SoCon Hoops Summer Series 2026: Chattanooga Looks To Regroup After Dismal 2025-26 Season

 

  Chattanooga ( 13-19, 7-11 Socon/8th in SoCon)   

Chattanooga's NIT run was something for the whole league to celebrate at the end of the 2024-25 season, however, that awesome run in the spring of 2025, coupled with most of the team needing to replaced prior to the 2025-26 season, made for an incredibly tough rebuild. 

The season was dismal enough to warrant a place on the opening night of the Southern Conference Tournament, which is a place the Mocs rarely, if ever find themselves at the end of a college basketball season--in the play-in round of the Southern Conference Tournament. It must have seemed at least somewhat fitting then, that  the No. 9 seeded The Citadel Bulldogs ended the season mercifully for the Mocs and Earl, upsetting the Mocs 88-85 in the opening game of the Southern Conference Tournament. 

Another bizarre stat to come out of the forgettable season was the fact that the Mocs--for the first time in the 42-year history of the Roundhouse (Mckenzie Arena) --Chattanooga finished with a losing record on its home floor (7-8). That also seemed somewhat fitting seeing as how bizarre and uncanny the season was by Chattanooga's lofty standards.

Part of the problem last season was an injury bug that had a bite like few I've seen in my time covering the Southern Conference; however, that's not something Dan Earl nor his staff will let creep in as an excuse for last season's 13-19 campaign.

The 2025-26 season, however, wasn't all bad. We got to see the emergence of one of the best young point guards in the SoCon in Tate Darner, and the emergence of a potential future all-conference big man, in Josh Bowman. Those two will serve as the two pillars for future growth, which will start immediately in 2026-27. 

Darner and Bowman are two of six returnees off last season's roster, however, only three of those players saw action, with Darner and Bowman both logging the most time and significant roles as young players. 

The other returnee to carve out a significant role and set up an exceedingly bright future in the lineup last season as a walk-on was Houston Holland. Holland's ability as a shooter and hustle on both ends of the floor were two notable positives that Earl might not have discovered without that rash of injuries that seemingly hit the Mocs team all at once. 

The Mocs had what looked to be a dynamic backcourt heading into the season, which is the reason many had the Mocs to picked to repeat as the regular-season champions last season. With the likes of Teddy Washington Jr. (transferred in from SEMO), veteran point guard Brennan Watkins (transferred in from North Dakota State), gritty defender and good shooter Billy Smiith (Bellarmine), athletic combo guard Jikari Johnson (Trevecca Nazarene) and elite scoring guard Jordan Frison (Pittsburg State), Chattanooga had a collection of talent and depth in the backcourt that at least on paper, few could match.

But that is sometimes what happens when you play games on paper, and it's also what happens sometimes when you recruit too much talent in one area, which I kind of what I think happened to Earl and staff last season. 

The Mocs had too much talent and not enough minutes to make that talent happy and that, coupled with injuries from my perspective at least, had at least some if not all to do with overall team performance falling well below expectations last season. But that's just one man's viewpoint. 

Pittsburg  State transfer guard Jordan Frison, who was the UTC's most dynamic offensive player last season, said of the 2025-26 Mocs that it "was the most connected team he'd ever been a part of" at the postgame press conference following the 88-85 opening round loss to The Citadel to end UTC's season. That drew a confused scowl from head coach Dan Earl, as the comment didn't quite fit the narrative that was written by the team. 

Frison was part of a mass exodus, which was due to either being out of eligibility  or seeking better opportunities, for which the all-conference Mocs leading scorer chose the latter, as he will be a big part of the new crop of portal talent for Wichita State in 2026-27. 

The Mocs became almost totally reliant on that backcourt talent due to that rash of injuries hitting the frontcourt with some punch, affecting both front court depth, as well as shifting almost completely the team dynamic to being almost totally reliant on hitting perimeter shots, and when the Mocs did that a year ago, they could beat just about anyone, which they proved on the road at Mercer, handing the Bears their lone home loss (14-1 at Hawkins Arena in 2025-26) as well as knocking off other top teams, including also taking down Wofford on the road and Samford inside the friendly confines of McKenzie Arena. 

When the Mocs didn't hit their perimeter jumpers, they were capable of losing to anyone in 2025-26, which it proved in an allowing SoCon last-place VMI (1-17 in league play; defeated UTC 79-71 on Jan. 3 in first game of 2026) to pick up its lone conference win of the season, as well as dropping their first home contest to The Citadel since 2013 (L 78-71 at McKenzie Arena on Feb.7). The Mocs went a combined 16-of-53 (30.1%) from three-point range combined in those losses to VMI and The Citadel last season. 

