University of Tennessee Athletics
Tennessee vs. Middle Tennessee State Postgame Notes
January 21, 2002 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 21, 2002
Recap | Box Score | Quotes | Photo Gallery
? Tennessee improves to 8-9 ... MTSU falls to 7-11 ... Tonight's game is the Vols final non-conference game of the regular season, recording a 7-6 mark in those contests ... Tonight's game is the second of four home games in eight days for Vols ... UT hosts South Carolina Wednesday (8 p.m.) and Auburn on Sunday beginning at 4 p.m. ... Both games will be televised by JP Sports as part of the SEC television package.
? Tennessee leads the series 4-1, including a 3-0 mark at Thompson-Boling Arena ... The Vols defeated MTSU 99-83 last season at Nashville's Gaylord Entertainment Center ... UT has won the last three meetings ... MTSU's only win in the series was an 85-80 decision in the first round of the 1988 NIT at Murfreesboro ... The first three meetings in the series were decided by five points or less.
? UT's Buzz Peterson and MTSU head coach Randy Wiel are both North Carolina graduates and played under legendary coach Dean Smith ... Peterson played guard for the Tar Heels from 1981-85, while Wiel played from 1975-79
? UT has a 61-9 mark (.871) at home since the 1997-98 season ... The Vols are 6-2 at home this season-1-1 in SEC play ... Tennessee has won 40 of its last 41 home non-conference games dating back to the 1996-97 season.
? Tennessee announced tonight that junior forward Ron Slay will miss the remainder of the season as result of his knee injury suffered in Saturday's win over Syracuse ... An MRI performed this afternoon confirmed that Slay had torn the anterior cruciate ligament ligament in his left knee ... Surgery to correct the injury will be performed at a later date ... Slay needs just 47 points to become the 36th Tennessee player to score 1000 career points ... Many of the Vols wore black head bands in tonight's game in honor of Slay.
? Marcus Haislip led the Vols in scoring tonight with 25 points, connecting on 10-of-25 from the field ... Tonight's game is the fourth time this season Hailslip has scored 20 or more points and the fifth time in his career to accomplish the feat ... His 9 rebounds were a career-high bettering his previous mark of 8 in four different games.
? Freshmen forwards Elgrace Wilborn and Brandon Crump combined for 22 points and 15 rebounds tonight in place of the injured Ron Slay ... Wilborn scored a career-best 10 to go with 8 rebounds, while Crump added 12 points and 7 boards.
? Vincent Yarbrough's season-high 11 rebounds tonight moved him into eighth-place on UT's all-time rebounding list ... Yarbrough, who now has 753 career rebounds, moved past Don Johnson (749) and Steve Hamer (750) tonight ... Yarbrough also added 10 points tonight ... He also had 11 rebounds against Tennessee Tech earlier this season ... His career-high is 15 vs. Arkansas last season.
? MTSU led by as many five in the first half ... The Vols missed their first six free throws before Wilborn hit the second of two at the 2:41 mark in the first half ... MTSU connected on 5 of their first 8 three-point attempts ... UT connected on 56 percent (10-of-34) from the field in the first half to build a 44-31 advantage ... UT's largest lead was 19 points at 53-34 with 16:13 remaining and 72-53 with 1:42 to go.
? Tennessee returns to action Wednesday night hosting SEC East rival South Carolina at 8 p.m. in a game to be televised by JP Sports.
