Mocs rally late, outlast Anteaters in OT to claim NIT championship

INDIANAPOLIS — Garrison Keeslar will always be known as a team player.

Gritty. Grimy. Solid defender. Shooter…OK. But a guy willing to do whatever it took, which is special considering the 6-foot-7 forward transferred to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga having scored 1,209 points in his four-year career at Division II Walsh University.

His body? Essentially broken down, to the point where when he came out of games, he rarely sat down, choosing to stand at the end of the bench.

How much of a team player was he? With a minute to go in Thursday night’s National Invitation Tournament championship game against UC Irvine at Hinkle Fieldhouse, Keeslar passed up a wide-open layup and instead opted to pass the ball to an open Honor Huff in the corner, in a game the Mocs were trailing 84-83 at the time.

UTC vs. UC Irvine in NIT Championship on April 3, 2025

UTC Echo photo/Trevor Jolley // UTC guard Trey Bonham (2) drives into the lane past UC Irvine center Justin Hohn (2) during the NIT Final at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Thursday, April 3, 2025.

But Huff missed the shot and the Mocs were forced to foul. In a season where most all of the breaks went UTC’s way, however, the Anteaters’ Bent Leuchten — an 82% free throw shooter entering the game — missed both free throws, and Keeslar then nailed a foul-line jumper with 11 seconds to play, which ultimately proved to be the game-winning points as the Mocs claimed their first-ever NIT championship.

The 85-84 win, which completed UTC’s season at 29-9, capped off an improbable NIT run for the Mocs, featuring road wins over fourth-seeded Middle Tennessee State (in triple overtime) and a wild comeback against third-seeded Bradley, plus wins over top seeds Dayton and UC Irvine as well as a semifinal win over Loyola-Chicago.

The Anteaters (32-7) led for over a minute of the extra frame before UTC freshman forward Collin Mulholland made the last of his five 3-pointers from the right wing to put the Mocs back in front. Che responded with a jumper, which preceded Keeslar’s final shot.

After the game, Earl couldn’t help himself. The UTC coach is just wired to think about the what-ifs after games. The missed blockouts, the bad passes, the mistakes that led to success for opponents.

And if the Mocs had a game Saturday, or next week, or anytime in the next seven months, they might be running for all the miscues in Thursday’s game. So many lines.

“In this day and age of ‘me,’ to have the guys play unselfishly, I appreciate everything. They wanted to keep playing and keep this going, so I’m just proud of them and proud that we could finish this off and they can call themselves champions.”

There is no tomorrow for this team. The clock has struck midnight — only this team at Thursday’s midnight was celebrating a national tournament championship — 33 days after sitting at a podium, broken following the Furman loss that in the moment derailed their dreams.

That disappointment washed away the moment the confetti started blowing on the court after Thursday’s win.