Season-ending injuries to Sean Cusano, Sebastian Hartmann and a severely limited Collin Mulholland due to a pain tolerance issue with a nagging knee injury, spelled doom from almost the outset of the season.  

That severely compromised Mocs front court eventually forced the redshirt to be removed from Josh Bowman, who was scheduled to redshirt prior to the season, forced Earl to have to remove the redshirt to make the numbers work last season. Hartmann and Mulholland have moved on, while veteran Makai Richards is out of eligibility, leaving only Cusano and Bowman as the only returnees from last season's front court rotation. 

With the front court suffering so many injury issues in 2025-26, it would show up in several significant statistical categories, and it would cause some notable declines in areas, which had seen the Mocs perform well in as a part of their NIT title run in 2024-25. 

In fact, the injury bug in the front court led to a stark decline in almost every statistically measurable stat underneath the basket from a 2024-25 season, which even without Frank Champion in the opening portion and latter thirds of the season, was still both efficient on offense and rebounded the ball extremely well on both ends en route to a school-record 29 wins. 

Guys like Garrison Keeslar, Cusano, Mulholland, Richards and even Bash Wieland (even though he was a wing guard) were clutch and especially good on the backboards during that awesome NIT run.

In Chattanooga's NIT Title season, the Mocs ranked 135th in defensive rebounding percentage (29.0%), which is actually pretty good. 

In 2025-26, the Mocs finished the season ranked 240th in that same category, allowing teams to get 31.7% of the rebounds on their offensive end of the floor. That was due in large measure to the lack of overall size and depth at the disposal of Earl and staff. That left the team very much out of balance, with most nights having to rely on a steady diet of talented guards to make perimeter shots to ultimately get wins.

The backcourt issues weren't on the offensive end, but rather more of a defensive issue. Teams had easy access to the paint more often than not because of Chattanooga's lack of defensive focus. Outside of Teddy Washington Jr., the Mocs played perimeter defense at spots in most games, but far too often they were leaving an undermanned and oftentimes outmanned Mocs team in the low-post exposed and at the mercy of opposing bigs, and that would cause issues throughout the season. 

The good news is  that, for better or worse, most of that talent has moved elsewhere in the portal. The most notable loss in the backcourt from this past season is obviously Jordan Frison, who ended up being UTC's best portal "get" by far from the 2025-26 season.

Frison is now the latest guard from the SoCon ranks to join the Wichita State program, as he follows in the footsteps of former ETSU guard and 2025 SoCon Defensive Player of the Year Karon Boyd, as well as former All-SoCon guard and UNCG Spartan Kenyon Giles. 

Both Boyd and Giles had huge success this past season in Wichita, as Boyd started all 36 games and averaged 10.9 PPG and 5.8 RPG, while Giles finished out his campaign at WSU as the single-season record-holder for three pointers made (125), attempted (331), threes made per-game (3.47) and threes attempted per game (7.0), as well as finishing the season leading the Shockers in scoring at 19.1 PPG.

It's safe to say that the Shockers head coach--Paul Mills--likely sees a lot of the same in Frison. Despite UTC's struggles on the defensive end of the floor,  Frison was a player that had the kind of offensive capabilities to take over a game in the same way that Giles provided last season  for the Mocs. 

Frison finished out his one season at UTC by garnering Third-Team All-SoCon honors last season for the Mocs after leading UTC at 16.4 PPG, while also adding 3.3 RPG and a team-leading last season. He finished out his one season in the Scenic City by posting 25 double-figure scoring performances in the 29 total games he suited up for the Mocs this past season. 

He garnered SoCon Player of the Week honors in the final week of the regular-season, as he put the cherry on top of that performance with a career-high 33 points in the regular-season finale, 86-79, win over VMI. 

Like Giles, Frison also shot the ball well from three-point range, which was another reason that the Shockers came calling with checkbook ready. In his one season with Chattanooga, Frison connected on a blistering 45.1% (46-of-102) from three-point land. I see Frison being an instant offensive impact player for the Shockers in 2026-27.

Other losses include a pair of grad transfers, in Teddy Washington Jr (9.9 PPG, 4.4 RPG) and Jikari Johnson (7.0 PPG, 5.0 RPG), with neither player living up to maybe some of the preseason expectations that were bestowed upon each. Fair or unfair, that is one of the realities of getting paid, as your work is more there to be readily scrutinized.  

