DATE: Monday, March 17, 1997                TAG: 9703170145

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHARLOTTE                         LENGTH:   34 lines

TENN.-CHATTANOOGA SURPRISE OF SWEET 16

Tennessee-Chattanooga became only the second No. 14 seed to reach the Sweet 16 with its second major upset, a 75-63 victory over sixth-seeded Illinois on Sunday.

Norfolk's Willie Young led the Mocs of the Southern Conference with a team-high 15 points.

Young, a senior, had scored 26 points in Friday's first-round victory over third-seeded Georgia.

``It's the first time ever for our school to go to the Sweet 16, and we're all excited,'' Young said. Cleveland State (1986) is the only other 14th seed to reach the final 16.

The Mocs (25-10) took control after coach Mack McCarthy was called for a technical with 13:14 left. Tennessee-Chattanooga, down six points at the time, seemed energized by the technical and held Illinois to only one field goal in the final 10 minutes.

``We were a little upset. We felt we had been done wrong and no one respected us,'' Tennessee-Chattanooga's Johnny Taylor said.

The Mocs actually became offended even before the start of the game when they heard the Illini rejoicing in their dressing room at Providence's upset of Duke in the first game.

``They were shouting ``Final Four' and all that stuff, like they already had beaten us,'' Young said. ``We wanted to come out and show them what we were all about, and that's what we did.''

The Mocs' victory marked the first time a Southern Conference team has won more than one game in the NCAA tournament since VMI in 1976. They will play Providence in the Southeast semifinals in Birmingham, Ala., on Friday.

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