Tennessee Trends
? The Vols have held three of their last four opponents to under 40 percent shooting from the field. Only Alabama (52.6 percent in the first round of the SEC Tournament) has shot better than 40 percent over Tennessee?s last four outings. During those four games UT?s opponents have shot 41.4 percent from the field and 35.1 percent from 3-point range.
? UT?s 7-1 record in home SEC games tied with Kentucky for best home mark in the league.
? The Vols? 15-13 record has assured Tennessee of the 71st winning season in school history.
? Freshman Dane Bradshaw has moved into the starting lineup in each of UT?s last four games. He is averaging 5.0 points, 2.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 23.3 minutes of action during those four outings.
? C.J. Watson recorded his 300th career assist against South Carolina (3/6/04). In 57 career games he has recorded 305 career assists, including 145 this year.
? Scooter McFadgon?s 65 3-pointers this season rank seventh on UT?s single-season 3-pointers made lists. McFadgon, who has made 65-of-165 3-point attempts this season, needs two more 3-pointers to pass Greg Bell (66 in 1989-90) for sixth and nine to pass Tony Harris (73 in 1999-00) for fifth.
? McFadgon is shooting 90.8 percent (129-of-142) from the line to rank second on UT?s single season free throw percentage list. Bill Justus has held the record at 92.0 percent (133-of-147) since the 1968-69 season.
? Combining both his Memphis and UT career scoring totals, McFadgon has scored 1,158 career points.
? Brandon Crump leads the Vols with eight double-doubles on the season. His eight double-doubles tie for third-most in the SEC and are the most by a Vol since 1995-96.
? Tennessee is 11-2 when C.J. Watson has six or more assists this season.
| Team Statistical Comparisons |
| Tennessee | Stat Category | George Mason |
| 71.7 | Points | 72.9 |
| 71.4 | Opponent Points | 68.7 |
| +0.3 | Scoring Margin | +4.2 |
| .441 | Field Goal % | .445 |
| .434 | Opponent Field Goal % | .439 |
| .349 | Three-Point % | .337 |
| .351 | Opponent Three-Point % | .314 |
| .724 | Free Throw % | .679 |
| 37.0 | Rebounds | 35.7 |
| 33.9 | Opponent Rebounds | 36.4 |
| +3.1 | Rebounding Margin | -0.7 |
| 15.2 | Assists | 14.4 |
| 14.9 | Turnovers | 15.8 |
| 3.4 | Blocks | 3.0 |
| 6.0 | Steals | 8.6 |
| 15-13 | Record | 21-9 |
| Individual Statistical Leaders |
| Tennessee | Stat Category | George Mason |
| McFadgon, 17.9 | Points | Lewis, 14.6 |
| Crump, 7.0 | Rebounds | Lewis, 7.6 |
| Watson, 5.2 | Assists | Reynolds, 5.5 |
| Crump, .561 | Field Goal % | Lewis, .593 |
| Watson, .406 | Three-Point % | Butler, .393 |
| McFadgon, .908 | Free Throw % | Butler, .816 |
National Invitation Tournament Notebook
| Top Performances In NIT |
Individual Scoring
34 Bill Justus vs. Ohio (3/17/69)
33 Allan Houston vs. Alabama-Birmingham (3/18/92)
31 Allan Houston vs. Vanderbilt (3/19/90)
30 Anthony Richardson vs. Louisville (3/29/85)
26 Michael Brooks vs. Louisville (3/29/85)
25 Tony White vs. SW Louisiana (3/20/85)
24 Jimmy England vs. St. John?s (3/20/71)
24 Don Johnson vs. Duke (3/22/71)
23 Ian Lockhart vs. Vanderbilt (3/19/90)
23 Tony White vs. Virginia (3/23/85)
22 Tony White vs. Indiana (3/27/85)
21 Fred Jenkins vs. SW Louisiana (3/20/85)
21 Dyron Nix vs. Middle Tennessee State (3/18/88)
21 Willie Burton vs. UT-Chattanooga (3/19/84)
21 Bobby Croft vs. Rutgers (3/14/69)
21 Bobby Croft vs. Temple (3/20/69)
20 Allan Houston vs. Memphis State (3/14/90) Individual Rebounding
18 Damon Johnson vs. Charleston (3/13/96)
13 Rob Jones vs. Virginia Tech (3/23/84)
12 Steve Hamer vs. Charleston (3/13/96)
12 Ian Lockhart vs. Memphis State (3/14/90)
12 Doug Roth vs. Middle Tennessee State (3/12/88)
12 Rob Jones vs. UT-Chattanooga (3/19/84)
12 Rob Jones vs. St. Peter?s (3/14/84)
12 Michael Brooks vs. Louisville (3/29/85)
11 Elgrace Wilborn vs. Georgetown (3/18/03) Individual Assists
8 Bill Hann vs. Ohio (3/17/69)
7 Fred Jenkins vs. Louisville (3/29/85)
7 Michael Brooks vs. Louisville (3/29/85)
7 Clarence Swearengen vs. Middle Tennessee State (3/18/88)
7 Jay Price vs. Vanderbilt (3/19/90)
6 Fred Jenkins vs. UT-Chattanooga (3/19/84)
6 Fred Jenkins vs. Virginia (3/23/85) |
Vols Make 24th Postseason Appearance
Tennessee is making its 24th postseason appearance, including its sixth in the last seven seasons ... In the last nine seasons Tennessee has made seven postseason appearances (four NCAA Tournaments and three NITs) ... The Vols are a combined 20-24 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and the NIT.
