Leuchten with 1:38 remaining and he would knock down 1-of-2 charity shots to push the UC Irvine lead back to four, however, after Bash Wieland dove to save a possession and corral a loose ball and somehow get the ball to Keeslar in the corner for another wide-open three-ball, the Mocs had the deficit to within one for a sixth time in the second half with 1:14 remaining, at 74-73.

UC Irvine would head back to the charity stripe, where it was shaky at best over the duration of the second half and overtime, and the 77% free throw shooter Hohn missed both charity shots and Huff rebounded for the Mocs with 27 seconds remaining. With a chance to take the lead, Huff was fouled on a three-pointer in the corner, and the Brooklyn, NY., native would connect on 3-of-3 charity shots to give Chattanooga its first second-half lead, at 76-74, with 16 seconds remaining. On UC Irvine’s next possession, Che was fouled on a top-of-the-key three and would get three attempts at the line with 13 seconds left. Che would knock down 2-of-3 from the charity stripe to tie the game, 76-76.

The Mocs would then get a couple of good looks, with one from point-blank range and the other from long-range, however, Mullholland missed both, including a wide-open three attempt at the buzzer, which would have won the game, and the two teams headed for the extra session.

In that overtime, the two teams would trade blows over the first 3:09 of the extra session, and after back-to-back trips to the line for Tillis and Che, the Anteaters duo could only convert on 2-of-4 from those charity attempts, leaving the UC Irvine lead at just two points (82-80) 1:33 remaining.

Chattanooga would make the most of the opportunity to retake the lead, as Mulholland found himself open once again from three-point land, but unlike his previous two in regulation that could have won the game, this attempt was nothing but net and would allow the Mocs to re-take the lead, at 83-82, with 1:23 remaining. A floating one-handed jumper in the lane by Che on the other end allowed UC Irvine to re-take the lead, at 84-83, with 1:13 left, and following a Huff missed three-pointer, the Mocs were forced to foul Leuchten after he corralled the rebound with 31 seconds left.

However, Leuchten missed both free throws and the Mocs would make the most of their next possession with the ball. Trailing by a single point, the ball found its way to Keeslar off a feed from Huff about 15 feet from the basket, and his wide-open jumper from the right elbow hit nothing but net with 11 seconds remaining to give Chattanooga the lead again, 85-84.

After Hohn frantically rushed the ball up the floor, he turned the ball over, as Trey Bonham came up with a steal and the ball ended up in the hands of Honor Huff, and it appeared the Mocs were going to have a great chance to increase their lead to three with just 2.7 remaining. However, the normally reliable Honor Huff missed both free throws, leaving the Anteaters one more opportunity trailing only by one.

After a Russell Turner used a timeout to draw up a play, Tillis launched a pass long down the floor to Leuchten, who caught it, and then his feed found a wide open Jurian Dixon, however, his layup attempt off the right side just before the buzzer sounded was no good and Chattanooga celebrated its first NIT Title and one of the biggest achievements in the history of the Mocs tradition-rich program.