Billy Smith (9.0 PPG, 3.3 RPG) showed flashes in his final season of his playing career with Chattanooga, as did Brennan Watkins (10.2 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 45.6% from 3pt range), but both were a bit of a liability on the defensive end of the floor, especially when the opposition had especially athletic guards and wings. 

The future is now for Earl and staff, and not only did he have to seemingly assemble a new team from almost scratch once again, he also had to bid farewell to one his loyal assistants, in Associate Head Coach Scott Greenman, who decided to resign and pursue a career outside of basketball after an extensive 19-year coaching career. 

The Mocs are now a team on a mission and while there was a talent once again procured from the transfer portal, the challenge of getting back to the top of the league rather than sustaining the success you had is a challenge that hits differently, but one that Earl and staff will no doubt meet head on.

Chattanooga PG Tate Darner (photo courtesy of UTC athletics)

Portal Losses/Portal Adds and Returners

Despite the fact that there is only a total of five players returning off Chattanooga's roster from the 2024-25 season, there are seemingly a lot of good vibes going around the Mocs basketball program during the off-season, with the return of guards Tate Darner, Zach Bleshoy, Houston Holland and Liam Vitters, as well as Sean Cusano and Josh Bowman in the front court. 

It all starts with Tate Darner, who is a player that goes from being a rookie with a bright future to being a core leader as a sophomore, and he's a player that was forced to grow up a lot quicker than he might have originally perceived when he committed to UTC, but the major silver lining for Darner when he reflects on his career one day is the fact that the struggles of 2025-26 happened because it will shape his identity as a player and his leadership qualities in the future, which will begin in his sophomore season.

It also doesn't hurt that one of Darner's primary influences is his father, who is the son of a head coach, in Linc Darner, who is the current head coach of Division II program Tampa University. Darner has a high basketball IQ and is a player that showed an uncanny maturity for making the right decisions with the basketball last season.

Last season, the 6-4 Darner saw action in all 30 of 32 games, which included making 18 starts. He missed his lone two games of the season due to a minor injury, and his 27.5 minutes-per-game average last season ranked second on the team. 

Darner was right on the cusp of averaging in double figures for Chattanooga last season, finishing out the season averaging 9.9 PPG to go with 4.4 RPG and 1.7 APG. He showed his proficiency as a three-point shooter by connecting on 37.9% (53-of-140) from downtown last season, with his 53 made triples setting a new Chattanooga freshman record, as he surpassed former Mocs player Kevin Easley's mark of 50 made trifectas, which he recorded during the 2018-19 season.  

All told, Darner posted double figures in a total of 12 games during his rookie campaign, which included a season-high 18 points on 6-of-11 from the field in an early February home win over Mercer. Darner was also strong in his final performance of the 2025-26 season, which came in the opening round loss to The Citadel in the Southern Conference Tournament, finishing that contest with 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field, including going 4-for-7 from three-point land in the loss.

Darner also finished the campaign as a 73.6% (39-of-53) from the free throw line, while shooting a solid 45.1% (102-of-226) from the field. 

A player that might have been the best young talent on the roster, but didn't get a chance to play because of a preseason injury that ended his rookie campaign before it had a chance to begin is 6-4 guard Zach Bleshoy. One thing is for sure, and that is that if the injury had not occurred, the three-star prospect (247Sports) out of Marietta, GA and Pope HS would likely not have redshirted.

During his senior season at Pope, Bleshoy averaged 28 PPG, which included some nights scoring the basketball that you couldn't help but notice, posting performances of 39, 35, 29 and 39 points, respectively, during a five-game stretch early on his senior season in 2024-25. Bleshoy chose Chattanooga over several other reputable mid-majors, which included Tulane, Towson, Murray State, Southern Illinois, and Ohio to name a few. 

Bleshoy likely will fill the role as a combo guard for the Mocs in 2026-27, but he possesses the versatility to play the point, which is where he played when he was at Pope.  

HoopSeen ranked Bleshoy as  No. 20 prospect in the Peach State as a senior, while also ranking him the No. 4 point guard. The other major recruiting service to rank Bleshoy as a senior was 247Sports, which in addition to ranking him as a three-star recruit, also ranked him as the 69th-best shooting guard in the Peach State back during his senior season of 2024-25.

Junior guard Houston Holland is a player that played his way into the hearts of Mocs fans, teammates and coaches last season, and he was one of the few positives to emerge from a season that ended up being so disappointing in 2025-26. 

