University of Tennessee Athletics
2004-05 Basketball Outlook - Perimeter Players
July 13, 2004 | Men's Basketball
ROSTER | COACHING STAFF | QUICK FACTS | NOTEBOOK | POST PLAYERS
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| C.J. Watson |
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| Scooter McFadgon |
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| Dane Bradshaw |
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| Stanley Asumnu |
Perimeter Players
With C.J. Watson and Scooter McFadgon, along with a host of others with considerable experience, returning in the Volunteers backcourt, Tennessee's perimeter players should be a strength this season.
"I think our perimeter is pretty strong," Buzz Peterson, a guard on North Carolina's 1982 national championship squad, said. "Those two guards have a lot of experience coming back. I am biased because I coach them, but that is a fine backcourt right there with McFadgon and Watson. Those two are pretty good guards right there."
Watson, a 6-foot-2 junior point guard from Las Vegas, has started 57 of his 58 games since arriving on the Tennessee campus. In that time, he has established himself as one of the best playmakers in the SEC by averaging 5.3 assists per game.
As a sophomore, Watson added another dimension to his game by becoming more of a threat to score. In 2004 he ranked second on the team with 44 3-pointers made while leading the squad with his 41.1 3-point percentage.
"C.J. has had a great two years so far," Peterson said. "He worked hard to improve his shot last year. I feel like he can continue to score more points and more assists.
"The big thing for C.J. is being a leader for this team and being vocal. His biggest role on this team is to make sure that everyone on this team is on the same page. The respect is there for C.J. He's at the perfect position as a point guard to be a leader."
Giving Watson someone to pass the ball to that can make shots from virtually anywhere on the floor is McFadgon. A 6-foot-5 senior shooting guard from Memphis, McFadgon is the SEC's second-leading returning scorer after averaging 17.6 points per game last year. A second team All-SEC pick in 2004, McFadgon quickly became a marked man after scoring 31 points in his first game in a Tennessee uniform and 31 points in his SEC debut against Georgia.
"Scooter has had to go from being a role player on a solid Memphis team with Dajuan Wagner in the lineup to all of the sudden he is playing at Tennessee after sitting out a year and scoring 30 points against teams like Georgia and Kentucky," Peterson said. "All of a sudden he is a marked man. His total role completely changed. He became a marked person, they are coming after him. He has got to work on that role."
Joining Watson and McFadgon on the perimeter is the versatile and gritty Justin Albrecht, a 6-foot-6 senior from Omaha, Neb. A blue-collar type player who can play out on the perimeter, Albrecht can also go in the paint.
"Justin is someone you could put out there in the four spot to stretch out the defense," Peterson said. "He can bang around with some people inside if the four person on the other team isn't real big. He is someone we are hoping to break out and do some things for us this year."
One of the most athletic players in the SEC, Stanley Asumnu is poised to have a breakout year for the Vols. Possessing one of the quickest first steps in the game, the 6-foot-5 junior guard/forward from Houston more than doubled his scoring average between his freshman and sophomore seasons to 5.2 points per game in 2004.
"Stanley is somebody who can take his scoring average up another five or six points," Peterson said. "He's capable of doing that. If he can do that, it would be a big shot in the arm for this ball club."
Dane Bradshaw's energy and toughness earned him a starting spot as a true freshman in Tennessee's final five games in 2004. Now, as a 6-foot-3 sophomore, the Memphis native is poised to improve on his 3.4 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game from last year.
"Dane has brought some grit that we need," Peterson said. "You can always count on him at every practice and every game to give it his all. He has spent a lot of time over the summer working on his outside shooting, so it should add another element to his game this year."
Junior walk-on Pee-Wee Gash will also add to Tennessee's depth on the perimeter. The 5-foot-7 Asheville, N.C., native has been a fan favorite over his first two seasons at UT.
"Pee-Wee is a good asset to the team," said Peterson, who attended the same high school as Gash. "He is very popular with the fans here. He can give us an outside shooting threat that is going to do whatever he can to make the team better."
| Returning Statistics | ||||
| Statistic | Total | Return | Lost | % Return |
| Scoring | 2063 | 1863 | 200 | 90.3 |
| Field Goals | 702 | 638 | 64 | 90.9 |
| 3-Pt FGs | 160 | 135 | 25 | 84.4 |
| Free Throws | 499 | 452 | 47 | 90.6 |
| Rebounding | 1067 | 962 | 105 | 90.2 |
| Assists | 434 | 383 | 51 | 88.3 |
| Blocked Shots | 96 | 80 | 16 | 83.3 |
| Steals | 173 | 152 | 21 | 87.9 |
| Minutes | 5825 | 5065 | 760 | 87.0 |
| Starts | 145 | 132 | 13 | 91.0 |
After sitting out last season as a redshirt, Jordan Howell should give the Vols another threat to shoot long-range 3-point shots. A 6-foot-3 freshman from Auburn, Ala., Howell spent the 2004 season practicing with the Vols while working to get stronger. A finalist for Alabama's Mr. Basketball award, he made 45 percent of his 3-point shots his final two seasons of prep ball.
"Jordan is someone who is known as a shooter, but I think he is more than that," Peterson said. "He can put the ball on the floor and create scoring opportunities for other people. He's been working in the weight room to get stronger. I think people are going to be real excited to see him out there."
A much-anticipated newcomer to the Vols lineup will be Maysville, Ky., native Chris Lofton. Kentucky's 2004 Mr. Basketball, the 6-foot-2 guard finished his career at Mason County High School with 2,763 career points, and his 252 points in 10 state tournament games is third all-time in Kentucky history. In leading Mason County to the 2003 state championship, he set a state tournament record with nine 3-pointers in a 39-point performance.
"Chris is pretty much known as a shooter coming out of high school," Peterson said. "He is very capable of draining some 3s on you from the outside. He's got a scorers mentality. This kid has a will to win. He's got a lot of pride. You can't measure that heart."