Tennessee in the Postseason NIT
Tennessee is making its 11th appearance in the National Invitation Tournament ... The Vols are 12-10 in the NIT ... UT is making its second consecutive appearance in the NIT ... Last year the Vols fell to eventual NIT runner-up Georgetown, 60-70, in the first round ... Tennessee?s best showing in the NIT came in 1985 when the Vols made it to the NIT semifinals in New York City where they lost to Indiana 67-74, then defeated Louisville in the consolation game 100-84.
Five Vols Own NIT Titles
Tennessee head coach Buzz Peterson and Vols junior guard Scooter McFadgon each have won National Invitation Tournament titles ... Peterson directed Tulsa to the 2001 NIT Championship ... Joining Peterson on the Golden Hurricane bench were Ed Conroy and Al Daniel ... Conroy is currently an assistant for the Vols while Daniel is the director of basketball operations ... In 2002 McFadgon was a key player on a Memphis team that won the NIT title ... McFadgon averaged 13.0 points during the 2002 NIT, including scoring five points in the championship game against South Carolina ... Tennessee associate head coach Chris Ferguson was an assistant coach for Virginia Tech in 1995 when the Hokies defeated Clemson in the NIT championship game.
Buzz Peterson In The NIT
Buzz Peterson is 5-1 when coaching in the NIT ... While he is making his second appearance in the NIT as the head coach of Tennessee, Peterson led the Tulsa Golden Hurricane to the 2001 NIT Championship ... The Hurricane got to the championship with wins over UC Irvine (75-71), at Minnesota (76-73 in overtime) and at Mississippi State (77-75) before beating Memphis (72-64) and Alabama (79-60) in New York City ... As an assistant coach he was 2-2 in two NIT appearances at Vanderbilt.
Southeastern Conference Receives Nine Postseason Bids
Tennessee is one of nine Southeastern Conference teams that received postseason invitations ... Six SEC teams received invitations to the NCAA Tournament and three institutions received National Invitation Tournament bids ... The SEC?s nine postseason bids is tied with the Big 12 Conference (four NCAA, five NIT) for the second-most of any conference this season ... Only the 14-team Big East Conference received more postseason invitations with 10 bids (six NCAA, four NIT) ... The SEC is one of four conferences with six teams in the NCAA Tournament ... Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi State, South Carolina and Vanderbilt each received NCAA Tournament invitations while Georgia, LSU and Tennessee were recipients of NIT bids ... Kentucky got a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament while Mississippi State is a second seed.
The Series
This is the first all-time meeting between Tennessee and George Mason ... The Vols are 14-2 all-time against current members of the Colonial Athletic Conference ... William & Mary is the only CAA team with a win over the Vols ... The Tribe is 2-4 all-time against Tennessee with wins coming in the 1956 and 1960 seasons ... This is the first time Tennessee has faced a Colonial Athletic Association team since the first round of the 1999 NCAA Tournament when the fourth-seeded Vols downed 13th-seeded Delaware 62-52 ... Tennessee is 2-0 against the CAA in postseason games with a 58-56 overtime win against Virginia Commonwealth in the 1981 NCAA Tournament and a 62-52 won over Delaware in the 1999 NCAA Tournament.
