SoCon Hoops 2025 Top 10 Countdown
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| Chattanooga wins the 2025 NIT (photo courtesy of UTC athletics) |
It's that time we all love for our favorite mid-major basketball conference, as I have put together a list of what I think are the top 10 moments of 2025 for Southern Conference basketball, which takes into account the start of the conference play all the way back last January all the way until present day.
There have been plenty of fun moments that we won't soon forget that helped define the calendar year of 2025.
With that said, here are 10 that I have picked.
10. Two trip-dubs in a calendar year--When Jaden Seymour started of the 2025 calendar year with 18 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists against VMI, few could have guessed that a program, which had only two previous to Seymour's accomplishment, would be just the first of two such performances within the calendar year, but that would indeed be the case.
Fast-forward 332 days to Nov. 29, 2025 and to virtually an entirely new roster and the same program name on the front of the jersey produced its second triple-double of the calendar year, as SIU-Edwardsville transfer Brian Taylor II scored 14 points, pulled down 14 boards and dished out 14 assists in helping the Bucs to a lopsided 80-57 win home win over Central Arkansas to begin the 2025-26 season. It is part of an 8-5 start to the new season for the Bucs.
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| VMI players following quarterfinal upset of UNCG (photo courtesy of VMI athletics) |
9. Streak that Ended and Ones that Extended--Furman's 80-77 win over Chattanooga in the semifinals of the Southern Conference Tournament meant that for the first since 2017, the top overall seed in the SoCon Tournament...aka the regular-season champion...would not cut down the nets in Asheville.
Honor Huff's last-chance three off an inbounds pass was no good, and it ended a streak of nine-straight SoCon Tournament titles won by the No. 1 overall seed entering the tourney. The last non No. 1 seed to win the SoCon Tournament was East Tennessee State in 2017, when it took the crown as the No. 3 seed, garnering that seed through tiebreakers despite finishing the season in a three-way tie with both Furman and UNCG. The loss by the Mocs ended a streak of 13-straight wins.
Chattanooga was dealt some harsh news just prior to the tournament, as the Mocs had top post player Frank Champion suffer a season-ending knee injury in the lead up to the SoCon Tournament, and without him in the paint, the Mocs struggled to duplicate their dominance in the front court, which they had enjoyed for much of the season.
Some streaks that remained intact included that fact that a 10th different champion was crowned on Monday night when Wofford knocked off No. 5 Furman, 95-88, in the title game matchup, as the 105th Southern Conference champion was crowned. It was a full-circle moment of sorts for Wofford, which not only was the most experienced team in the league and one of the most in all of college basketball in terms of returning production, but also a team that was the last to own the distinction of winning back-to-back tourney crowns when it won back-to-back titles in 2014 and '15, respectively.
Finally, VMI kept Mike Jones' UNCG Spartans 0-for-Asheville since winning it in Wes Miller's final season at the helm at UNCG in 2021, as the Spartans went one-and-done for a fourth-straight year in the Altitude City, with a 64-57 loss to No. 7 VMI.
Some called the Keydets the most dangerous No. 7 seed in the history of the Southern Conference Tournament, and while that might be a bit over the top, the fact that the Keydets beat both bitter rival The Citadel (W, 73-62) and to send The Citadel to the off-season following a streak of 19-straight losses, as the Bulldogs finished 5-25. That set the stage for VMI's epic upset of No. 2 seed UNCG.
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| Furman senior point guard PJay Smith Jr. vs. ETSU on Feb. 2, 2025 (photo courtesy of Furman athletics) |
8. PJay and QP--The two most electrifying players in SoCon Basketball over the course of the 2025 calendar year both started their careers at levels below NCAA Division I basketball, as Furman's PJay Smith Jr. and ETSU's Quimari Peterson were the two most electrifying point guards in the SoCon, and two of the most electrifying in all of mid-major basketball. The two were rightfully considered the top two in the SoCon, with Peterson taking home the SoCon Player of the Year honors, while Furman's Smith would join him on the all-conference team.
Peterson would end up topping the league in scoring (19.3 PPG) and steals (65), while ranking second in the league in three-point field goal percentage (42.2%). Peterson also finished with two 30+point performances to pace the league. All told, the Gary, Indiana native ended up leading the league in total field goals (225), total points (625), steals (65), steals-per-game (2.03) and three-point field goal percentage (42.5%).
PJay Smith was sensational in his own right, finishing second in the league in scoring (17.9 PPG), while pacing the SoCon in three-pointers made per game (3.44 PG/110 made threes). Smith delivered an epic performance on the final day of the regular-season against Wofford, as he posted 26 points, including the game-winning step-back three with 1.1 seconds remaining to clinch a 78-75 road win for the Paladins. Smith originally made his way to Furman two years ago when he transferred in from NCAA Division II member Lee University in Tennessee.
Quimari Peterson had his share of outstanding performances as well, as he posted 29 points and 13 rebounds in ETSU's 65-49 home win over UNC Greensboro last season, posting double-figure scoring performances in 31 of ETSU's 32 games last season, including 15 times in which he finished with 20 or more points. Peterson originally found his way to ETSU from John A. Logan College at the NAIA ranks, leading that program to its first-ever NJCAA National Championship during the 2022-23 season.
