UT-Chattanooga Star Withdraws From Transfer Portal by:Trevor Metke

    UT-Chattanooga star Jean-Baptiste Withdraws From Transfer Portal


 David Jean Baptiste made it official today: He will be pulling his name out of the transfer portal and will be returning to Chattanooga to continue his senior campaign. 


This is great news for the Mocs as Jean Baptiste was awarded Preseason All-SoCon honors coming off a junior season where he averaged 12.6 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.4 assists helping lead Chattanooga to a 19-12 record. At the start of his senior season, in the 5 games he appeared in for the Mocs he was the leading scorer on the team with 18 points while grabbing 3.8 boards per game and scoring a career high 25 points in a win vs Northern Kentucky. Jean-Baptiste accels in finishing and getting to the basket and showed he could play at the power 5 level with a 15 point performance on 53% shooting at Florida State, who was a top 5 team last year.


What does this mean for the rest of the So-Con? Chattanooga is off to an impressive 9-0 start which makes them the first team in the entire country to be 9-0. The return of their leading Jean Baptiste just makes them an even better team than they already are. Chattanooga has far exceeded expectations as they were picked to finish 7th in the conference this year. With this fantastic start, expect the Mocs to compete in the top of the conference along with teams like Furman and UNCG. This conference is very competitive this season but the return of Jean-Baptiste could be exactly what this Chattanooga squad needs as they kickoff conference play next Wednesday against Furman, the favorite to win the conference this year. 


Overall, this move is huge for Chattanooga, along with the rest of the Southern Conference. Chattanooga gets their team leader and leading scorer back, which will bring together and as for Jean-Baptiste he will continue to prove why he was awarded preseason all conference honors in his final season, hoping to help bring the Mocs back to March Madness for the first time since 2016.

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