| VOLS FACE FORDHAM IN NIT SEASON TIP-OFF
- Tennessee will hit the road for the first time this season when the Vols travel to Nashville for the Dick's Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off. The Vols will meet Fordham in the first round of the tournament at 8 p.m. EST (7 p.m. CST) Monday at the Gaylord Entertainment Center. UT will play either Belmont or UNC-Wilmington on Tuesday.
- The Vols opened their 98th season of varsity basketball with an 82-53 victory over Middle Tennessee Friday in Knoxville. JaJuan Smith's game-high 16 points led five UT players in double figure scoring. Six players made their UT debut against the Blue Raiders, combining to score 39 points. It was Tennessee's 39th victory in its last 41 home-openers.
- Tennessee is making its first appearance in the NIT Season Tip-Off since the start of the 1992-93 season.
- Fordham opened its season with a 70-68 win over Sacred Heart Friday night. The Rams are led by preseason All-Atlantic 10 forward Bryant Dunston. A 6-foot-8 junior, Dunston averaged 16.1 points and 7.6 rebounds last year.
- The Vols return two starters, including their top scorer from last season. Chris Lofton, a preseason Wooden Award candidate, led the Vols with 17.2 points in 2005-06 while making 114 3-pointers, the second-highest total in Southeastern Conference history. Dane Bradshaw, the lone senior on the squad, returns after averaging 7.1 points and 5.4 rebounds while leading the SEC in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.76). One of the best sixth-men in the league last season, junior guard JaJuan Smith averaged 9.5 points last year.
- A preseason poll of SEC media has picked Tennessee to finish third in the SEC's Eastern Division and the coaches and media polls list Chris Lofton as a preseason first team all-conference selection.
| Bruce Pearl RECEPTION IN NASHVILLE - NOV. 13 | | | Reception to Honor Tennessee Men's Basketball Coach Bruce Pearl Monday, November 13th 5 p.m.
(The Vols tip-off against Fordham at 7 p.m.)
Nashville - Gaylord Arena The Davidson County UT Alumni Chapter invites alumni and friends to a pre-game reception with Coach Bruce Pearl on Monday, November 13, before UT tips off against Fordham in the first round of the NIT Pre-Season Tournament. The reception will be held from 5 p.m. until tip-off (7 p.m.) at Gaylord Arena in the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame Museum. Admission is FREE, but we do request that you RSVP by email or by calling (615) 812-5122. Tickets to the game will NOT be distributed at the reception. Purchase tickets through Ticketmaster at 615-255-9600 or online. For more information about the NIT Pre-Season Tournament, log on to www.NashvilleSports.com. | Tennessee Trends
- With an 83-52 season-opening win over Middle Tennessee, the Vols won their eighth season-opener in a row and improved to 39-2 in their last 41 home-openers.
- UT's bench scored 42 of the Vols' 83 points (50.6 percent) against Middle Tennessee. In 2005-06, Tennessee's bench averaged 21.0 points per game.
- Tennessee's 83-52 (+31) win over Middle Tennessee in the season-opener was the largest margin of victory in a season opener since UT defeated Elon 95-56 (+39) to open the 1999-200 campaign.
- Entering the 2006-07 season, six of UT's 11 scholarship players had never played in a Division I game before.
- UT is faced with replacing more than half of its scoring (54 percent), rebounds (51.8) and minutes played (51.3%) from the 2005-06 squad.
- UT's roster lists just three scholarship players taller than 6-foot-5. Duke Crews (6-8), Wayne Chism (6-9) and Ryan Childress (6-9) are the only Vols topping the 6-5 mark.
- In 2005-06 games, Tennessee's SEC opponents had a 4-12 record in the game immediately following their contests against the Vols. The only teams to win their next game after playing UT were Arkansas, Georgia, LSU and Vanderbilt.
- Under Bruce Pearl, UT is 19-2 when leading or tied with five minutes left in the game.
- UT is 15-0 when scoring 80 or more points under the direction of Bruce Pearl.
- UT is 23-14 (.622) when playing before crowds of 20,000 or larger at Thompson-Boling Arena. In 2005-06 the Vols were 4-2 playing in front of 20,000 fans at home.
- Tennessee has an all-time record of 1,368-892-2 in 98 seasons of basketball.
- UT's 610 regular season Southeastern Conference victories rank third all-time in the SEC. Only Kentucky and Alabama have won more league games.