Peterson is currently playing his final season of basketball at the University of Washington, where he is averaging 9.8 PPG and 3.3 RPG. PJay Smith Jr. is currently playing professional basketball in Manchester, England.
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| Former Samford head coach Bucky McMillan (photo courtesy of Samford athletics) |
7. Bucky's and his Ball Bounced Out to College Station--For five seasons, Bucky McMillan was the talk of Southern Conference basketball, and Bucky Ball was a sensation throughout the nation of mid-major college basketball. Then on April 4, 2025, it was learned that Bucky was going to take his ball to the big-time, as he left to become the new head coach of the Texas A&M Aggies in the big, bad SEC.
During his five years, he restored Samford basketball from the doormat of the Southern Conference, winning 99 games over a four-year span, including helping the Bulldogs reach the NCAA Tournament and NIT in his final two seasons as the head coach in Homewood.
He led the Bulldogs to an historic 2023-24 season, which saw the Bulldogs win a school-record 29 games, getting the Bulldogs back to the Big Dance for the first time in 23 years. He helped the Bulldogs to a 15-3 record in SoCon play in the regular-season and the top overall seed in the league's annual tournament held at the Harrah's Cherokee Center in Asheville.
The Bulldogs knocked off No. 8 Mercer (W, 70-57), No. 5 Furman (W, 84-77) and No. 7 East Tennessee State (W, 76-69) en route to winning the 2024 SoCon Tournament. The Bulldogs then followed that up by giving the Kansas Jayhawks all it could handle in the NCAA Tournament.
His pressing philosophy kept the pressure on for the entire 40 minutes of basketball, much like when Nolan Richardson was the head coach at Arkansas, developing a fun style of his own, which was known as "40 Minutes of Hell."
All told, McMillan finished his career at Samford with an impressive 99-52 record, winning 51 of those games in his final two campaigns as the head coach. Currently as head coach of the Aggies, McMillan has posted a 9-3 record.
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| WCU forward Vernon Collins (photo courtesy of Western Carolina athletics) |
6. New Eras Begin at Mercer and Western Carolina--Both Mercer and Western Carolina underwent coaching changes prior to the 2024-25 season, with Ryan Ridder taking over a Mercer program looking to revive its tradition, while Tim Craft assumed the reins of a Western Carolina that has taken big steps in recent years under both Justin Gray and before that Mark Prosser.
It was fitting, then, that the two should face off against one another in the opening round and game of the 2025 Southern Conference Tournament and to no one's surprise, the game produced an epic thriller, as the Bears would end up putting on a great game to open the 105th Southern Conference Tournament, with Mercer holding off the Catamounts for a 67-66 win.
Both Craft and Ridder had their share of growing pains to endure during the 2024-25 season, however, both also had their moments and helped produce two of the biggest upsets in the regular-season in SoCon hoops, with the Bears taking down eventual league champion Chattanooga, 99-94, in overtime their SoCon opener, with Tyler "Chip" Johnson and Ahmad Robinson combining to score 51 of the Bears' 99 points, as Johnson led the way with 26, while Robinson added 25 in the win.
Western Carolina's moment would be a little further in the future, as the Catamounts took down perennial league title contender ETSU, 76-67, at the Ramsey Center. Five Catamount players found their way into double figures, with reigning SoCon Player of the Week Marcus Kell leading the way with 18 points, as the Catamounts exploded for a huge second half, outscoring the Bucs 45-29 in the second half.
Kell's 18-point effort was part of a flurry that he ended the season on, as he found his way into double figures in WCU's final 12 games in 2024-25 season. The 6-8 forward from Fort Mill, S.C., posted a career-high 31 points in a road loss at Chattanooga late in the season.
The Bears and Catamounts finished off decent campaigns in 2024-25, with both having major rebuilding projects to undertake from the outset of taking their respective positions as head coach at each of the two programs. The Catamounts finished ninth in the SoCon, finishing the season with an 8-22 record and a 4-14 league mark, while Mercer capped the 2024-25 season with a 14-19 overall record, which included a 6-12 mark in league play.
At 8-5 so far this season, the Bears appear to be a bit ahead of schedule when it comes to being a title contender in the SoCon, while Western Carolina is currently 4-7, having faced off against an incredibly tough non-conference slate.
Between the two programs already this season, the two teams have faced off against Clemson, No. 25 Georgia, Central Florida, Virginia Tech, Washington State, No. 19 Tennessee, No. 6 Duke, and Cincinnati in 2025-26.
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| UTC huddles before game in NIT vs. Middle Tennessee State (photo courtesy of UTC athletics) |
5. Three SoCon Teams In NIT--While it hasn't been easy for multiple teams to break through and make noise in the Big Dance, one of the avenues that has been available for the league to make some noise on a big stage in the college basketball postseason has been the NIT.
Regular-season champion Chattanooga already knew that if it didn't win the SoCon Tournament in Asheville, it would have the NIT as a Consolation prize, and the Mocs would eventually make the most of that consolation prize.
