Tennessee Tidbits
? Scooter McFadgon?s 31 points against Georgia (1/7/04) tied his career-high set in the season opener against Wofford. It is the most points by a Vol since Ron Slay?s 38 against New Mexico (1/4/03).
? Brandon Crump is shooting 71.1 percent (27-of-38) from the field over his last four games.
? C.J. Watson, who flirted with a triple-double against Georgia (1/7/04), tied his career-high with nine assists against the Bulldogs. It is the second time this season he has had nine assists in a game.
? UT?s 63.2 percent (12-of-19) 3-point shooting against Georgia (1/7/04) narrowly missed the school record of 64.3 percent (9-of-14) set against North Carolina State (1/27/92).
? UT is shooting 51.8 percent from the field when playing at Thompson-Boling Arena. When playing on the road, the Vols are shooting just 32.8 percent from the field.
? Brandon Crump has scored 20 or more points in four of Tennessee?s last seven games. He had a career-high 25 points at Nebraska Dec. 13.
? All but one of Tennessee?s games have been decided by at least 10 points this season. The only game decided by less than 10 points was the Vols? 74-66 win at UMass (1/3/04).
? Over the last six games the Vols have opened the second half by outscoring their opponents 84-36 before the first media time out.
| Team Statistical Comparisons |
| Tennessee | Stat Category | Florida |
| 84.0 | Points | 82.5 |
| 66.6 | Opponent Points | 67.4 |
| +17.4 | Scoring Margin | +15.1 |
| .477 | Field Goal % | .493 |
| .389 | Opponent Field Goal % | .379 |
| .374 | Three-Point % | .350 |
| .315 | Opponent Three-Point % | .333 |
| .735 | Free Throw % | .716 |
| 43.0 | Rebounds | 43.2 |
| 34.1 | Opponent Rebounds | 35.8 |
| +8.9 | Rebounding Margin | +7.5 |
| 19.7 | Assists | 19.1 |
| 14.2 | Turnovers | 17.4 |
| 5.2 | Blocks | 4.8 |
| 8.2 | Steals | 7.7 |
| 9-1 | Record | 10-2 |
| Individual Statistical Leaders |
| Tennessee | Stat Category | Florida |
| McFadgon, 18.4 | Points | Roberson/Lee, 15.6 |
| Hendrix, 7.7 | Rebounds | Lee, 7.8 |
| Watson, 6.4 | Assists | Drejer, 3.9 |
| Crump, .646 | Field Goal % | Lee, .637 |
| Watson, .429 | Three-Point % | Roberson, .432 |
| McFadgon, .911 | Free Throw % | Walsh, .892 |
The Series
Saturday?s meeting in Gainesville will mark the 105th all-time meeting between the two schools with Tennessee holding a 59-45 series advantage ? Last season?s two meetings were split with Florida winning (77-64) in Gainesville and Tennessee winning (66-59) in Knoxville ... The Gators have won five of the last six meetings between the schools ? Five of the last seven meetings have been decided by 10 points or less ? Tennessee leads the series 35-14 when playing in Knoxville ? Florida has a 27-21 all-time advantage when playing in Gainesville ? Florida has won 11 of the last 12 against the Vols in Gainesville ... The Vols swept the 1999-2000 season series with an 81-79 double overtime win in Gainesville and then a 76-73 overtime win in Knoxville.
Last Meeting
Ron Slay and Brandon Crump combined for 39 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Vols to a 66-59 win over fourth-ranked Florida on Feb. 15, 2003 at Thompson-Boling Arena ... Slay recorded his sixth double-double of the season with 20 points and 11 rebounds in helping the Vols extend their winning streak to six games ... Crump finished with a career-high 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field ... Florida led for much of the game until a Jon Higgins three-pointer with 5:15 left put the Vols on top for good with a 51-50 lead ... After UT built a five-point lead, UF?s Matt Bonner hit a three-pointer to bring the Gators to within two points, 57-59, with 2:16 left ... The Tennessee defense clamped down from then on, allowing just one more field goal on their way to holding the Gators to 17 points under their season scoring average ... Freshman C.J. Watson continued to shine for the Vols, contributing eight points and eight assists while backcourt mate Higgins added six points and three assists ... Matt Bonner led Florida with 19 points while David Lee had 14 ... Tennessee went 17-of-21 from the free throw line while Florida was just 5-of-10.