Looking at George Mason
George Mason is 21-9 on the season and finished third in the Colonial Athletic Association with a 12-6 mark ... The Patriots narrowly missed winning their third CAA championship in the last six years with a 54-55 loss to Virginia Commonwealth in the championship game of the CAA Tournament last week ... Tony Skinn drilled a 3-pointer to tie the game with 9 seconds left but VCU?s Jesse Pellot-Rosa hit one of two free throws with 1.6 seconds left to give the Rams the win ... It is the second year in a row the Patriots have finished second in the CAA Tournament ... George Mason has tied a school record with 21 wins this season ... The Patriots have been on a roll as of late, winning nine of their last 12 games ... George Mason is making its fourth postseason appearance in the last seven seasons ... Two of those postseason appearances have been in the NCAA Tournament (1999 and 2001) while the last two have been to the NIT (2002 and 2003) ... This is the second consecutive year GMU has hosted an NIT game ... Last year the Patriots fell to St. Joseph?s (64-73) in Fairfax, Va. ... First team All-Colonial Athletic Association selection Jai Lewis leads the Patriots with 14.6 points and 7.6 rebounds per game ... A sophomore forward who also leads the team with a 59.3 field goal percentage, Lewis has been a three-time CAA Player of the Week pick ... Mark Davis, a second team All-CAA selection, is second on the squad with 13.7 points per game while leading the team with 50 steals ... Skinn, a 6-foot-1 sophomore guard who is averaging 8.0 points per game on the season, averaged 19.3 points in three CAA Tournament games ... The Patriots are coached by Jim Larranaga who is 121-83 in his seventh season at George Mason and 319-252 in his 20th year as a head coach.
George Mason Connections
The George Mason roster sports two native Tennesseans ... Terry Reynolds, a junior guard who has started 23 of his 28 games and is fourth on the team with 8.2 points per game, is a native of Nashville ... Deon Cooper, a 6-foot-9 senior center/forward, hails from Columbia where he played at Columbia Central High School ... GMU assistant coach Eric Konkol spent one season (2001-02) as a graduate administrative assistant at Tennessee ... Konkol was also a graduate assistant on Peterson?s staff at Tulsa in 2000-01 ... Scott Cherry, an assistant coach at George Mason, and Peterson are both North Carolina graduates and have won NCAA titles for the Tar Heels ... Peterson was a member of UNC?s 1982 NCAA championship team while Cherry won a ring in 1993 ... Cherry and Tennessee graduate manager Dustin Kerns both served on the Tennessee Tech coaching staff last year ... Cherry was an assistant on Mike Sutton?s staff while Kerns was director of basketball operations.
Last Time Out
Alabama hit seven of its first eight shots and never really cooled off in an 84-49 win over Tennessee in the first round of the 2004 Southeastern Conference Tournament ... A Major Wingate jumper cut an early Bama lead to 5-4 with 17:05 left in the opening half ... The Tide responded with a 15-5 run during which Tennessee went more than five minutes without scoring ... After C. J. Watson cut the lead to 20-11 Alabama scored eight consecutive points and never let its lead get smaller than 13 points the rest of the game ... Scooter McFadgon led the Vols with 14 points and six rebounds ... Brandon Crump added 13 points while Wingate tied his career-high with nine points ... Kennedy Winston led the Crimson Tide with 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting ... Antoine Pettway added 16 points and Earnest Shelton had 15 ... Alabama shot 52.6 percent from the field and 50.0 percent from 3-point range while the Vols managed just 31.6 percent shooting from the field ... The Tide outrebounded the Vols 42-27.
McFadgon Named Second Team All-SEC
Scooter McFadgon was named to the All-SEC second team by the league?s coaches and members of the media ... It is the first all-conference honor for McFadgon, who played two seasons at Memphis before transferring to Tennessee ... Mississippi State?s Lawrence Roberts was the media and coaches? pick for SEC Player of the Year while South Carolina?s Dave Odom was selected SEC Coach of the Year by the coaches and Mississippi State?s Rick Stansbury was the choice of the media.
McFadgon Named Second Team NABC All-District 7
Scooter McFadgon was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division I All-District Team on February 18 ... McFadgon is a second team All-District 7 selection ... The teams are selected by a panel of member coaches of the NABC ... First team selections are: Matt Freije (Vanderbilt), Francisco Garcia (Louisville), Gerald Fitch (Kentucky), Cuthbert Victor (Murray State) and Erik Daniels (Kentucky) ... Joining McFadgon on the second team are Antonio Burks (Memphis), Chuck Hayes (Kentucky), Ricky Minard (Morehead State) and Adrian Henning (Austin Peay).
McFadgon Helped Lead Memphis To Two NIT Final Fours
Tennessee junior guard Scooter McFadgon is the Vols? most experienced postseason player having played in a pair of NIT Final Fours at Memphis before transferring to Tennessee following the 2001-02 season ... In his two previous NIT appearances he has played 10 games and scored 96 points (9.6 ppg) ... As a freshman in 2001 McFadgon averaged 6.2 points per game in leading the Tigers to a third place finish in New York City ... In 2002 he was a key contributor on a Memphis squad that won the entire tournament ... He averaged 13.0 points in the five games, including a 21-point effort in the first round against UNC Greensboro.
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