Both Furman and Samford would join the Mocs as a part of the of the National Invitational Tournament, which had the feel of being an elite mid-major postseason tournament more than ever last March. Only Georgia Tech (ACC) and Oklahoma State (Big 12) competed in the postseason tournament from power conferences.
It's been rumored that Samford's team had already hit the off-season to enjoy vacation until they learned that they would be in the NIT, so beach plans had to be put on hold for some, who had already arrived at their spring break destination. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, it would be a rude ending to the season, facing off against a good George Mason team in Fairfax, and the Patriots would promptly send the Bulldogs back on vacation by dispatching Samford, 86-69, in an opening round matchup.
Furman would fair a little better in its road matchup against North Texas in Denton, as the Paladins put up a good fight against the 2023 NIT Champions before eventually dropping a 75-64 contest. Chattanooga's run is detailed later in the countdown.
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| Wofford's Kyler Filewich vs. Furman in the SoCon title game (photo courtesy of SoConSports.com) |
4. An Unlikely Champion and a Championship Epic in Asheville
Wofford might be the unlikeliest history in the history of the nation's oldest conference sponsored postseason tournament.
When Dwight Perry's Terriers arrived in Asheville, they were pretty much an afterthought, or for a lack of better of a better way to put it, the Terriers were like the guy that had stayed too long at the party without knowing when to leave. When Wofford was under the direction of Mike Young, the Terriers won five titles in a 10-year span, with none greater than that 2018-19 team that won 30 games and posted an 18-0 mark.
Since that time, the Terriers had been flirtatious with no takers, and quite simply, they haven't been a program that has approached the standard that Young and Wofford had established between 2009-19 before leaving for Virginia Tech.
One look at Kyler Filewich's game face told you that the guy that had stayed too long at the party had one last trick up his sleeve, and that he was ultimately going to end up wooing Cinderella before the clock eventually struck midnight. There was no quit in Filewich or this group of rabid Terriers.
Wofford had been very mediocre during the regular-season and had dropped two of its last three games entering the 2025 tournament, with both of those losses coming at the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium.
The Terriers finished just 10-8 in Southern Conference play, losing a heartbreaker to the very team they would go on to defeat in the championship game, as Furman came to Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium and got a long, top-of-the-key three-pointer from PJay Smith Jr. three-pointer with 1.1 seconds remaining to take home a 78-75 win in Spartanburg in s battle that determined the No. 5 and 6 seeds, respectively for the upcoming Southern Conference Tournament.Wofford would get its revenge nine days later in Asheville before a sold-out, raucous atmosphere at the Harrah’s Cherokee Center, providing one of the best championship game atmospheres in the great history of the league.
Wofford found one last spurt, and it was its leadership—that talent that it been able to retain—that provided the ultimate statement in the end for the Terriers, as the three seniors Wofford retained (Kyler Filewich, Corey Tripp, and Jackson Sivills) and the one addition from the transfer portal (Justin Bailey) that ended up scoring each of the final 13 points of the game that proved to be decide the final outcome. It was a fitting end to a season where expectations were high coming into the season, tempered after some struggles in non-conference play, and then heightened again with a win at Saint Louis and a strong early start to league play, only to be tempered by the way Wofford struggled in the stretch run of the season, with the ability to hold a lead late in games.
Wofford had blown late leads in games at home against Samford and Furman in late February, while in early January, a 20-point blown lead in a road loss to eventual regular-season champion Chattanooga was particularly hard to swallow. But Wofford made it all right with its three-game run in Asheville, which was only its second three-game winning streak of the calendar year.
It was Jackson Sivills’ night to shine, as he scored a career-high 20 points in the last victory he would ever be a part of in a Wofford uniform. Not to be overlooked was the comprehensive tournament performance from Kyler Filewich, who took home Tournament Most Outstanding Player honors following his outstanding leadership and work on the boards in Asheville. Without him, Wofford likely doesn’t cut down the nets and punch a ticket to the Big Dance.
While all those reasons were stacked against Wofford when it arrived in Asheville, the one thing that wasn't was lack of experience and their own personal self-belief, and those were exactly the right mix for Wofford to become the first No. 6 seed in SoCon history to ever win the tournament.
The Terriers were highly regarded in the preseason, however, as many saw the fact that Wofford was able to retain so much production from the 2023-24 team as a major positive. Led by a physical frontcourt that valued the art of rebounding in the form of Filewich, the Terriers would end up garnering a tough 72-60 win over East Tennessee State in the opening game of SoCon Madness in Asheville, and that was enough to get the Terriers going.
Following the upset of the No. 3 seed Bucs, Wofford would get some help from VMI, which upset UNC Greensboro 64-57 in the classic No. 7 over No. 2 game that always seems to take place in Asheville to take their spot in the semifinal, and by this time the Keydets were running on empty, and that path to the championship game was seemingly paved on Old Gold and Black. Wofford won its semifinal with relative ease, knocking off the pesky Keydets, 85-65.
That set the stage for what was one of best offensive displays in a SoCon title in the history of the postseason classic. Unfortunately, Wofford's mediocre season coupled with being the No. 6 overall seed in the SoCon meant the Terriers would be the No. 15 seed in the NCAA Tournament, as Wofford headed for Lexington, KY., to face No. 2 Tennessee.