Looking at Florida
Florida improved to 10-2 on the season and 1-0 in SEC action with a 65-62 win at South Carolina Wednesday night in Columbia, S.C. ... The win was the fifth in a row for the Gators after suffering a two-game losing streak in mid-December ... Anthony Roberson, a 6-foot-1 sophomore guard, and David Lee, a 6-foot-9 junior forward, are leading the Gators with 15.6 points ... Lee, who is shooting 63.7 percent from the field, saw a streak of 19 consecutive shots made come to an end against Florida State (1/3/04) ... Roberson?s 2.91 3-point field goals made per game leads the Southeastern Conference while his 43.2 percent success rate is second in the league ... A total of four UF players are averaging in double figure scoring ... The youthful Gators list only one senior on the roster and have three sophomores listed as probable starters ... The Gators, who are currently ranked 11th in the ESPN/USA Today poll and 14th by the Associated Press, were ranked No. 1 in the Dec. 8 polls ... Florida has held eight of 12 opponents to under 40 percent shooting from the field ... The Gators are one of the top rebounding teams in the Southeastern Conference, averaging 7.5 more rebounds than their opponents and a total of 43.2 boards per game ... Florida?s 49.3 field goal percentage is tops in the Southeastern Conference ... The Gators have the league?s second highest scoring offense at 82.5 points per game ... UF coach Billy Donovan is 159-75 in his eighth season at Florida and 194-95 in his 10th year as a head coach.
Former Rivals Now Teammates
Former Southeastern Conference foes Vincent Yarbrough (Tennessee 2002), Matt Bonner (Florida 2003) and Marquis Estill (Kentucky 2003) are now teammates in Europe ... The trio are playing for Sicilia Messina in the Italian Series A league ... Yarbrough was a first team All-SEC selection in 2002 while Bonner earned first team honors in 2003 and Estill was a second team pick in 2003.
Last Time Out
Scooter McFadgon?s 31 points led Tennessee to an 89-65 win over Georgia in both school?s Southeastern Conference opener Wednesday night at Thompson-Boling Arena ... Tennessee built a 19-point lead in the first half but Georgia rallied to cut it to six a minute before halftime ... The Vols rallied late in the first half and then opened the second half on a 24-5 run that gave UT a 64-36 lead with just under 12 minutes left ... McFadgon shot 6-of-9 from 3-point range to tie his career-high with 31 points ... Brandon Crump added 14 points and Jemere Hendrix had 12 ... C.J. Watson nearly had a triple-double with nine points, eight rebounds and nine assists ... Damien Wilkins led the Bulldogs with 19 points while freshman Levi Stukes added 18 ... Tennessee shot 63.2 percent (12-of-19) from 3-point range, narrowly missing the school record of 64.3 set in 1992 ... Both teams shot better from 3-point range than from the field ... UT shot 56.9 percent from the field and 63.2 percent from 3 while Georgia shot 44.4 percent from the field and 53.8 percent from 3 ... Tennessee converted 19-of-26 free throws while Georgia attempted just 16 shots at the charity line, making 10 ... The Vols ran their winning streak to six games with the win.
Tennessee Against Ranked Teams
Florida is the first ranked team that the Vols have played this season ... Last year Tennessee was 3-5 against teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 ... The Vols have won three of their last four games against ranked teams including wins over No. 17 Georgia (78-72), No. 4 Florida (66-59) and No. 23 Mississippi State (59-49) while the only loss came at No. 2 Kentucky (68-80) ... The Vols are 17-26 all-time against teams ranked in the Top 5 and 39-113 against teams ranked in the Top 10.