The 6-3 guard reminds me of a lot of guys that have paved their own way in this league as walk-ons in the past, and one that old guard--no pun intended--Chattanooga fans will remember from the 1996-97 season was a guy by the name of Wes Moore, and no I'm not referring to the former women's coach of the Mocs. Another that comes to mind is former App State sharp-shooter Matt McMahon, who was intstrumental in helping the Mountaineers to the 1999-00 SoCon title and has also turned in a pretty solid coaching career for himself following his playing days, with his most recent stop being LSU in 2025-26. 

Both Moore and McMahon were similar to Holland in that they were walk-ons that took full advantage on the opportunities they were given, and in both instances, were instrumental to leading their respective teams to SoCon titles and an NCAA Tournament appearance before their time came to an end. For Moore, his story would be part of one of the greatest athletic achievements in school history, which was helping the Mocs to the '97 Sweet Sixteen in the Big Dance.

While I am not saying Holland will lead Chattanooga to the Sweet Sixteen, NCAA Tournament or even a SoCon title next season or even in his final two years, what I am saying is that like Moore and McMahon, he has that 'it' factor and the positive vibes he gives off are seemingly contagious.

Holland was called into duty last season after the injury bug started to hit the team, and that included seeing action in 28 games, with four starts. Holland is a local product out of small Silverdale Baptist Academy.  He has one of the purest perimeter shots you'll ever see, shooting 46.3% (19-of-41) from the field and 50% (11-of-22) from three-point land last season. 

All told, Holland posted a total of 55 points, 46 rebounds, 16 assists, six steals, and three blocks, as logged a total of 284 minutes in 2025-26. Like Darner, Holland recorded his best overall performance in an early February home win over Mercer, as he finished with 12 points on four made triples in a career-high 24 minutes of floor time in the 79-75 home win.  He was an impressive 4-of-5 from long-range in the win.  Holland finished the season averaging 2.0 PPG, 0.6 RPG and 0.3 RPG. He will once again add depth at shooting guard.

Chattanooga Center Josh Bowman (photo courtesy of UTC Athletics)

Switching from the backcourt to the front court, the other two primary returnees off of last season's squad include both 6-9 wing forward Sean Cusano and 6-9 forward Josh Bowman. Cusano headed into 2025-26 season is one of the primary leaders for a team that graduated so much experience from the NIT Championship team of 2024-25. 

However, unfortunately Cusano would see his season end before it could really begin, appearing in only six games, which included four starts, as he would miss the final 26 games of the season due to suffering a season-ending knee injury on the final day of November in a home game against Tennessee State. 

He played 13 or more minutes in five games before suffering his season-ending knee injury in game six. His best performance of the season came in a game against Tennessee Wesleyan, as he scored a season-high 10 points on a 5-for-8 shooting performance. 

Now a senior, Cusano gives the Mocs the most on-floor experience of any player on the roster coming into the 2026-27 season. Cusano has seen action in a total of 44 games, including having made a total of eight starts in his two previous seasons with the Chattanooga basketball program. The Hilton Head, S.C., native would finish the season averaging 4.2 PPG, 2.7 RPG and 1.0 APG last season.

Another bright spot in a season in which there were few to be frank, was the play of true freshman Josh Bowman, who had planned on taking a redshirt, was called into duty as a result of those injuries last season, and he would perform admirably well.  

Bowman is still developing his overall offensive game, but it was his defense that stood out to me as a young player, as he was one of team's leading players when it came to both blocking shots and affecting shots. In 23 games during the 2025-26 season, Bowman blocked a total of 23 shots and he turned out to be a team-leader in that particular category last season. His 23 blocks in a single-season set a new Mocs freshman record, which had originally been set at 18 by former Mocs standout Sam Alexis back during the 2022-23 season. 

He flirted several times with double-figures on the offensive end of the floor, posting a season-high eight points on five different occasions as a true freshman last season. He recorded a season-high 11 rebounds in his second-career game against Oakwood. 

All told, he finished the season with nine games in which he recorded two or more blocks last season, finishing the campaign averaging 3.2 PPG, 2.5 RPG and 1.0 BPG along with shooting 49.2% (30-of-61) from the field. Bowman also logged eight starts in his 23 appearances last season for the Blue and Gold, and the 6-9, 220-lb true sophomore will be in competition to start underneath along with Cusano heading into the 2026-27 season. I look for the Huntsville, AL., native to be a potential breakout performer for UTC in the upcoming season

Combo guard/wing forward Liam Vitters rounds out the returnees from last season's roster for Chattanooga. The junior from Arlington, VA., missed the entire season with a knee injury last season after appearing in nine games as a true freshman after joining the Mocs program as a walk-on. If he'd been available last season, the 6-5, 220-lb forward would have surely seen minutes. 