Though the Terriers fought hard, they didn't have enough to offer the Vols any real threat in what turned out to be a 77-62 setback. The NCAA Tournament appearance marked Wofford's sixth since 2010.
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| Furman true freshman point guard Alex Wilkins |
3. Fabulous Freshmen--One of the over-arching themes in the Southern Conference in 2025 has been the fabulous freshmen on the SoCon hoops scene. It's hard to know how much the transfer portal has factored in as of yet, but we can truly say that it has had at least some impact on the ability for some programs in the league to garner the type of talent they wouldn't ordinarily have been able to get.
The SoCon has truly had some great talents that have gone on to have tremendous freshman seasons over the years, and when you start talking about "magical" freshman seasons in the SoCon, it all starts with one player, in former Davidson guard Stephen Curry.
Curry is one of the real talents that made his name known nationally with his ability as a shooter and scorer. Before him, a guy named Kyle Hines, who was a double-double machine during his time at UNCG also comes to mind as another of the league's truly outstanding talents. The latest talent to come through the league is Furman point guard Alex Wilkins.
The 6-5-point guard is truly a special player and has already found his way into double figures 10 times in Furman's 13 games, including five times with 20 or more points. So have even made the claim that Wilkins is the best freshman since Curry, but that, of course, remains to be seen. What I can tell you is that he is truly a different talent. At the end of non-conference play, Wilkins is averaging 16.8 PPG to rank fourth in the league in scoring, while his 4.77 APG this season has the freshman guard in second behind only Mercer's talented freshman point guard Baraka Okojie.
Wilkins hasn't been the only freshman to shine in 2025, however. Others like Chattanooga's Tate Darner, VMI's Mario Tatum Jr., UNCG's KJ Younger and Wofford's Brian Sumpter have all been part of an obvious youth movement taking place in the Southern Conference. It's going to be fun to watch this group as we get into conference play and the calendar turns to 2026.
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| Former Wofford Head Coach Dwight Perry (courtesy of the NCAA.com) |
2. Wofford's Weird Year on the Hardwood--While most would obviously summarize Wofford's 2025 calendar year as an overwhelming success, considering where the Terriers are currently under new head coach Kevin Giltner, and where they ended the 2024-25 season under Dwight Perry, which was as SoCon Champions and the league's representative in the NCAA Tournament.
However, how they got from Perry to Giltner is one of the most bizarre stories the SoCon hardwood has ever produced. It's got it all. Drama, athletic department turmoil, living situations for student athletes, and lemonade stand type money being thrown around, as well as NCAA sanctions being threatened as a result. Truly salacious.
The truth of it is we probably haven't heard the real story because this one sounds like a witch hunt, or it sounds like a cover story for what was the real reason Perry was suddenly removed as head coach in mid-September, which was less than two months from the start of the 2025-26 season.
Perry and top assistant Tysor Anderson were let go as a result of essentially going around the administration's approval to secure off-campus housing by paying the rent up front for six newcomers, which violated a policy that stated that all first-year student athletes at Wofford must live on-campus.
Social media sites were abuzz, making some outrageous comments towards the much-maligned college athletics governing body, which has allowed players at major schools to be paid countless millions, while levying sanctions against six Wofford basketball players over less money than it costs to pay a cable bill per month. That is until the NCAA, which rarely tweets to defend its name, did just that, making the statement that no player eligibility issues were at stake as a result of an ongoing investigation by the school.
The players moved off campus according to the reports, which was paid for with NIL money, however, they kept an on-campus meal plan, which was against Wofford's bylaws. No NCAA infractions were incurred due to any misuse of NIL money and if there was any misuse of the revenue share, it was an athletic department law and not an NCAA bylaw.
No NCAA eligibility issues are at stake, as the central issue is a Wofford bylaw about student-athletes being required to live on campus to partake in the meal plan. Below is the originally reported story by Jeff Goodman of On3 and Field of 68.
The only way the news came to light of the athletic department administration at Wofford was due to the fact that it was alleged that Wofford's Volleyball coach, Lynze Roos, had taken up issue with the school policy violations regarding first-year student-athletes that had been allowed to go unpunished, as she was informed of the basketball players living off campus and eating on-campus from her players. Again, this is alleged, but from the folks I have talked to, this story checks out as the most accurate version of events.
Even if this "tattle tale" mystery is true, it seems like there is an issue between coaches of different sports over small stuff that should never have escalated to level which they reached. There is also the conspiratorial belief by some that Wofford just let this entire story play out and the real reasons for Perry and Anderson's dismissal will never truly be known.
What I can tell you is that Wofford, which was picked ninth out of 10 teams by the league's coaches as a result of this truly crazy story at the league's annual media day held in Greenville, S.C., has thrived under new head coach Kevin Giltner.
Giltner was the coach that I felt should have been the guy to lead Wofford basketball back in 2019 after Mike Young originally left for Virginia Tech and ultimately Young ended up taking Giltner with him when Wofford decided to hire Jay McAuley instead.