Tennessee, Florida Rank 1-2 in SEC Scoring
Saturday?s game in Gainesville will feature the top two scoring teams in the Southeastern Conference ... Tennessee leads the SEC with 84.0 points per game while Florida is second with 82.5 points ... UT?s scoring margin of +17.4 is second only to Vanderbilt?s +21.1 ... Florida ranks fourth in the SEC with a +15.1 scoring margin ... The Gators have a season-high of 112 points in the season opener against Montana State while Tennessee?s season high is 108 points against Texas A&M.
Vols Well Represented in SEC Statistics
Tennessee players lead six of the 12 individual stat categories in the latest Southeastern Conference statistics ... Scooter McFadgon leads three categories, including scoring (19.8 ppg), free throw percentage (92.3 percent) and 3-point percentage (45.5 percent) ... C.J. Watson sits atop two categories, including assists (6.70 apg) and assist/turnover ration (2.91 assists-to-turnovers) ... Brandon Crump leads the league in field goal percentage by making 66.3 percent of his shots ... As a team, the Vols lead the SEC in scoring offense (84.0 ppg) and 3-point percentage (37.4 percent) while ranking second in scoring margin (+17.4 ppg), free throw percentage (73.5 percent), rebounding offense (43.0 rpg), rebounding margin (+8.9 rpg), assists (19.70 apg) and assist/turnover ration (1.39 assists-to-turnovers).
New Guys Contributing
The Vols are receiving significant contributions from four new players in the lineup ... Scooter McFadgon, a junior transfer from Memphis, is leading the Vols with 19.8 points per game ... Jemere Hendrix, a sophomore transfer from Clemson, is averaging 8.8 points and 7.2 rebounds while starting all 10 games ... Dane Bradshaw, a freshman guard, has given the Vols a huge boost off the bench with 4.3 points per game to go with 21 assists ... Major Wingate, a 6-foot-10 freshman, has averaged 13.5 minutes per game off the bench and is third on the team with seven blocks.
Tennessee Making a Living at Free Throw Line
Head coach Buzz Peterson has said that, ?... our goal is to make more free throws than they shoot.? ... So far, the Vols have dominated the free throw line ... Tennessee has made 200 (200-of-272) free throws this season compared to just 136 attempts (92-of-136) for UT?s opponents ... UT ranks second in the SEC by making 73.5 percent of its free throws ... Six times the Vols have made more free throws than their opponents attempted ... Four times this season UT has limited its opponents to less than 10 free throw attempts.
Hitting The Boards
Tennessee ranks second in the Southeastern Conference with 43.0 rebounds per game ... The Vols have surpassed the 50-rebound mark two times with 50 boards at Nebraska (12/13/03) and 57 against The Citadel (12/17/03) ... UT is outrebounding its opponents by 8.9 rebounds per game which ranks second in the SEC ... The Vols held a 29-7 halftime rebounding advantage against The Citadel before finishing the game with 57 rebounds to the Bulldogs? 26 ... UT is averaging 14.80 offensive rebounds per game.
Watson Leads SEC in Assists
While several other point guards around the nation have been bogarting the headlines and highlights, Tennessee sophomore C.J. Watson has quietly established himself as one of the top playmakers in the college game ... Nicknamed ?The Quiet Storm,? he leads the Southeastern Conference with 6.70 assists per game this season ... He has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.91 (67 assists against 23 turnovers in 327 minutes) ... According to the Jan. 5 NCAA statistics, Watson?s 6.4 assists ranked 12th in the nation ... Five times this season he has had a game with eight or more assists ... Against Georgia (1/7/04) he flirted with a triple-double with nine points, eight rebounds and nine assists ... As a true freshman last season he led the SEC in minutes played (35.8 mpg) while leading the league with 5.44 assists per game against conference opponents ... His 160 assists as a rookie ranked seventh on UT?s single-season charts and were the second-most ever by a Tennessee freshman.
Watson Can Score Too
Although he usually looks to pass first, Watson has also found opportunities to score ... While leading the SEC with 6.70 assists per game, he ranks third on the team with 11.6 points per game ... He has also established himself as a deep threat by ranking second on the team in 3-pointers (17) and 3-point percentage (.447) ... Over his last three games he is shooting 63.6 percent (7-of-11) from 3-point range.
