* Brandon Crump, who scored a career-high 25 points at Nebraska Saturday, needs one point to reach the 600 career point milestone.
* The Vols have outshot their opponents at the free throw line 123-71 in the first four games. UT has made more free throws (85) than its opponents have attempted (71).
* UT is shooting 51.6 percent (63-of-122) from the field in the second half this season.
* Nine Vols have tied or set new career scoring marks in UT's first four games.
* Point guards C.J. Watson (27 assists, 10 turnovers) and Dane Bradshaw (9 assists, 4 turnovers) have combined for 36 assists against just 14 turnovers in a combined 187 minutes of action this season.
* Tennessee is 50-3 in its last 53 home games against non-conference opponents.
* UT has hit a shot at the buzzer just before halftime in two games this season. Justin Albrecht hit a tip-in against Texas A&M (12/2/03) and Dane Bradshaw had a 3-pointer against Tennessee State (11/28/03).
Looking At The Citadel
The Citadel will be coming off an eight-day break when the Bulldogs visit Knoxville ... The Bulldogs fell to 2-5 on the season with a 51-65 loss to South Carolina State on Dec. 9 ... After winning their first two games to open the season, The Citadel has lost its last five outings ... Tennessee will be the second Southeastern Conference opponent for the Bulldogs ... South Carolina defeated the Bulldogs 70-38 in Charleston, S.C. ... The Citadel has already opened conference action, a 62-72 loss to SoCon foe Appalachian State ... Dante Terry, a 6-foot-2 sophomore guard, leads The Citadel with 14.4 points per game ... Terry recorded a career-high 33 points in a win over Webber International earlier this season ... A 6-foot-8 senior forward, Max Mombollet is second on the team with 11.3 points while gathering a team-high 8.6 rebounds per game ... Mombollet was named to the preseason All-Southern Conference team ... Kevin Hammack, a 6-foot-1 sophomore guard, missed the season opener after having arthroscopic knee surgery on Nov. 5 but has returned to rank third on the Bulldogs roster with 5.8 points per game while passing out a team-high 24 assists ... Head coach Pat Dennis needs one win to become The Citadel's all-time winningest coach ... He is tied with Les Robinson, the school's current director of athletics, atop the wins list ... Dennis has a 132-179 record in his 12th year as the head coach at The Citadel and as a head coach.
The Citadel Series
Tennessee leads the all-time series with The Citadel 2-0 ... This is the first meeting between the schools in exactly 41 years ... The last game between the schools resulted in a 73-56 Volunteer win on Dec. 17, 1962 ... That last meeting was UT's fifth game under then-first year head coach Ray Mears ... The Vols won the first meeting 64-42 on Dec. 23, 1949 ... Buzz Peterson is 4-0 all-time as a head coach against The Citadel with all four victories coming while he was at Appalachian State (1996-2000) ... Tennessee is 78-12 all-time against teams from the Southern Conference, including an 81-70 win over Wofford in this year's season opener.
The Citadel Connections
Tennessee assistant coach Ed Conroy was a four-year letterwinner (1985-89) for the Bulldogs ... A point guard, Conroy ranked third on the team with 10.9 points per game as a senior ... Conroy's first cousin, Pat Conroy, also played for the Bulldogs (1964-67) ... Pat Conroy, who is now a best selling author, wrote a novel called "My Losing Season" about his senior season at The Citadel ... The Citadel director of athletics Les Robinson served as the head basketball coach at North Carolina State from 1990-96 ... UT head coach Buzz Peterson (1990-93), assistant coach Ed Conroy (1990-93) and director of basketball operations Al Daniel (1990-96) all served on Robinson's coaching staff in Raleigh ... Peterson also coached with Robinson at East Tennessee State (1989-90) ... While coaching at The Citadel, Robinson recruited both Conroy and Daniel ... Conroy eventually signed with The Citadel but Robinson left for East Tennessee State before Conroy arrived on campus ... While serving as the head coach at Francis Marion, Conroy directed the Patriots to a 66-58 win over The Citadel in the 1998-99 season opener.
Last Meeting
Coaching in his fifth game at the University of Tennessee, head coach Ray Mears directed the Vols to a 73-56 win over The Citadel on Dec. 17, 1962 ... The win was UT's fifth in a row to open the 1962-63 season ... The Vols raced out to a 37-23 halftime lead on 60 percent shooting from the field ... The Vols finished the game shooting 55.1 percent from the field while holding the Bulldogs to just 29.5 percent ... UT's A.W. Davis led all scorers with 24 points and 12 rebounds while Sid Elliot added 14 points and eight boards ... Orb Bowling narrowly missed a double-double with nine points and 11 rebounds ... Larry Hitchcock led The Citadel with 19 points and Dick Martini had 11 points and nine rebounds.
