University of Tennessee Athletics
LADY VOLS OPEN UP SEC SCHEDULE BY VISITING SOUTH CAROLINA
January 03, 2006 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 3, 2006
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LADY VOLS OPEN UP SEC SCHEDULE BY VISITING SOUTH CAROLINA
THE GAME The #1-ranked Tennessee Lady Vols (13-0) open up 2006 Southeastern Conference play traveling to South Carolina (9-3) for a 7:00 p.m. match-up in the Colonial Center on CSS. LADY VOLS AT A GLANCE This is the Lady Vols' 32nd season under Head Coach Pat Summitt...She has compiled a staggering 895-172 overall record...Passed Dean Smith for most NCAA collegiate basketball wins of all-time with a 75-54 victory over Purdue on Mar. 22, 2005 ... Summitt Is just five wins away from collecting 900 career victories...Her 2004-05 squad finished third in the NCAA Final Four Championships with a 30-5 overall record and were the SEC Tournament Champions... This season, UT returned eight letterwinners, two redshirt freshmen and welcomed one newcomer ...The 2005-06 season marks the Lady Vol debut for redshirt freshmen Candace Parker and Alex Fuller who sat out last season rehabbing their left knees...True freshman, #21 Lindsey Moss, a 6-0 guard from Alpharetta, Ga., is seeing her first action this season...UT lost soph Sa'de Wiley-Gatewood when she left the squad on Dec. 19, 2005... THE 4-1-1 ON THE GAMECOCKS South Carolina rolled over Clemson, 77-46, to capture its seventh straight win on Jan. 2 at Littlejohn Coliseum. The Gamecocks improved to 9-3 on the year heading into Wed., Jan. 4th game against #1-ranked Tennessee in Columbia. Tip off is set for 7 p.m. and the game will be televised live on CSS. Clemson fell to 6-8 with the loss. USC's defense was dominant, holding the Tigers to just 30 percent shooting. It marked the fifth straight game USC has limited its opponent to 30 percent or less from the field. The Gamecocks knocked down 53.7 percent of their own shots as Iva Sliskovic led the Gamecocks with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds. The Gamecocks' bench out-scored the Tiger reserves, 53-7, led by Larissa Kulcsar's season-best 14 points, 12 points from Stacy Booker and a career-high 11 points from Lakesha Tolliver. USC was impressive from the free throw line, nailing 16-of-17 attempts (.941), the fourth-best effort in school history and the best since making 16-of-17 against Vanderbilt on March 2, 2000. The Gamecocks also won the battle of the boards, out-rebounding Clemson, 45-27. Carolina out-scored the Tigers in the paint, 46-20. OUR SCHEDULE THIS WEEK... Back to "Woolworth's Schedule," the five and dime as the Lady Vols will face five opponents during a 10-day stretch. It started with a 75-50 win at #22/21-Temple (Dec. 28), moved on to a 62-51 victory at sold-out #12/11-Notre Dame (Dec. 31), and continued with a pit stop win at home against Old Dominion, 83-67, (Jan. 2). The 5 and 10 continues with the opening of the SEC season at South Carolina (Jan. 4) and finishing with #7/8 UConn at home on Jan. 7. LADY VOLS ON TV A record 21 Lady Vol regular season games are slated for television this season. UT is 6-0 on TV thus far. ON THIS DAY Tennessee is 12-1 in their history when playing on Jan. 4. The Lady Vols are 7-0 at home, 4-1 on the road, and 1-0 on neutral courts. Last time out on the 4th, the Lady Vols defeated Old Dominion, 66-42, in Knoxville in 2004. LOOKING BACK Last year at this time, the Lady Vols were 9-3 and had just defeated Old Dominion, 68-58, in Norfolk on Jan. 2. UT'S OFFENSIVE FIREPOWER In all games, this is how Tennessee has shot from the field: 50%FG: Princeton (.597), Texas (.549), ODU (.520), Temple (.509); 40%FG: Chattanooga (.477), LaTech (.466), GWU (.462), Mich. St. (.460), Stetson (.446), Maryland (.415), Stanford (.413), Gonzaga (.406), 30%FG: Notre Dame (.328) DEEE ----- FENSE In all games, this is how the opposition has shot from the field: 50%FG: none, 40%FG: Stanford (.481), ODU (.459), Texas (.448), Maryland (.434), Gonzaga (.426), 30%FG: LaTech (.385), GWU (.348), Temple and Mich. St. (.333), Chattanooga (.322), Notre Dame (.306), 20%FG: Princeton (.293), Stetson (.283) 2005-06 WON-LOSS DIFFERENTIAL Twelve out of 13 Lady Vol wins in 2005-06 have different margins of victory ranging from 68 points (Princeton) to five points (Maryland). UT's overall margin of victory is 26.7 ppg. Wins: +68 (1), +50 (1), +42 (1), +41 (1), +28 (1), +25 (1), +24 (1), +16 (2), +14 (1), +11 (1), +7 (1), +5 (1) TICKETS LIMITED BUT STILL AVAILABLE FOR UCONN Tickets are still available but limited for the Tennessee vs. Connecticut basketball game on Jan. 7 at Thompson-Boling Arena. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. ET. There are a few $15.00 reserved seats for the game however, QUANTITIES ARE LIMITED. General admission tickets cost $10.00 and may only be purchased at the Thompson-Boling Arena - those numbers are dwindling also. BEST STARTS TO A SEASON Currently at 13-0 to start the 2005-06 campaign, this is the fourth best run all-time to open the season. Of the 13 perfect starts to a season (of at least 7 wins), the run was stopped with a loss to a BIG EAST team on four occasions.