After the December 2021 dismissal of McAuley for some bizarre findings regarding practice times and harsh treatment of players, Wofford decided to hire Dwight Perry on as the full-time head coach after Perry had done such a good job of managing the team and had been able for the most part to keep the program from completely becoming a dumpster fire after the fallout from the firing of McAuley.
Then came the Perry saga in the summer of 2025, and finally the administration got the right guy, albeit under some very bizarre circumstances. From here, however, Giltner has managed to help shine some positive light back on Wofford's hoops program, and the Terriers have been one of the most remarkable stories in mid-major basketball so far this season.
All six players that the Terriers had been in danger of losing have returned, and despite losing the entire starting five from a year ago that won the league to either the transfer portal or to other programs, Wofford has been able to post the second-best record in the league to this point in the season, with its 8-5 record tied with both Mercer and ETSU for the best mark in the SoCon through non-conference play.
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| Photo courtesy of UTC athletics |
1. Chattanooga Chases Down History-- For the past decade, the SoCon has made more than a case to get a second bid to the NCAA Tournament, but the most emphatic statement might have come in the 2024-25 basketball season, as Chattanooga (29-9, 15-3 SoCon) became the first team in Southern Conference history to win the National Invitational Tournament (NIT), as well as also becoming the first SoCon team to play in an NCAA sanctioned championship game since 1959, when West Virginia dropped what was a 71-70 contest to California in the championship game of the NCAA Tournament.
This Mocs 2024-25 team will now rank as one of the top teams in Chattanooga’s Basketball history, as it will rank right up there alongside teams like the 2015-16 team, which also won 29 games, as well as the 1996-97 team that went all the way to Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament.
The Mocs would close out the 2024-25 season with a 29-9 overall record and were an impressive 15-3 in Southern Conference play to claim the program’s 13th regular-season crown. The 85-84 win over UC Irvine in the championship game of the NIT gave the SoCon its first-ever title in an NCAA sanctioned tournament, and helped further increase the profile of the Southern Conference profile, which has continued to sustain its success as an elite level mid-major over the better part of the past decade, finishing 13th in the KenPom rankings for the second-straight season.
These kinds of stories are reserved for the league’s where the real basketball is still played in the United States of America in a new era of college athletics dominated by the transfer portal and NIL at the power conference levels. And wouldn’t you know that the team that cut down the nets in college basketball’s oldest postseason tournament, which is again sanctioned by the NCAA, was a team that at its heart was a mix of passed over guards that were too small to play at a higher level, and NCAA Division II stars with a hunger for one final opportunity to play NCAA Division I Basketball.
Those are the kind of ingredients you need to win a championship, and when Furman handed Chattanooga an 80-77 overtime loss in the Southern Conference Tournament, there was heartbreak of course, as there should have been. However, the heartbreak wasn’t allowed to last beyond Asheville, and the Mocs, which had already qualified for the NIT prior to coming to Asheville, made the most of their new and final opportunity.
Trey Bonham and Honor Huff, in many ways, were the story for the Mocs coming into the season. The two veteran guards that would get one final chance to bring home the glory for Chattanooga after having started their respective careers with their current head coach, Dan Earl, at VMI back in the 2020-21 season when Bonham arrived in Lexington, while Huff would show up a year later.
Once competitive rivals at VMI for playing time, the two ended up being best friends and ended up enjoying quite the adventure playing together during their time at both VMI and Chattanooga.
I venture to guess that neither could have envisioned becoming a part of something special as they were in March of 2025, as the two essentially helped will Chattanooga to the title. Bonham even tried to leave for one year prior to making his way to Chattanooga, as he played the 2022-23 season with the Florida Gators, while Huff awaited his opportunity to suit up for the Mocs. The SoCon has a rule that any in-conference transfer that isn’t a grad transfer there is a requirement to sit out at least one season.
It came as little surprise, then, that Bonham was the overwhelming favorite to win SoCon Player of the Year in the preseason, however, both Bonham and Huff would start the season rather inauspiciously, and by the time non-conference play came to an end, neither was leading the team in scoring, as UTC ended non-conference play with just an 8-5 record, but when you consider the Mocs started the season with an 0-3 mark with all losses coming on the road, it was quite the recovery.
Bonham and Huff started to regain their shooting touch and affect the game more profoundly on the offensive end about the time that Frank Champion started to become healthy towards the end of December.
Huff’s 31-point effort against Wofford on Jan. 15 at the Roundhouse would coincide with a collective switch being flipped for the Mocs. Chattanooga, which trailed that contest by 20 in the opening half, would end up finishing off an 83-81 win against a good Terriers team. Huff and Bonham would really begin to shine in the NIT, though, and when the lights were ultimately the brightest. On the national stage, if one wasn’t hitting the big shot, the other seemingly was.
It was Huff’s late triple against Middle Tennessee State with 11.1 seconds remaining in a triple-overtime, 109-103, win that gave the Mocs ultimate lift to victory in a game that he only scored a total of six points in. The only game the Mocs really didn’t need the heroics as much in during their 2025 NIT Title run was the only home game they played as a part of the journey, which was against top seed Dayton.