- Tennessee is 214-86 in its 20th season in Thompson-Boling Arena. The Volunteers have posted winning home records in 17 of their 19 seasons in the facility.
- Tennessee is the only Division I school ever to rank in the top five nationally in attendance for football, men's basketball and women's basketball in the same season. The Vols turned the trick for the third time in 2005-06.
- Seven walk-ons are listed on Tennessee's roster this season. Ben Bosse, Quinn Cannington, Rick Daniels-Mulholland, Justin Jackson, Marq Murden, Steven Pearl and Tanner Wild are each on the Volunteer squad.
The Vols In Nashville
The Vols are 41-52 all-time when playing in Nashville ... Eighty-four of Tennessee's games in Nashville have been against Vanderbilt with the Commodores holding a 48-35 advantage ... The Vols are 3-2 all-time when playing in the Gaylord Entertainment Center ... UT defeated Middle Tennessee State 99-83 Dec. 15, 2000 at the GEC and have gone 1-2 in the SEC Tournament at the facility ... Last season, Tennessee defeated Murray State 64-53 and fell to South Carolina 71-79 at the GEC. Tennessee In The NIT
The Vols are making their second appearance in the NIT Season Tip-Off ... The Vols first appeared in the preseason tournament in November 1992 when they earned an 87-79 win at Rutgers (11/19/92) before falling 64-72 at Seton Hall (11/21/92). Tennessee On The "U"
Tennessee is making its first appearance on ESPNU ... The Vols have appeared on the ESPN family of networks 46 times since the 1989-90 season ... In that time, UT has made 40 appearances on ESPN and six on ESPN2. Early Bird Gets The Worm
Tennessee got its earliest start to a season in school history when the Vols hosted Middle Tennessee on Nov. 10 ... The previous record for earliest start came in the 1998-99 season when the Vols opened the regular season on Nov. 13 against Arizona ... UT was also one of the first teams to play an exhibition game this year, playing LeMoyne-Owen on Oct. 31 -- the first date the NCAA allowed teams to play exhibition games. UT's Preseason Ranking Is First Since 2000-01
The Vols have received their first preseason Top 25 ranking in six years ... Tennessee is ranked 24th by the ESPN/USA Today preseason poll and 25th by the Associated Press ... It is the first time since the 2000-01 season that the Vols have opened the season ranked ... UT was ranked eighth by ESPN/USA Today and ninth by the Associated Press to open the 2000-01 campaign. Freshmen Starters
Two true freshmen ( Duke Crews and Ramar Smith) were in the starting lineup for Tennessee's season-opener against Middle Tennessee ... It was the first time since 2002-03 and the fourth time in the last 10 years that a pair of true freshmen were opening day starters ... Tennessee also had multiple freshmen in the opening day lineup in 2002-03 ( C.J. Watson and Stanley Asumnu), 2001-02 ( Derek Stribling and Elgrace Wilborn) and in 1996-97 (C.J. Black, Charles Hathaway and Cornelius Jackson). Looking At Fordham
Fordham opened its season with a 70-68 victory over Sacred Heart University Friday, Nov. 10, at Rose Hill Gym ... Chris Bethel came off the bench to lead the Rams with 15 points while Michael Binns had 13 rebounds ... It was the third win in a season-opener in the last nine years for the Rams ... Fordham is led by 6-foot-8 junior forward Bryant Dunston who earned first team All-Atlantic 10 Conference honors last year after averaging 16.1 points and 7.6 rebounds per game ... Dunston has 960 career points, just 40 shy of the 1,000-point milestone ... Dunston, who was a selected to the preseason all-defense team in the A-10, ranked second in the league with 2.3 blocks per game last year ... Marcus Stout, a 6-4 junior guard, ranked third on the team with 13.0 points and was second with 2.8 assists in 2005-06 ... Fordham was 8-4 when playing at home but just 8-12 when playing away from Rose Hill Gym in 2005-06 ... The Rams are coming off a 16-16 overall record that included a 9-7 mark league play, a school record for most Atlantic 10 wins in a season ... Fordham returns four starters and a total of nine lettermen from last year ... The Rams were picked to finish seventh in the 14-team Atlantic 10 Conference in a preseason poll of the league's coaches and media ... Dereck Whittenburg, who played a key role in the final bucket of North Carolina State's 1983 NCAA title, is 102-104 in his eighth season as a head coach and owns a 35-54 in his fourth season at Fordham. The Fordham Series
