Know the Mocs Opponents: Kennesaw State

This will be the Mocs sixth out of conference game against a D1 opponent. The Mocs will play on Wednesday and Thursday in Chattanooga in the Battle 4 Atlantis. Then, they will go to Kennesaw State and play on Saturday, just two days after Thanksgiving. This is a very difficult set up for the Mocs as they take on the Owls. These two teams have played some very interesting games in recent years, with the last four all going to the road team.

The Owls should be much improved this year. Jimmy Lallathin is the Owls new head coach and has the team up and ready to go. Seven of their top nine players from a year ago return, including their five leading scorers. This team finished dead last in the Atlantic Sun last year, but appear to be a team on the rise this year. An early home game against the Mocs will go a long way to determining just how good this team can be.

Delbert Love may be the Owls best player, averaging 12.6 points per game a season ago. Love was named to the preseason all Atlantic Sun team. He is one of the best players in the history of the program. But the most exciting news for the Owls was the recent news that Damien Wilson will be immediately eligible. He is transferring from Memphis and petitioned to be allowed to play right away, and it was granted. Wilson may be a stud in the making for this program.

Willy Kouassi was named the preseason Defensive Player of the Year for the Atlantic Sun. He had 35 blocks last year, while averaging 4.6 points and five rebounds per game. He will be one of the Owls expected to make an impact on that end of the floor.

The Owls will have played two SoCon teams before playing the Mocs. They will have gone to Mercer to play on November 19. They will host Samford on November 26. They will have played Syracuse, California, North Dakota State, the two SoCon schools and either Alcorn State or Hampton. This is a tough schedule for the Owls. This game will be a big test to find out just how good they are at this point in the year.

The Mocs will be in a somewhat similar position. Playing their third game in four days will be very difficult for this team. If the Mocs perform well in the Battle 4 Atlantis in Chattanooga, this will be a great test to see how they handle success. If they have struggled, this will be a way to find out how they respond to adversity. The Mocs are in the middle of an interesting stretch of four games in eight days against mid-major schools that can really show us how good the Mocs are at this point in the year. This is the final game for the Mocs. We'll see what happens here. This is a very interesting contest for the Mocs. It's important for the Mocs to come up with the win.