Not to be outdone, Bonham, the preseason SoCon Player of the Year, was beginning to look the part of that in the NIT, and he followed up his 27-point effort in the opener against MTSU in the triple-overtime thriller by posting 25 points against the Flyers, as he would end up connecting on 8-of-13 shots from the field, which included going 3-of-5 from three-point range and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the line. One thing that was especially to UTC’s success all season, but particularly in the NIT, was his rebounding ability relative to his size, at just 5-10. He helped posted a team-high eight rebounds against the Flyers, and that came on the heels of what was a 10-rebound effort in the NIT opener win at Middle Tennessee State.
The journey would get tougher, but so did Bonham and Huff. It was a trip to Bradley that would see the Mocs face maybe their biggest obstacle and most adversity along their championship chase. Playing against another worthy opponent, the Mocs found themselves down 16 points in the opening half, and were down by as many as 11 early in the second half, however, powered by a combined 38 points from both Bonham and Huff, including some clutch shooting late by Bonham, the Mocs held off the Braves for a 67-65 road win at Carver Arena, becoming just the second SoCon team to ever reach the NIT Final Four and the first since 1947.
Huff led the way with his 21-point effort coming on an 8-for-17 effort from the field, which included a 5-for-13 effort from long-range and added three assists, one steal and one rebound to his overall totals in 40 minutes of action. Bonham finished his night by contributing a 5-for-12 shooting effort from the field, which included a 4-for-8 effort from long-range and was a perfect 3-for-3 from the free throw line. Bonham added six rebounds, one assist, one block and one steal in the win.
With the game tied, 64-64, UTC head coach Dan Earl called timeout and drew up one final "picket fence" play to take the Mocs into their own version of a Hoosiers-like story next week at Hinkle Fieldhouse, as Huff served as the decoy and Bonham played the role of Jimmy Chitwood, with his corner three with 14.2 seconds left giving the Mocs a three-point lead and put all the pressure on the Braves. The Mocs would make that hold up, winning a thrilling 67-65 decision to reach its first-ever NIT Final Four.
Following that win Bonham and Huff would be asked to deliver at least one more time in the clutch to get the Mocs to the grandest stage of all, which would be a place in the NIT Championship game. With Chattanooga having already faced adversity in the tournament at least twice, a four-point deficit (38-34) against another good opponent, in Atlantic 10 opponent Loyola-Chicago must’ve seemed small by comparison to the deficit the Mocs were faced with at Bradley, which was a 13-point at the break.
Bonham continued his string of 20-plus scoring performances, adding a game-high 23 points on 10-of-16 shooting from the field and 3-for-6 shooting from long range, while Huff added a modest 12 points on 4-of-13 shooting from the field and 4-for-10 from three-point land, as the Mocs slid past the Ramblers, 80-73, and into the NIT Championship game. While Huff scored only 12, it was his shooting down the stretch that once again made the difference in a Mocs victory. His three with 35 seconds remaining, helped the Mocs go up two possessions, putting the final nail in the coffin of the Ramblers.
While Huff and Bonham led the Mocs to the championship game, it was others that would end up sharing the spotlight down the stretch in the Mocs’ championship win over UC Irvine, and that’s quite alright by the two that had been such a big part of the reason why Chattanooga was able to make it to the biggest stage possible in the postseason. In the 85-84 overtime win over the Anteaters, Bonham and Huff combined to score 36 points in the championship game, with Bonham posting 19 points in the championship game, while Huff added 14.
UTC’s Newcomers Were Vital
Garrison Keeslar, Makai Richards, Frank Champion, Jack Kostel and Bash Wieland were a collection of guys that would prove to be exactly the right mix for the Mocs as the season unfolded, and it was that collection of newcomers, as well as others stepping in and stepping up, like “Big Maple” better known as Collin Mulholland, and others like big men Sean Cusano and Latif Diouf helped form just the right mix to help the Mocs attain their own place as a part of Chattanooga’s rich tradition and basketball lore.
For guys like Keeslar, Kostel, and Champion, it was also a chance to show that they could play at the highest level of NCAA Basketball, as the trio all came from the NCAA Division II level prior to making their way to the Scenic City.
For Keeslar, he finished the season as the nation’s leader in assist-turnover ratio (5.62), he was the ultimate “glue guy” for the Mocs during the 2024-25 season, and it was his “winning DNA” that any many ways captured the essence of just what this version of the Chattanooga Mocs was, which is one of the best in the rich basketball history of the school.
It was fitting then, that Keeslar’s 15-footer with 11 seconds left would be the final points of the season, as Chattanooga held off UC Irvine, 85-84, in the NIT Championship game. Only four teams will end the college basketball season with a win, however, it’s even rarer for a player to close out his career with a win for the final game he will likely put on a basketball uniform anywhere, although he’ll likely get some opportunities.