Tennessee leads the all-time series with Fordham 2-1 ... This is the first meeting since Dec. 29, 1989, when Fordham took a 93-85 win in Knoxville ... It is the second time the Vols and Rams have met in a regular season tournament ... Tennessee took an 83-58 win over Fordham in the second round of the 1978 Rainbow Classic in Honolulu ... Tennessee is 29-21 all-time against current members of the Atlantic-10 Conference. Last Meeting With Fordham
Fordham handed Tennessee its first loss on the opening night of the Volunteer Classic since its beginning in 1966 with a 93-85 win on Dec. 29, 1989 in Knoxville ... The Rams outscored Tennessee 61-48 in the second half ... Fordham's Andre McClendon, who was named to the All-Vol Classic team, led the Rams with 31 points, canning 11-of-22 from the field, including 7-of-13 from 3-point land ... Allan Houston scored a then career-high 31 points and established a UT and Volunteer Classic record with eight 3-point field goals made ... Greg Bell added 20 and Ronnie Reese contributed 11 points ... Fordham trailed 37-32 at halftime, but took the lead for good 45-44 with 15:13 left in the game on Fred Herzog's two free throws ... Fordham held on to its lead by hitting 7-of-8 3-point field goal attempts and connecting on 22-of-28 from the line in the second half. Last Game: UT Opens Season With Big Win
Tennessee opened its 98th season of varsity basketball with an 83-52 victory over Middle Tennessee Friday, Nov. 10, at Thompson-Boling Arena ... True freshmen Duke Crews and Ramar Smith earned opening day starts for a UT team that saw six newcomers play at least 10 minutes against the Blue Raiders ... After Middle Tennessee tied the score 12-12 on a pair of Nigel Johnson free throws early in the first half, the Vols went on an 8-0 run to take control of the game ... UT built its lead to as many as 20 points (45-25) in the first half ... MT could get no closer than 16 points (on the first bucket of the second half) the rest of the way ... JaJuan Smith scored 14 of his game-high 16 points in the final seven minutes of the first half ... Josh Tabb scored 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting in his Tennessee debut ... Dane Bradshaw added 12 points while Wayne Chism and Ryan Childress each added 10 ... 10 of the 14 Vols who played reached the scoring column ... Kevin Kanaskie led the Blue Raiders with 13 points ... The Vols forced 22 Middle Tennessee turnovers ... UT shot 48.4 percent from the field and limited Middle to just 18.2 percent 3-point shooting. Vols Enter 20th Season At Thompson-Boling
Thompson-Boling Arena is celebrating its 20th season in 2006-07 ... The Vols have won 71.3 percent of their games in Thompson-Boling Arena and have ranked in the top 10 nationally in attendance nine times, including in 2005-06 when UT ranked fifth nationally with 17,954 fans per game ... The arena is getting ready to undergo its first major facelift as construction has already begun on a practice facility and construction will begin on the inside of the arena immediately following the 2006-07 season. - In October 2006 Tennessee Athletics had a ground-breaking ceremony to officially recognize construction on the Pratt Pavilion, the state-of-art basketball practice facility named in UT alumnus Larry F. Pratt's honor for his $5 million lead gift to the basketball programs. The Pratt Pavilion will house two full-size gymnasiums, one for each of the men's and women's varsity basketball teams, as well as space for an athletic training room, a weight room and a film study room.
- Thompson-Boling Arena will receive a dramatic facelift prior to the 2007-08 basketball season. With all new black seats, a center hung scoreboard, renovated concourses, 32 luxury suites and 160 loge seats, Thompson-Boling Arena will look and feel like a state-of-the-art arena ready for its next 20 years of service.
Vols Are A Hot Ticket
In 2005-06 Tennessee's average attendance grew by more than 5,000 fans per game to 17,954 -- the fifth-highest average in the nation ... This year UT has sold more than 13,100 season basketball tickets which is an increase of more than 4,000 season tickets from 2005-06 ... As of the start of the regular season there were less than 150 chair back seats available as season tickets ... Tennessee's season ticket sales are the best they have been since the first year Thompson-Boling Arena opened when the Vols averaged a school record 20,823 fans. Thompson-Boling Provides Homecourt Advantage
Thompson-Boling Arena has provided the Vols with a definite home court advantage since the facility opened in time for the 1987-88 season. - Tennessee is 214-86 (.713) entering its 20th season in Thompson-Boling Arena.
- Since the 1998 season, the Vols are 115-27 (.810) in Thompson-Boling Arena.
- The Vols are 52-20 against SEC teams at home over the last nine seasons.
