University of Tennessee Athletics
Postgame Notes
January 06, 2002 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 6, 2002
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Tennessee vs. Mississippi
Jan. 6, 2002 - Thompson-Boling Arena, Knoxville, Tenn.
Tennessee goes/improves to 6-6 (1-0 SEC) on the season ... Mississippi falls to 11-3 (0-1 SEC) ... Today's was the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams ... Tennessee had lost its last three games by a total of six points entering today's game.
Tennessee leads the all-time series 61-35 ... UT has a 34-10 advantage against the Rebels in Knoxville ... The Vols have won 10 of the last 13 meetings dating back to 1991 ... Ole Miss won both meetings between the two teams last season ... UM won 87-71 at Oxford and 86-73 in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals in Nashville ... Mississippi's last win in Knoxville was an 93-88 decision during the 1990-91 campaign.
UT has a 59-8 mark at home since the 1997-98 season ... Against SEC foes, Tennessee is now 26-7 at home the past three seasons ... The Vols are 4-1 at home this season.
Today's game was the Vols' first SEC opener at home since the 1995-96 campaign ... Tennessee has won its last two SEC openers-both on the road (2001-at Auburn and 2000-at South Carolina) ... UT has not lost an SEC opener since 1999 at Auburn (90-62) ... Tennessee's last SEC opener loss at home was in 1995 (57-56) to Georgia.
Tennessee's starting front line of Vincent Yarbrough (24), Marcus Hailslip (21) and Ron Slay (21) combined for 66 points today.
Vincent Yarbrough scored 24 points on 8-of-15 shooting today ... Yarbrough has scored double figures in all 12 games this season, including six contests of at least 20 points ... For his career, Yarbrough, who ranks 15th on the Vols' all-time scoring list with 1405 points, has scored in double digits 72 times ... He became just the 14th Tennessee player to amass 1400 career points today. ... He needs just three points to pass No. 14 Jimmy England (1407) on UT's all-time scoring list.
Marcus Haislip scored a season-high 21 points today ... Haislip, who scored 15 in the first half, connected on 6-of-12 from the field and 9-of-10 from the free throw line ... Haislip has scored double figures in every game (6) he has played this season ... Haislip's previous high this season was 14 points in three games (Memphis, Radford and Louisville) ... His career high is 22 points last season at West Virginia ... His eight rebounds today equals his career-high (8 at Louisville, 2001).
Ron Slay scored 21 points today, connecting on 6-of-10 from the field and 9-of-10 from the free throw line ... Slay scored 14 of his point s in the second half ... He also pulled down a team-high 9 rebounds and dished out four assists.
Jenis Grindstaff came off the bench to record a career-high five steals ... Grindstaff's previous career-best was 3 steals against Austin Peay last season ... Grindstaff had recorded two steals in four other games this season ... He also dished out four assists today.
Tennessee connected on a season-high 88.6 percent from the free throw line today against the Rebels ... The Vols hit 31-of-35 from the line ... UT's previous best this season was 80 percent (12-of-15) at SMU.
Tennessee plays host to Florida Wednesday night at Thompson-Boling Arena (8 p.m. - JP Sports TV) ... The Gators defeated South Carolina 69-60 in Gainesville to start its 2002 SEC slate 1-0.