Keeslar’s leadership and effect on the team was first noted early on in SoCon play in a home game against eventual tournament champion Wofford, and it was a game that the Mocs trailed by as much as 20 points. At one point in that game, he dove out of bounds after a loose ball late in the first half against the Terriers, risking what could have been a rather serious injury, however, that proved to be from my estimation not only a turning point in that game, but perhaps for entire 2024-25 season. Keeslar dove into the bleachers and risked a few broken teeth to come up with the basketball, and that would help set a notable tone for the remainder of that game and for the remainder of the season. UTC eventually turned that large first-half deficit into an 83-81 overtime home win over the Terriers. Keeslar was widely regarded as the team’s best defender, and with his team-leading 118 assists for the 2024-25 season, also its best passer. Keeslar, who originally transferred into to UTC from little known Division II program Walsh University in North Canton, OH, and he finished out his college basketball career by averaging 6.3 PPG and 4.7 RPG to go along with those 118 helpers, while his 47 steals ranked second on the team. He ended the season seeing action in all 38 contests, including starting in 37 of those contests.
Frank Champion came to Chattanooga as an already well-decorated college basketball player at the Division II level, as he opted to spend his final season in the Mocs Blue and Gold after transferring in from just up the road at North Georgia College where he was named an NABC All-American after helping North Georgia College to an impressive 28-7 mark (13-5 Peach Belt), while averaging 17.6 PPG, 7.5 RPG and 4.6 APG during his final season in his final season in Dahlonega.
Champion would become a key piece to Chattanooga’s championship run, and he was there for the biggest part of that run, which was during conference play. For the first month and much of the final one, Champion spent his time on Chattanooga’s bench as the team’s main cheerleader, as his presence on the floor this season was easy to see. With him in the lineup in SoCon play, the Mocs were too deep and nearly unbeatable at one stretch of the season. In fact, the Mocs would win their final 11 games of the regular season, and that was thanks in large part to what contributions that Champion was able to provide.
The Mocs were able to weather the adversity of not having Champion for the most part in the early portions of the season, as the North Georgia College transfer wouldn’t return for the Mocs until a late non-conference test against Lipscomb, and one which would yield one of UTC’s nine losses on the season, as the Mocs dropped an 80-62 contest to the Bisons. Champion would contribute three points in 18 minutes of action in his first NCAA Division I game, as we worked his way back to 100% health-wise, however, it would only be a matter of time before Champion’s effect on Dan Earl’s offensive scheme would begin to show, and it really kind of coincided with Chattanooga’s first game in league play and first game of 2025, which would come on the road at Mercer.
Though he would record 12 points, three rebounds and an assist in a late non-conference road win at Evansville, Champion would really begin to come to life as a player with the start of conference play and in a road test at upstart Mercer. Though the Mocs would eventually end up losing the game to the Bears, 99-94, in overtime, Champion’s performance didn’t go unnoticed, as he finished the contest a season and Chattanooga-high 24 points to go with seven rebounds and an impressive six assists.
Champion’s performance against Mercer in the SoCon opener marked one of the three 20-point scoring performances during SoCon play, with his 24-point effort against the Bears marking his high-scoring total for the Mocs in a Chattanooga uniform. He also finished the season a 20-point, six-rebound effort in a win at Wofford, while recording his final 20-point scoring performance against Western Carolina and also finished with 21 points, nine assists and eight rebounds in the late-season home win over the Catamounts, flirting with a triple-double. All told, Champion finished the season with 14 double-figure scoring performances in 23 games, starting 22 of those contests.
He finished the regular-season and his Chattanooga career averaging 11.4 PPG, 4.7 RPG and 3.8 APG, as he garnered Second-Team All-SoCon honors for his efforts. Unfortunately for Champion and for the Mocs, in the lead-up to the Southern Conference Tournament in Asheville, Champion would end up suffering a season-ending knee injury during mid-week practice, and while it would affect the Mocs not having him in the lineup in the Southern Conference Tournament, the Mocs would adjust by the time the NIT rolled around.
Following the injury to Champion, it was up to guys like Collin Mulholland, Makai Richards, Sean Cusano and Latif Diouf off the bench. It was Mulholland that, in the biggest game of the Mocs’ season and in one of its biggest in program history, that would step up and really shine for the Mocs, and the biggest thing he did right in the Mocs’ 85-84 win over the Anteaters was he didn’t stop shooting the basketball.
Mulholland was especially big for the Mocs throughout the NIT, and in including his 19-point effort in the championship win, Big Maple also scored in double figures in wins over Middle Tennessee State (21 pts) and in the home win over Dayton (11 pts).
The Kitchener, Canada product scored a season and career-high 21 points in UTC’s opening round, 109-103, triple overtime thriller at Middle Tennessee State. In that contest, he posted his season and career high performance by going 6-of-10 from the field, which included a 3-for-7 effort performance from three-point range and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line in the classic of a game. All told, Mulholland finished his first season in a Chattanooga uniform seeing action in 36 games, which included logging five starts and averaged 6.0 PPG, 2.1 RPG and 1.4 APG.
The good news for Dan Earl and the rest of Mocs fans out there is that Mulholland is back for three more years and has a huge upside, and will only gain in skill and shooting ability over the off-season. He finished the 2024-25 season with a 48.1 FG% (76-of-158) and shot a solid 35.2% (31-of-88) from three-point land.