Now entering his fifth season as the head coach of the Mocs' basketball program, head coach Dan Earl came into the off-season facing his most crucial recruiting season, needing to find players to provide a turnaround that its more in alignment with the lofty standard of expectation for the SoCon's top hoops program. 

The 12-time tournament champions took in five players from the portal, with four set to be impact players this coming season, as well as adding five freshmen into the mix, including a couple that have international experience to help bolster and balance out a roster that looks good on paper.

In the backcourt, Earl added a pair of smaller school prospects that could make an immediate impact in 2026-27, adding juniors Matt Hampton and Tre Powell into the fold. Hampton is a 6-4 combo guard that comes to UTC from Three Rivers College from the JUCO ranks, appearing in 65 games in two seasons, which he garnered the No. 15 overall ranking coming out the JUCO ranks according to JUCOrecruiting.com. 

In his 65 games over the past couple of seasons, Hampton posted an impressive 1,025 points, 377 rebounds, 289 assists, and 80 steals in his two seasons at TRC. He helped TRC to a NJCAA Region 16 Championship game appearance last season, helping his squad to a 20-11 overall mark. He garnered NJCAA All-America honors in both his seasons at TRC, as the Frisco, TX, native was a Third-Team All-America selection two years ago, while garnering second-team plaudits last season.

Hampton finished the season averaging 16.9 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 5.3 APG and 1.4 SPG, while shooting 51.3% (179-of-349) from the field and 30.8% (8-of-26) from three-point range last season. He finished shooting 73.5% (158-of-215) from the free throw line and had a 1.7 assist-turnover ratio.  He can play either point or off the ball and the way he can impact the game on both ends of the floor will likely see him to challenge for a starting job in a backcourt that will look different this season but may in fact be a lot more balanced when it comes to scoring distribution. 

PG-Tre Powell (Goldey-Beacom College)

Tre Powell will join the UTC basketball program with two years of eligibility remaining, as he joins Dan Earl's program after spending a couple of seasons playing at NCAA Division II program Goldey-Beacom, averaging an impressive 19.4 PPG, 3.5 APG and 3.4 RPG in what was a historic season for GBC, as Powell was a big part of that history, helping his program reach the NCAA Division II program for the first time in its history. 

The 6-0, 170-lb point guard out of Mount Laurel, N.J., is a Dan Earl kind of point guard in that he's small, quick and possesses an ability to score at all three levels, and oh yeah, he's from the northeast just like Honor Huff, who came before him. 

Out of all of Powell's impressive numbers that he brings with him from his two seasons at GBC, it's Powell's proficiency as a three-point threat that probably stands out the most to Earl, as the lightning-quick guard shot an impressive 41.5% (66-for-159) from long-range last season.  Additionally, Powell also shot 47.8% (188-of-393) from the field, as well as connecting on an impressive 82.8% (178-of-215) from the charity stripe. 

All told, Powell logged an impressive 2025-26 season, which landed him on the NABC All-East Region Second Team, as well as the D2CCA All-East Region Second Team, as well as being a First Team All-Central Athletic Conference selection in 2025-26. 

In the 2025-26 season alone, Powell finished with 12 games in which he posted 20 or more points, including a career-high 33 points during the CCAC Tournament Quarterfinal win over Georgian Court in March of 2026. His 620 points in a single-season at GBC were the second-most in a single-season in program history. 

There's an excellent chance that Powell and Hampton both end up starting in the backcourt along with Tate Darner heading into the 2026-27 season, and with the addition of two dynamic scorers, the focus shifted towards adding depth in the backcourt from the high school ranks, while focusing on adding some dynamic players to put alongside of Cusano and Bowman in the front court.

In keeping with the theme of smaller school prospects that have a chance to come in and have an immediate impact next season is 6-7, 210-lb senior Anthony Swift, who joins the program after having started his career at the NCAA Division I level way back in the 2021-22 campaign at Southern Utah. The native of Las Vegas used a medical redshirt in his only season with the Thunderbirds before making his way to Southern Nevada (JUCO) in 2022-23 where he appeared in a total of 27 games, making 13 starts and averaged 9.7 PPG, 4.7 RPG and 1.2 APG.