GAME REPORT 14 - SOUTH CAROLINA The South Carolina Gamecocks (9-3 0-0 SEC) are one of the hottest teams in women's hoops at the present. USC has won its last seven games after starting out 2-3 on the year. Carolina lost heartbreakers to #18 Texas (59-55) and #19 Purdue (56-48) before being surprised by Georgia Southern (73-66). The Gamecocks resurgence started with a 79-61 win over #14 Minnesota on Dec. 13. They have not lost since. All-Time Series Meetings TENNESSEE leads 35-2
USC SERIES Tennessee leads the series with South Carolina, 35-2. The UT Media Relations Office recognizes all recorded games played with newspaper accounts and/or box scores. The series with USC indicates a win and a loss pre-dating the Pat Summitt years yielding a 35-2 record. The Summitt era has only found UT on the losing end to the Gamecocks once -- Jan. 23, 1980 in Columbia, 56-52. It happened when the Carolina Pep Band positioned itself behind the UT bench and played its amplified drums, electric guitars, etc. for all 40 minutes of the game. UT huddles, held practically at the free throw line, did little good. Shortly thereafter, a ban on bands playing during the game and disallowing electronic amplification, was instituted by the AIAW. HEADING INTO THE GAME... UT and USC meet tonight for the 38th time in the series. The Lady Vols have recorded 31 consecutive victories over the Gamecocks dating back to the 1979-80 season when UT associate head coach Holly Warlick was the starting Tennessee point guard. AVERAGE SCORE The average score of the UT-South Carolina games during the Lady Vols 31-game winning streak over the Gamecocks is 84.5 (UT) and 61.3 (USC) - a +23.2 margin. LADY VOLS VS. GAMECOCKS STAT COMPARISON
OUR LAST MEETING VERSUS SOUTH CAROLINA Tennessee standout guard Shanna Zolman became the 29th Lady Vol to eclipse the 1,000-point mark, as sixth-ranked UT defeated South Carolina, 74-44, at Thompson-Boling Arena on Feb. 17, 2005. The victory was the Orange and White's second versus the Gamecocks in 2004-05, as they won 68-53 in Columbia, S.C., on Jan. 27. With the triumph, the Lady Vols extended their winning streak against USC to 31 games and have now earned at least 20 victories in each of the last 29 seasons. With the contest tied at seven early on, Tennessee rattled off a 7-0 spurt during the span of just a minute to lead 14-7, forcing South Carolina to take its first timeout at the 16:23 mark. Utilizing an aggressive trapping defense, UT extended its advantage to 16 points, 26-10, following a put-back by Loree Moore, which capped off a 12-2 spurt. While USC chipped away and cut the margin to single digits, 28-19, with 4:55 showing in the opening frame, the Lady Vols closed the half on a 14-2 run to take a comfortable 42-21 lead into the locker room. Early in the second stanza, the Gamecocks were unable to make a significant rally as Tennessee scored 12 unanswered points to take its biggest lead of the game, 56-25. Shortly thereafter, Zolman sank a 15-foot jumper from the left elbow with 8:56 remaining to take her above the 1,000-point mark. South Carolina was unable to get closer than 22 points the rest of the way as UT sealed the 30-point victory. Individually, the Lady Vols were paced by Zolman, who scored a team-high 13 points. Just missing out on double figures were Alexis Hornbuckle, Dominique Redding and Sidney Spencer, who each recorded nine points. As a team, Tennessee shot 46.9 percent and held USC to just 39.1 percent shooting. Additionally, UT won the battle of the boards, 36-30, and forced the opposition into 24 turnovers, while committing a season-low nine. CAREER STATS VS. SOUTH CAROLINA Senior Shanna Zolman is Tennessee's leading scorer against South Carolina at 13.2 ppg. She is followed by fellow senior Tye'sha Fluker with 7.4 ppg. Last year, Fluker recorded her second career double-double with a 15 point and 10 rebound effort in the first meeting this season (Jan. 27) between UT and USC in Columbia. Fluker is also UT's best returning rebounder grabbing 4.8 boards per outing in the series. SPINDERELLA IS A GAMECOCK Lurking on the sidelines for South Carolina is "Spinderella" former Lady Vol