Looking Back At The Nebraska Game: Cold Shooting Dooms Vols
Tennessee couldn't overcome cold shooting in losing its first road game of the year, a 62-77 to Nebraska on Dec. 13 ... The Vols shot just 11.1 percent (3-of-27) in the first half and endured a stretch of 15:02 without connecting on a field goal ... The shooting improved in the second half as the Vols shot 37.8 percent (17-of-45) to finish the game at a more respectable 27.8 percent from the field ... Despite Tennessee's cold shooting, the Huskers only had a 30-17 halftime lead ... The Huskers extended their lead to 22 points in the second half but the Vols battled back to cut it to 11 points three different times but could not get any closer ... Scooter McFadgon, who entered the game averaging 22.0 points on 55.6 percent shooting from the field managed just seven points on 3-of-22 shooting ... Brandon Crump led the Vols with a career-high 25 points after a 9-of-11 effort at the free throw line ... C.J. Watson had nine points and five assists for the Vols, who were playing their first-ever game in the state of Nebraska ... John Turek led the Huskers with 21 points while Nate Johnson added 14 on perfect 10-of-10 shooting from the free throw line.
Vols Begin Season At Home
Seven of Tennessee's first eight games will be played at Thompson-Boling Arena ... UT's only road trip before January is a Dec. 13 visit to Nebraska ... The Vols play two non-conference games on the road (at Nebraska and at UMass on Jan. 3) ... Nine of Tennessee's 11 non-conference games are at home.
New Guys Contributing
The Vols are receiving significant contributions from four new players in the UT lineup ... Scooter McFadgon, a junior transfer from Memphis, is leading the Vols with 18.3 points per game ... Jemere Hendrix, a sophomore transfer from Clemson, is averaging 8.3 points and 6.5 rebounds while starting all four games ... Dane Bradshaw, a freshman guard, has given the Vols a huge boost off the bench with 5.5 points per game to go with nine assists against just four turnovers ... Major Wingate, a 6-foot-10 freshman, has averaged 16.5 minutes per game off the bench and is second on the team with four blocked shots.
Scooter Scores Big In Season Opener
Scooter McFadgon had a memorable debut in a Tennessee uniform with a 31-point outing against Wofford (11/21/03) ... His 31 points were the most in a UT debut since Bernard King scored 42 against Wisconsin-Milwaukee (11/30/74) ... McFadgon, a transfer from Memphis, easily topped his previous career mark of 22 points against Temple (12/22/01) ... In an exhibition game in the Dominican Republic, McFadgon also had a big game by scoring a game-high 36 points against Libre (10/16/03).
Watson Is One Of The SEC's Top Playmakers
As a true freshman in 2003 C.J. Watson proved himself as one of the top point guards in the Southeastern Conference by leading the league with 5.44 assists per game against conference opponents while also leading the SEC in minutes played ... His 160 assists as a rookie ranked seventh on UT's single-season charts and were the second-most ever by a Tennessee freshman ... This year Watson has picked up where he left off last season by dishing out 27 assists in UT's four games.
Crump Doubles Up
Brandon Crump recorded his fifth career double-double and his second of the season with a 13 point, 11 rebound effort against Tennessee State (11/28/03) ... Crump opened the season with an 11 point, 11 rebound outing against Wofford (11/21/03) ... As a sophomore in 2002-03 the Houston, Texas, native had three double-doubles ... Crump made 9-of-11 free throws on his way to a career-high 25-point outing against Nebraska (12/13/03) ... Against Texas A&M 12/3/03) he made 9-of-10 field goals in an 18-point effort ... The 6-foot-10 forward is Tennessee's top returning scorer (11.0 ppg), rebounder (5.9 rpg) and shot blocker (1.03 bpg) from last season.
Tennessee In The NCAA Stats
According to the Dec. 8 NCAA statistics the Vols rank ninth in the nation in scoring with 90.0 points per game ... Tennessee's scoring margin of +20.0 points ranks 14th ... The Vols are shooting 51.4 percent from the field which ranks ninth nationally ... UT's 6.0 blocked shots per game are 24th in the nation ... Scooter McFadgon's 22.0 points per game ranks 19th ... Brandon Crump is shooting 70.8 percent from the field to rank 10th in the country while his 2.7 blocks per game are 33rd ... C.J. Watson's 7.3 assists per game rate 10th in the NCAA stats.
Where Are They Now?
* Allan Houston - New York Knicks of the NBA
* Marcus Haislip - Milwaukee Bucks of the NBA
* Kevin O'Neill - Head coach Toronto Raptors of the NBA
* Vincent Yarbrough - Olympiakos in Greece
* Isiah Victor - Great Lakes Storm of the CBA
* Ron Slay - Galatasaray of Istanbul in Turkey's premier league
* Jon Higgins - WBC Kraftwerk in Wels, Austria
* C.J. Black - Furstenfeld Panthers in the Austrian league
* Damon Johnson - Caceres Destino Turistico in Spain
* Rashard Lee - Elitzur Ashkelon in the Isreal's premier league
* Ian Lockhart - Teramo Basket in Italy
* Charles Hathaway - China