Watson Flirts With Triple-Double
Sophomore point guard C.J. Watson flirted with history in the SEC opener against Georgia (1/7/04) ... The Las Vegas native nearly became the first Tennessee player in history to record a triple-double ... He finished the game with nine points, eight rebounds and nine assists ... It isn?t the first time that Watson has flirted with a triple-double ... In just his second collegiate game he recorded nine points, seven rebounds and eight assists against VMI (11/25/02).
Jumping Jemere Gets The Rebounds
Saying that he would rather have 20 rebounds than score 20 points in a game because ?anyone can score 20 points but not many can get 20 rebounds? Jemere Hendrix has been a presence on the boards this season ... A transfer from Clemson, the 6-foot-8 Hendrix leads the Vols and ranks 11th in the SEC with 7.2 boards per game ... 44.4 percent (32-of-72) of his rebounds have come at the offensive end of the floor ... He ranks sixth in the SEC with 3.20 offensive rebounds per game ... Two times this season he has recorded a career--high 11 rebounds.
Scooter Scores Big
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 hasn?t had a scoring letdown since the season opener ... In the SEC opener he matched his career scoring mark with a 31-point effort against Georgia (1/7/04) ... The Memphis transfer leads in the SEC with 19.8 points per game ... He has scored 20 or more points four times and 30 or more points two times ... While carrying a reputation as an outstanding outside shooter, he has scored 48 of his points at the free throw line ... He leads the SEC with his 92.3 percent free throw percentage.
Crump Making His Presence Felt
With each year at Tennessee, Brandon Crump has steadily improved his play ... The Houston, Texas, native owns one of the best shooting percentages in the Southeastern Conference, currently leading the league with a 66.3 field goal percentage ... According to the Jan. 5 NCAA statistics, Crump?s 64.6 field goal percentage ranked 12th in the nation ... He ranks ninth in the SEC in scoring (16.1 ppg) and 14th in rebounding with 7.0 boards per game ... The 6-foot-10 forward has scored 20 or more points in four of his last seven games after not reaching the 20-point mark in his first two seasons at Tennessee ... He has three double-doubles on the season and six in his career ... He has steadily improved his averages from 7.1 points and 4.2 rebounds as a freshman to 11.0 points to 5.9 rebounds as a sophomore to 16.1 points and 7.0 rebounds as a junior this year ... Against Nebraska (12/13/03) he recorded a career-high 25 points.
Sonic Boom-er
Sophomore center Boomer Herndon has raised his game a couple of notches of the last few contests ... Over the last six games the Nashville native has scored 33 points and gathered 31 rebounds in 66 minutes of action ... When taking those statistics and averaging them as if he played a full 40 minutes per game during that stretch he would be averaging 20.0 points, 18.8 rebounds (including 7.9 on the offensive end of the floor) and 6.7 blocks ... Herndon currently ranks ninth in the SEC with 1.44 blocks per game on the season.
Bradshaw Giving UT A Backcourt Boost
Last year point guard C.J. Watson led the Southeastern Conference by playing 35.8 minutes per game ... This year Watson has received relief from freshman Dane Bradshaw ... The Memphis native is averaging 15.0 minutes per game off the bench and is contributing 4.3 points and 3.1 rebounds per game ... A player who has a outstanding feel for the game, Bradshaw is second on the squad with 21 assists.
| TENNESSEE CAREER STATS VS. FLORIDA |
| ? | G-GS | FG-A | 3FG-A | FT-A | Reb | Avg | A | To | Blk | Stl | Pts | Avg |
| Stanley Asumnu | 2-0 | 0-3 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 1-2-3 | 1.5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.5 |
| Brandon Crump | 4-3 | 16-24 | 0-0 | 5-7 | 8-6-14 | 3.5 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 37 | 9.3 |
| C.J. Watson | 2-2 | 6-11 | 2-4 | 6-9 | 2-3-5 | 2.5 | 13 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 20 | 10.0 |
| John Winchester | 2-0 | 1-3 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0-0 | 0.0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1.0 |
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