After spending the 2023-24 season (sophomore) at another JUCO--National Park College--where he helped his team to a 31-1 mark and averaged 7.4 PPG , 7.4 RPG and 1.0 BPG--he would spend the next two seasons (2024-26) at Nebraska Kearney where he would redshirt the 2024-25 season before taking part in the 2025-26 campaign.

In his most recent season at Nebraska-Kearney, he appeared in 28 games, making 27 starts where he averaged 12.9 PPG and was a prolific three-point threat, as he finished the season shooting a team-best 41.8% (46-of-110) from three-point range and connected on a team-high 46 triples for the season. 

Swift also recorded 20 double-figure scoring games in his most recent campaign, including three 20-plus scoring games during his standout season. His best game was when he scored a career-high 27 points on 12-of-15 shooting from the field, including going 3-for-4 from downtown against Concordia-St. Paul on Nov. 15, 2025. 

In addition to what he did scoring-wise, Swift also led the team in total rebounds (194) and rebounds-per-game (6.4). Swift will have one year of eligibility remaining at Chattanooga where he signed with the Mocs during the May 2026 transfer portal window. The 6-7 small forward equates most directly as a "glue guy" type similar to a Garrison Keslar a couple of years ago. Most importantly, Swift will add an element of maturity and experience to the lineup, and could even contend for starting minutes this summer.

C-Yonatan Levy (Pepperdine)

In continuing with the theme of "old men" ---just kidding--is 6-10 big man Yonatan Levy, who is a 25-year old junior and will have two seasons of eligibility remaining after spending both previous seasons at the NCAA Division I level at both Green Bay (2024-25) and Pepperdine (2025-26).

The 6-10, 260-lb native of Hod HaSharon, HeMerkaz, Israel is a unique prospect of a big man, and once again, he's a highly-skilled type of big that fits the "Dan Earl type" when it comes to how he can fit within the motion offense for the Mocs. Like Jake Stephens, Jan Zidek, Frank Champion, and Sam Alexis, Levy falls into the category of being a highly-skilled big man with a "developed" finished project being the exact kind of big man that Earl can utilize to the fullest of potentials in the SoCon. 

In his most-recent season with the Waves, Levy averaged 5.2 PPG, 4.2 RPG, and 1.7 APG, while shooting a solid 45.2% (60-for-132) from the field. He finished third on the Waves' team in total rebounds (133) and third assists (55) and had 10 games with six or more rebounds. Levy recorded his best game at Pepperdine against Lincoln (CA) in November of 2025, posting 16 points and 11 rebounds. In a Dec. 28, 2025, game against Gonzaga, Levy posted 15 points, six rebounds and three steals in a loss to the Bulldogs.

Levy was also solid in his one season at Green Bay, averaging 7.8 PPG, 6.1 RPG and 2.6 APG, appearing in 13 games, with 11 starts. He posted a season-high 19 points against Cleveland State in a late January Horizon League contest. 

Rounding out the portal additions for the Mocs is 6-9 senior forward Tyler Houser, who Earl originally recruited during his time at VMI, and will have one year of eligibility remaining. Houser comes to Chattanooga from Delaware where he has battled injuries. He is slated to redshirt the 2026-27 season due to injury but will have one year of eligibility remaining when he decides to suit up for the Mocs. 

He spent three seasons at Delaware (2023-26) and spent his freshman campaign at VMI (2022-23), garnering SoCon All-Freshman Team honors while with the Keydets. In his most recent season at UD, Houser averaged an impressive 14.2 PPG and 5.4 RPG. He started all 26 games he was a part of before suffering a knee injury late in the campaign, which will force him to likely miss the entire 2026-27 season. 

Houser was able to reach double figures in 20 of 26 games last season for the Blue Hens, and whenever he is healthy enough to play, he will give the Mocs a nicely skilled, inside-outside threat in the paint. 

freshman/walk-on additions

Chattanooga has added five and potentially six players via the high school ranks, and the Mocs will keep with the strong international influence, adding players from France and Germany during the recruiting process. 

The most recent addition, but has yet to officially appear on the school's website as it has yet to become official is 6-1 point guard Hugo Nguyen out of LeMans Sarthe Basket in Paris, France. Nguyen a quick guard that can score the basketball for all points on the floor. In his most recent season with LeMans Sarthe Basket in 2025-26, he scored double figures in 26 of 31 games, which included three 30-point efforts, and had a season-high of 34 points against Monaco U21. He shot 46.7% from the field and 34.3% from three-point range in his most recent season of basketball.