- UT has won 68 of its last 75 home games against non-conference opponents.
Bomb Squad Returns
Tennessee returns 80.3 percent of its SEC-leading 8.8 3-point field goals per game from last season ... Leading the way is junior guard Chris Lofton who set a single-season school record with 114 triples in 2005-06 ... Junior JaJuan Smith was second on the team with 61 treys while senior Dane Bradshaw contributed 20 3-pointers and Jordan Howell had 15 ... Tennessee's 264 3-pointers in 2005-06 fell two shy of tying the school record set in 1999-2000. Lofton A Preseason Wooden Award Candidate
Junior guard Chris Lofton was named one of the top 50 preseason candidates for the 2006-07 Wooden Award All-American Team on Oct. 25 ... The Maysville, Ky., native was one of six players from the Southeastern Conference named to the watch list ... A finalist for the 2005-06 Wooden All-American Team, Lofton led the Vols with 17.2 points while breaking the school record for 3-pointers in a season with 114, the second-highest total in SEC history ... In January, the Wooden Award committee will release the midseason top 30 followed by the national ballot in early March ... On Tuesday, March 27, the 10-player Wooden Award All-American Team will be announced. Lofton Earns Honors From SEC Coaches
Chris Lofton was a first team selection on the 2007 SEC Coaches Preseason All-SEC Team ... Lofton joined Alabama's Ronald Steele, Florida's Joakim Noah and LSU's Glen Davis as unanimous selections ... As a sophomore in 2005-06, the Maysville, Ky., native was a consensus All-SEC selection after averaging 17.2 points per game and making 114 3-pointers, the second-highest total in SEC history. Lofton Nearing 1,000 Points
Chris Lofton enters his junior season needing 67 points to become the 39th player in school history to reach the 1,000 career point mark ... The Maysville, Ky., native has scored 933 points in his first 62 games at Tennessee ... Only Allan Houston (1,415), Bernard King (1,290), Mike Edwards (962) and Ernie Grunfeld (928) scored more points in their first two seasons at Tennessee. Lofton Hits Them Often
Chris Lofton has established himself as one of the top shooters in the nation in his first two seasons on Rocky Top ... As a sophomore in 2005-06 he set school records for 3-pointers made (9) and attempted (18) in a game and 3-pointers made (114), attempted (261) and 3-pointers per game (3.80) in a single-season ... His 43.7 3-point percentage (114-of-261) was the third-best percentage in school history and was best in the nation among players who had at least 260 attempts. Bradshaw Does It All
One of the most versatile players in the nation, Dane Bradshaw can and will play any position for the Vols from point guard through power forward ... Originally recruited to UT as a point guard, the 6-foot-4 Bradshaw started every game last season at power forward for the Vols ... In 2005-06 the Memphis native was second on the team in assists (116), rebounding (5.4 rpg), and third in steals (56) and blocks (11) while his assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.76 led the SEC ... Had a streak of 181 minutes (seven games) without a turnover come to an end in the first half of the Vols' game against Georgia (1/11/06). JaJuan Smith Looking For Starting Role
Named the "Best Player Off The Bench" in the SEC by The Tennessean, JaJuan Smith is looking to work his way into the starting lineup for the Vols this season ... The Cleveland, Tenn., native saw his minutes increase from 8.0 per game as a freshman in 2005 to 24.0 as a sophomore last season ... Smith saw his production increase along with his minutes as he averaged 11.3 points against SEC opponents 2005-06 ... His 61 3-pointers ranked second and 57 assists were third on the team last season. Two Sign In Early Period
On the first day of the early signing period Cameron Tatum and Brian Williams signed national letters of intent to play basketball at the University of Tennessee beginning with the 2007-08 season. - Tatum, a versatile 6-foot-5, 190-pound wing from Patterson Prep in Lenoir, N.C., can put the ball on the floor and create, hit the 3-pointer or take the ball to the rim ... Rated as a four-star prospect and the No. 13 shooting guard in the nation by Rivals.com, he averaged 21 points and 7.7 rebounds as a senior at Tucker High School in Tucker, Ga.
- A 6-9, 300-pound post player at Harmony Community Prep in Cincinnati, Williams will give the Vols much needed depth and size in the paint ... A player with exceptional hands, good feet and a soft shooting touch, he attended Christopher Columbus High School in Bronx, N.Y., before going to Harmony Prep where he was a teammate of current Vols freshman Josh Tabb.
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