University of Tennessee Athletics
TENNESSEE HOSTS MIDDLE TENNESSEE TONIGHT
November 10, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Nov. 10, 2006
Tennessee enjoyed one of its best seasons in school history last year under coach Bruce Pearl, but it still ended sooner than they would have liked.
The Volunteers look to build off of last year's success as they begin their second season under Pearl on Friday when they host Middle Tennessee State at Thompson-Boling Arena.
MyTV in Knoxville (Comcast Ch. 8 and Direct TV Channel 30) and WUXP-TV Nashville (Comcast Ch. 14) will televise the game. John Wilkerson, former Vol All-America Bill Justus and Rick Russo will call the action. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
After going 14-17 in 2004-05, the Vols went 22-8 last season to win the SEC East for the first time in six seasons. Tennessee received the No. 2 seed in the Washington Regional to end a four-year absence from the NCAA tournament, but suffered an 80-73 upset loss to Wichita State in the second round.
"We almost seemed satisfied come tournament time, because we had such an improvement in our season compared to the year before that we were not as hungry as we should be," senior forward Dane Bradshaw said. "This year, after we have experienced the tournament, we will be ready to play."
The Vols open the season ranked for the first time since 2000, and Pearl expects his team to improve upon last season's success.
"After having a big season, you have to try and maintain a level of success and consistency. To gain respect, you have to do it again and be consistent," Pearl said. "We are a young team. We will progress. I am not focused on the end result. We just have to get better as the season goes on."
The Vols finished 12-4 in the SEC, and are picked third in the East Division in preseason media voting behind reigning NCAA tournament champion and No. 1 Florida, and No. 22 Kentucky. Six SEC schools received bids to the NCAA tournament last year, and West Division favorite and No. 5 LSU also reached the Final Four.
"It is very motivating for our team (to see two SEC teams in the Final Four)," said junior guard Chris Lofton, who was named to the preseason all-SEC first team. "We want to be one of those teams so we have to practice harder and perform better in games."
Lofton and Bradshaw are the only two returning starters from last season, and Pearl is counting on both to provide leadership for the young team.
Lofton averaged a team-high 17.2 points, and set a single-season school record with 114 3-pointers, the second-highest total in SEC history. The 6-2 Lofton shot 46.6 percent from 3-point range, and Pearl would like Lofton to penetrate more and get to the foul line, where he made a team-high 91.7 percent of his free throws.
Bradshaw, the only senior on the team, averaged 7.1 points and 5.4 rebounds and expects to be completely recovered from offseason surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right wrist, an injury that bothered him most of last season.
The five freshman on Tennessee's roster this season make up one of the highest-rated recruiting classes in the country, and Pearl plans on starting two of them.
Heralded freshman Ramar Smith replaces point guard C.J. Watson, who has graduated, and 6-9 Wayne Chism steps in for center Major Wingate, who was dismissed from the team.
"It's a big jump with what a lot of people expect us to do as freshmen," Crews said. "It's an honor to play with the other four (freshmen) that came in with me. It's going to be a fun year."
The Vols have won their last seven season openers and 14 straight home openers. They reeled off 13 straight wins at Thompson-Boling Arena to start last season before suffering consecutive losses.
Tennessee is 3-0 against Middle Tennessee State at home and 4-1 against the Blue Raiders all-time. The two schools haven't met since the Vols' 74-56 win on Jan. 21, 2002.
Middle Tennessee went 16-12 last season, and is picked to finish third in the East Division of the Sun Belt Conference.
The Blue Raiders return three starters from last year's team, including leading scorer Adam Vogelsberg.
Vogelsberg, a preseason all-Sun Belt Conference selection, averaged 12.4 points and shot 41.7 percent (68-of-163) from 3-point range last season.