 

G/F Caleb Hardaway (Boyd Buchanan HS/Chattanooga, TN)

Switching from France to a place a little more local to the Scenic City, Dan Earl  added some more local flavor to the Mocs with the recruitment of 6-7 small forward Caleb Hardaway out of Boyd Buchanan High School.

The preferred walk-on joined the Mocs in May of  2026 and was the TSSAA Division II-A District 2 Player of the Year, helping Boyd Buchanan reach the semifinals of the state playoffs, which was its deepest run in the postseason in three decades. Hardway finished his high school career with more than 1.500 points and ranked third on the school's all-time scoring ledger. Hardaway finished his career by averaging 14 PPG, 8 RPG, 3 APG and 1.5 BPG. His elite athleticism and ability to play above the rim will give a chance to see the floor sooner rather than later. 

Chrisitan Matos is an impressive freshman guard, who hails from Philadelphia, PA., and comes to Chattanooga by way of Sunrise Academy in Kansas. If you've heard of Sunrise Academy before, there's a reason, and it's because it's one of the premier prep basketball programs in the country, having produced former Furman Paladin center and current Arkansas Razorbacks big man Cooper Bowser.

Matos is a 6-3 guard that might end up being the prize of the signing class, as ESPN rates Matos as a four-star prospect and the No. 2 prospect overall in the state, as well as the No. 21 ranked point guard in all of high school seniors throughout the country. His trajectory and acclaim is even higher than that of former Furman point guard, who is now at Kentucky, Alex Wilkins. Wilkins, of course, was responsible for helping lead Furman to a Southern Conference title a year ago.

G-Christian Matos (Sunrise Academy KS/Philadelphia PA)

Not saying that will be the same tract which Matos will follow, however, he will have a chance to earn his place in the lineup this summer, and with such high acclaim, while he might not end up starting, it'd be hard to imagine him not seeing some major time in the rotation for Dan Earl this coming season. 

Matos is rated as the highest incoming high school recruit in the Southern Conference coming into the 2025-26 season and competed within the Nike EYBL Scholastic League last season, ranking 22nd nationally. He finished his season with Sunrise averaging 14.5 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 1.8 APG, and had 1.2 SPG, while shooting a blistering 46.0% (44-of-95) from three-point range.  In the words of ETSU head coach Brooks Savage, who said the following of Alex Wilkins following the first meeting between ETSU and Furman last year in what was a thrilling ETSU OT win, "Those guards from the Northeast are a different type of basketball player all together", and he's not wrong with that assessment. 

There have been some great guards from the Northeast come through this league, including former Mocs and Keydets guard Honor Huff (Chattanooga/VMI/West Virginia 2020-2025/Brooklyn, NY) and the aforementioned Alex Wilkins (Mattapan, MA), as well as many others like Jay Joseph (UNCG 2001-05/Lansdale, PA) to name a few. Matos could be the latest of those to excel in this league. Matos finished as a Top 20 ranked scorer in the EYBL Scholastic League and racked up over 160 made triples in his three seasons at the prep level. He will have a chance to make an instant impact for UTC.

While Matos has instant impact aura, back across the pond to France and Germany we go, profiling another two outstanding finds by the UTC coaching staff in combo guard/forward Lenny Anigbata (Gymnasium Munich North/MHP Riesen/Munich, Germany) and Yssam Moungalla (Espoirs Paris/AS Monaco/Paris, France).

While Matos comes with all the rankings and acclaim, it's been Anigbata that has looked the part of seeing some major playing time right away this summer in workouts with the Mocs. The 6-7 versatile small forward or combo guard has been impressive, and has excelled with both his club team and his high school team over a four-year span. 

He most recently played with MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg of the German BBL in 2025-26, starting his pro career at the age of 17. Blessed with athleticism and maturity, Anigbata will be a 20-year old freshman this coming season and has played 92 games in the German League across four seasons, posting 616 points, 304 rebounds, 85 assists and 77 made threes. 

Moungalla is a 6-6 combo guard that comes to UTC from AS Monaco where he played in the French Betclic Elite League in 2025-26 and also played in the U21 Elite League in France. Moungalla is another three-level scorer, and is an elite perimeter shooter, having connected at a 45.7% (105-of-230) from three-point range this past season. 

He finished his season with AS Monaco averaging 15.9 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 1.9 APG, and 1.3 APG. All told, 105 of Moungalla's 153 total field goals from this past season where from beyond the three-point line. He's the type of player that can and will excel in the Dan Earl system. 