Makai Richards will have one season of eligibility after transferring into Chattanooga prior to the start of the 2024-25 season. Like Mulholland, the 6-10, 225-lb big man was especially big for the Mocs after Champion went out of the lineup with a season-ending knee injury just prior to the Southern Conference Tournament. Richards raised more than a few eyebrows with his early-season performance against one of the perennial mid-major powers, in St. Mary’s, as the Pacific transfer would end up posting a season-high 19 points in what was an 86-74 loss to the Gaels. Richards would go 8-of-12 from the field, which included finishing the contest with one of his two made three-pointers on the season, as he finished 1-for-1 from long range.
As the season progressed, his role would end up reaching into the double-figure scoring column three more times during the season, posting 17 points in a solid win over Bryant, while finishing out the postseason with two more double-figure scoring efforts, posting 10 points in the SoCon Tournament quarterfinal win over Mercer, and added 10 points in UTC’s NIT semifinal win over Loyola-Chicago. Richards will return as a key piece to the puzzle for Dan Earl’s team in 2025-26, and his role and minutes increased during the postseason with the injury to Champion. He will be a viable building block for the Chattanooga frontcourt moving forward into next season.
Another player with tremendous upside in the frontcourt heading into the 2025-26 season is Latif Diouf.
Like Richards, Diouf would see his role increase as the season progressed and then met with some adversity with a minor injury, however, would return late in the season to have an impact on Dan Earl’s winning formula.
The 6-9, 240-lb true freshman from Gouda, Netherlands started out the season as being one of the impact players in the paint for the Mocs while Champion worked his way back from an injury.
Diouf would start the first nine games of the season and would log action in a total of 31 games with nine starts, and showed a very high skill level in his action on the floor this season. His passing skills are exceptional; however, he needs to work on improving his perimeter shooting during the off-season. He enjoyed his best scoring performance in the second game of the season against St. Mary’s, posting eight points in 20 minutes of action. Diouf finished the season averaging
Rounding out the puzzle in the paint for the Mocs in the 2024-25 season was 6-9, 215-lb sophomore Sean Cusano, who like Diouf, Mulholland and Richards, is set to return to the fold next season and it gives the Mocs a trio that will be considered one of the best frontcourt trios in the league next season.
Cusano has a game similar to Mulholland’s, and he is much more athletic than his frontcourt teammate in the low-post. Cusano found his way into double figures in five games during the 2024-25 season, and it would be highlighted by a 16-point effort in a win over non-Division I foe Johnson. He would finish the season seeing action in 35 games, which included four starts. The native of Hilton Head, S.C., would finish out the season averaging 4.5 PPG and 3.7 RPG.
Finally, both Bash Wieland and Jack Kostel had a profound impact on winning this season for the Mocs, and for Wieland, he was unquestionably the best player through non-conference play, especially while Trey Bonham and Honor Huff found their rhythm offensively.
Wieland joined Richards as the only Division I additions from the transfer portal during the off-season. The 6-6, 215-lb senior guard finished the season as a Second-Team All-SoCon selection, as the Bellarmine transfer fit right in the rotation for the Mocs from the outset of the season.
The senior guard started 35 of the 36 games he was a part of this season, and Wieland entered the season nursing a minor injury, which forced him to miss the season-opening trip to California.
He would return to the lineup when the Mocs returned to the Volunteer State to take on Austin Peay. His impact was almost immediate, and though the Mocs would lose a 67-61 contest in Clarksville, Wieland shined in the game, posting 19 points in the six-point setback. It would end up being the first of 26 double-figure scoring performances for the graduate senior, with his season and career-high 31 points in the Mocs’ opening round NIT win at Middle Tennessee State. In the victory over the Blue Raiders, Wieland connected on 10-of-19 shots from the field, which included a 2-of-3 effort from long range. Wieland was a perfect 9-for-9 from the charity stripe against the Blue Raiders, and he played nearly 48 minutes! It was an incredible performance by Wieland, who had winning DNA from the outset for the Mocs, and though he played Division I basketball before at Bellarmine, played like he had been invested to Chattanooga as a Mocs player for four years.
Wieland finished the season by contributing 20+ scoring performances on nine occasions. About the only real weakness Wieland had as a part of his overall game was he wasn’t the greatest of perimeter shooting threats, finishing shooting just 31.6% (30-of-95) from long-range during his only season for the Mocs.
The final piece to the puzzle was Jack Kostel, who came to Chattanooga after playing four years at University of Alabama-Huntsville where he played former Mocs coach John Shulman. Kostel, a 6-2, 185-lb senior guard wasn’t a player that was going to provide a whole lot in the way of scoring; however, he did provide a great amount of energy off the bench, and he would find his way into double figures on three occasions during his only season with the Mocs.
Kostel provided what was needed at the time in any given game for the Mocs, whether it was diving on the floor after a loose ball, or knocking down a timely three, Kostel was the type player that seemingly had an uncanny ability to make the right play or the play his team needed at the exact opportune moment. Kostel also came off the bench to add 10 points in an important early February win over Furman.
Each newcomer added their own role into the mix, and the sum of those parts, which supplemented the two main cogs, in Honor Huff and Trey Bonham, proved to be what made the Mocs such a tough team and one that would put together one of the greatest runs of any team in program history, tying the school-record for wins and doing something no other Southern Conference team has done, which is win an NCAA-sanctioned tournament.
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