crowd favorite Michelle Marciniak. Marciniak is in her third year as a Gamecock assistant coach. A 5'9" guard, she donned #3 in the Orange & White and played for UT in 1993-96. Marciniak averaged 10.2 ppg and 2.7 rpg over her three year UT career. Dubbed "Spinderella" because of her famous spin moves, she was the MVP of the 1996 NCAA Championships when UT captured title #4 in Charlotte, N.C. ON THE RADAR SCREEN - UCONN The Connecticut Huskies are in action tonight when it puts its 1-0 BIG EAST record on the line with a 7:00 p.m. game against Georgetown in Gampel Pavilion in Storrs. It will be their final contest before Saturday's meeting in Knoxville versus the top-ranked Tennessee Lady Vols. In their last outing, senior Ann Strother led four Huskies in double figures with 21 points as No. 8/8 UConn posted an 85-46 victory over Army on Dec. 31, 2005, before a crowd of 14,077 at the Hartford Civic Center. Joining Strother in double figures was classmate Barbara Turner who tallied 16 points and sophomore Mel Thomas, who also had 16, her eighth game in double-figures on the season. Turner brought down a game-high 13 rebounds, good for her fourth double-double of the season and her third in the past four games. Army kept the game close early on, trailing by just two, 14-12, with 13:17 left to play in the first half. Connecticut then went on a 10-0 run to take a 24-12 lead with 10:15 to play and eventually led at the half by a 42-30 count. In its final game of 2005, UConn shot 56.9 percent from the floor and were 12-21 from behind the arc, good for 57.1 percent. The Huskies forced the Black Knights to turn the ball over 26 times and UConn scored 31 points off of those miscues. Despite Turner's 13 boards, Army out-rebounded UConn, 34-28, for the game. Also joining her teammates in double figures was junior Nicole Wolff who scored a season-high 10 points and pulled down five boards, also a season-high. It was Wolff's first double-figure scoring effort since Feb. 16, 2005 at Georgetown, when she also scored 10. With the win, UConn's fifth in a row, the Huskies are now 11-1 on the season while Army falls to 5-7. Freshman Renee Montgomery continued her outstanding play with six assists and has now dished out 17 assists in the past three games. EX OFFICIO MEMBER OF THE BIG EAST This is BIG EAST week for Tennessee. The Lady Vols kick-off B.E.W. defeating #12/11-ranked Notre Dame, 62-51 in South Bend, Ind., on Dec. 31 and will then entertain the #8-ranked Connecticut Huskies in Knoxville a week later on Jan. 7. Last season, the Lady Vols played two teams from the BIG EAST in three games defeating Connecticut and splitting with Rutgers. ALL-TIME OPENING DAY RECORD IN SEC PLAY The Tennessee Lady Vols have produced a 21-5 opening day record in SEC play dating back to the 1979-80 season. UT is 10-2 in home SEC openers and 11-3 on the road. Georgia (1984 and 1996) and Auburn (1988 and 1989) each ambushed the Lady Vols in two SEC opening games, while Vanderbilt turned the trick in 1990. The Lady Vols have not dropped an SEC opener since 1996 when Georgia escaped with a 94-93 overtime victory in Knoxville on Dec. 8, 1996. Since that time, Tennessee has won 61 consecutive SEC home games entering this season. The first SEC home game for the Lady Vols in 2006 - Georgia on Jan. 12 THE COUNTDOWN HAS BEGUN Lady Vol coach Pat Summitt is now just five wins away from the incredible uncharted plateau of 900 career victories. Summitt started the season with 882 wins and now has 895. Tennessee's next five opponents includes: at South Carolina, Connecticut, Georgia, at Mississippi State and at Vanderbilt. LET'S GO SEE THE CIRCUS Lady Vol basketball has that "circus charm" to it again this season. Already, George Washington, Stanford, Temple and Notre Dame (UT's four road games) have posted new attendance records or season high attendance records. The coffers have fared well - ticket prices when UT came to town almost doubled the price of a normal ducat. Notre Dame was an advance sell-out. THE LADY VOLS HAVE NATION'S BEST RPI - (2005-06 Opponents in Bold; as of Jan. 2, 2006)
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