Rounding out the impressive signing class for the Mocs is 7-0, 275-lb center John Fleeman out of Kingsville, MO. Fleeman was the lone player to sign with the Mocs in the early signing period in November of 2025, and his size and skill level might give him the best chance of any of the incoming prospects to see major impactful minutes in 2026-27 for UTC. 

He is the No. 1 rated prospect out of a small school in the "Show Me State" as he played his high school basketball at Kingsville High School. Following a season which saw him average 24.8 PPG, 12.5 RPG, 4.5 APG, and 2.2 BPG and shoot 71.8% from the field, Fleeman was named Missouri Class I District Player of the Year, leading Kingsville to a Class 1 District 8 title as a senior. Fleeman helped a Kingsville team finished fourth in the state with a 25-7 overall record.

Chattanooga Early outlook for 2026-27

It's hard to fathom a Chattanooga team in rebuild mode, but as astonishing as that was last season, the team picked to win the league found themselves in rebuild mode in early December after so many injuries ravaged the depth in the frontcourt, and coupled with some of the portal prospects being more miss than hit, the Mocs stumbled to a rather forgettable 13-19 season and bowed out of the SoCon Tournament before most team's even played and fans even knew they were there. 

This season has a different energy, and while last season's team was more overloaded with portal additions rather than high school recruits, head coach Dan Earl has a more balanced roster this season, with the 11 newcomers, which includes five from the portal and six rookies from the high school/prep ranks. The international flavor to this roster is undeniable, as Israel, France, and Germany are all represented on this roster.

The most glaring thing that sticks out about this class is the fact that UTC will have a lot of mature/old freshmen. That's one of the advantages you get with getting guys from overseas like Yssam Moungalla and Lenny Anigbata, who will already be 20-years old by the time they suit up as freshman, as well as already having played at a high level overseas.

This team has the makings of one that could compete for a title, as talent is not the issue here. It will be all in how this team comes together by the time league play begins at the end of December, and that's not always as easy as it seems when you are having to incorporate different cultures and fundamental skill levels on all fronts into one cohesive unit. This team has more offensive skill and better shooting ability than the one that took the floor in 2025-26. 

This team has the potential to be elite offensively, but it will be how they gel on the defensive end of the floor as a cohesive unit that will determine what happens in Asheville in early March. With that said, this team, at least on paper, appears to be more talented than the one a year ago. 

 Bears Breakdown 2026-27

Players With Starting Experience Lost: (10)--G-Jordan Frsion (Started 29 of 31 games played, 16.4 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 45.5% 3PT FG%, 51 made threes, team-leading 129 assists/Third-team All-SoCon/transferred to Wichita State); G-Brennan Watkins (10.2 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 45.6% 3PT FG%, team-leading 68 made threes/out of eligibility); G-Teddy Washington Jr. (Started 20 of 31 games played, 9.0 PPG, 3.3 RPG, team-leading 31 steals/out of eligibility); G Billy Smith (started 16 of 32 games, 8.4 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 37.6% 3PT FG%, 64 made threes/out of eligibility); C-Collin Mulholland (started nine of 23 games played, 7.6 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 39 assists, 11 blks/transferred to Utah State); F-Sebastian Hartmann (started six of seven games before suffering season-ending injury, 7.0 PPG, 5.0 RPG/transferred to Kansas City); G-Jikari Johnson (started seven of 29 games played, 6.7 PPG, 2.2 RPG, 35.2% 3PT FG%, 31 made threes, 11 steals, 7 BLKs/out of eligibility); F-Latif Diouf (started three of five games played, 4.8 PPG, 2.6 RPG/transferred to Kent State); F-Makai Richards (started 13 out of 32 games played, 3.4 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 58.1 FG%/out of eligibility); G-Parker Robison (Started once in 27 games played, 1.3 PPG, 1.5 RPG/transferred to Auburn-Montgomery

Others Significant Losses: (N/A)
Best Returning Player: G-Zach Bleshoy (R-Fr Did not play due to injury last season/Pope HS/Marietta, GA.)
Potential Breakout Player in 2026-27: F/C-Josh Bowman (3.2 PPG, 2.5 RPG/team-leading 23 BLKs) 
Best Transfer Portal Get: G-Tre Powell (Goldey-Beacom) or G-Matt Hampton (Three Rivers College)
Potential Glue Guy: F-Sean Cusano (4.2 PPG, 2.7 RPG)
Best Freshman Addition:  G-Christian Matos (Sunrise Academy in KS/Philadelphia, PA)
Overall Portal/Recruiting Synopsis and Grade: A-