University of Tennessee Athletics
Tennessee vs. Syracuse Postgame Notes
January 19, 2002 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 19, 2002
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* Tennessee improves to 7-9 ... Syracuse falls to 16-3 (5-0 Big East) ... Tennessee ended its three-game losing streak and ended Syracuse's seven-game winning streak ... The Orangemen entered tonight's game ranked seventh by the coaches poll and No. 8 by the Associated Press poll ... UT is now 1-7 in games decided by four points or less this season.
* Tonight's win by Tennessee was the Vols' first over a ranked team this season and the first over a team ranked as high as No. 7 since a 105-76 win over Auburn Jan. 25, 2000 at Thompson-Boling Arena.
* Tennessee equals the all-time series 3-3 that dates back to an 87-83 win by UT Dec. 15, 1972 ... UT now leads the series 2-1 in Knoxville ... Tennessee won last year's meeting at Syracuse 83-70, ending a three-game losing streak against the Orangemen ... SU defeated UT 93-88 in the 1977 NCAA Tournament at Baton Rouge ... The Orangemen have been ranked the past five times UT has played Syracuse ... Syracuse won in its only other appearance in Thompson-Boling Arena-an 87-81 victory on Dec. 9,. 1992 in a game that saw UT's Allan Houston break Ernie Grunfeld's school scoring record.
* UT has a 60-9 mark at home since the 1997-98 season ... The Vols are 5-2 at home this season-1-1 in SEC play ... UT is now 6-6 in non-conference games this season ... Tennessee has an all-time mark of 21-25 against schools that currently make up the Big East Conference.
* UT's 40-23 (17 points) halftime lead was the largest for the Vols this season (previous 12 - 46-34 at SMU) ... SU's 23 first-half points are a season-low for a UT opponent this season (previous-25 St. John's)... UT is now 5-4 when leading at halftime.
* Marcus Haislip scored 15 points, connecting on 6-of-14 from the field and pulled down 7 rebounds.
* Ron Slay left the game with 4:39 remaining in the first half after suffering a sprained left knee and did not return ... He will have an MRI Monday to determine the extent of the injury ... Slay scored seven points and had two rebounds prior to his injury in 12 minutes ... Slay needs just 47 points to become the 36th Tennessee player to score 1000 career points.
* Jenis Grindstaff made his first start of the season and third of his career tonight ... Grindstaff responded by scoring a career-high 18, including 10 in the first half ... Grindstaff scored a then-career-best 11 at Syracuse last season in a reserve role ... Grindstaff's previous career-high was 13 points in the Vols' 97-66 win over Appalachian State earlier this season.
* Jon Higgins pulled down a career-high 9 rebounds tonight ... Higgins also scored 11 points-the fifth time this season he has scored double figures and the first since an 11-point effort against Radford.
* Tennessee plays its final non-conference game of the season against Middle Tennessee Monday in a 7:30 p.m. (EST) tipoff ... UT returns to SEC play Wednesday hosting South Carolina at 8 p.m.
