University of Tennessee Athletics
Postgame Notes
March 05, 2003 | Men's Basketball
March 5, 2003
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Tennessee vs. Mississippi State
Thompson-Boling Arena
Knoxville, Tenn.
Records
* Tennessee improves to 16-10 (8-7 SEC), while Mississippi State falls to 18-8 (8-7 SEC)
* Vols are now 12-4 (5-3 SEC) at home this season ... MSU is 4-6 (2-6 SEC) on the road
* MSU needs one more win to clinch at least a tie for the SEC Western Division title
* UT finishes 4-2 vs. SEC West teams this season .... Vols were 3-0 on the road (UM, AU, ARK) and 1-2 at home vs. SEC West
* Vols are 176-74 (.704) n Thompson-Boling Arena after 16 seasons ... UT has a 37-13 SEC mark at TBA the last four years
* UT has won 7 of its last 11 games heading into Saturday's season finale at Vanderbilt
* MSU has lost its last two games--both on the road
Series Notebook
* Tennessee leads the all-time series 69-37
* UT leads 40-9 against the Bulldogs in Knoxville
* Nine of last 11 meetings have been decided by eight points or less
* MSU's last win in Knoxville came four years ago (88-82 in 1999)
* MSU won the only meeting last season--a 92-91 OT decision at Starkville
Senior Night
* Final home game for five Tennessee seniors (Slay, Higgins, Holden, and walkons-Drew Clemmons & Zach Turner
* All five seniors comprised the starting lineup ... First career starts for Clemmons and Turner
* Vols have won last six Senior Day games dating back to 1998
* Seniors have led UT to a 79-44 record, including the SEC Championship and the Eastern Division title in 1999-2000
Vols vs. Ranked Teams
* Tennessee is 3-5 against ranked teams this season
* UT defeated nationally-ranked Georgia and Florida at home this season ... Losses have been to Kentucky (twice), Louisville, at Georgia and Florida
* MSU entered tonight's game ranked No. 21 in the Coaches poll and 23rd in AP poll
Slay Moves Past 1,500-Point Mark
* Scored 17 points tonight, including 12 in the first half
* Became just 14th player in UT history to score more than 1,500 career points tonight ... Slay now has 1514 career points
* Entered game as the SEC's leading scorer (21.8 ppg)
* 76th career game of scoring double figures, including all 26 games this season
Higgins Moves Up Career Steal List
* Scored 7 points in final game at Thompson-Boling Arena, connecting on 3-of-7
* Tonight's game was Higgins' 123rd career game (9th all-time) and 121st career start (3rd)
* Two steals tonight moved Higgins to No. 9 on UT's all-time list with 129, passing Lang Wiseman (128)
Quickly
* UT is the No. 4 seed in next week's SEC Tournament in New Orleans ... Vols will play either Ole Miss or Arkansas at 1 p.m.-EST on Thursday, March 13
* Vols jumped out to a 15-3 advantage at the 12:08 mark in the first half ...
* MSU's 21 first-half points were a season-low vs. the Vols and the fewest for the Bulldogs this season
* Brandon Crump scored 16 points in just his second game off the bench this season ... Vols are 10-5 this season when Crump and Slay both score in double-figures
* Freshman guard C.J. Watson was 6-of-6 from FT line in the final 1:26
Next Game
* Tennessee travels to Nashville Saturday for the regular season finale vs. Vanderbilt (8 p.m.-EST)
* UT won the season's first meeting over the Commodores 71-66 in Knoxville
