| VOLS FACE NORTH CAROLINA IN NIT THIRD-PLACE GAME
- Tennessee will meet second-ranked North Carolina in the third place game in the NIT Season Tip-off at 4:30 p.m. (EST) Friday, Nov. 24, at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The game will be televised to a national audience by ESPN.
- The Vols are making their first appearance in the "World's Most Famous Arena" since 1985 when the Vols advanced to the semifinals of the postseason edition of the NIT. The coach of that UT team was current NIT committee member Don DeVoe.
- UT qualified for the NIT Season Tip-Off semifinals by winning the South Region in Nashville. UT defeated Fordham (78-71) in the first round before taking an 87-75 win over UNC Wilmington in the finals.
- Tennessee dropped its first game of the season Wednesday in the semifinals with a 44-56 loss to Butler. The Vols shot 25 percent from the field and had their lowest scoring output in nearly a decade. JaJuan Smith led the Vols with 16 points and eight rebounds.
- North Carolina enters the game with a No. 2 national ranking. The Vols are 7-15 all-time against opponents ranked No. 2. Last year UT upset second-ranked and previously undefeated Florida 80-76 in Knoxville (1/21/06).
- All-America candidate Chris Lofton leads two Vols in double figure scoring on the season. Lofton is averaging 16.0 points per game. One of the top sixth-men in the SEC last year, JaJuan Smith is second on the team with 14.0 points while adding 5.0 rebounds per game.
Tennessee Trends
- UT's 44 points in the NIT Season Tip-Off semifinal against Butler are the Vols' fewest since a 35-43 loss at Auburn (1/15/97).
- With 11 points and 11 rebounds against Coppin State (11/19/06), Wayne Chism became the first Tennessee freshman to record a double-double since Vincent Yarbrough had 22 points and 11 rebounds against Georgia on Jan. 20, 1999.
- Chris Lofton has made at least one 3-pointer in 64 of his 66 career games.
- Tennessee dropped to 3-2 all-time in the NIT Season Tip-Off with its semifinal loss to Butler Wednesday.
- Eleven Vols are averaging at least 10 minutes per game.
- The Vols have forced 123 turnovers in its first five games this season (24.6 per game).
- UT's bench has scored 146 points in four games (29.2 points per game) this season. In 2005-06, Tennessee's bench averaged 21.0 points per game.
- 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.
- 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 (6-7), 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 22-2 when leading or tied with five minutes left in the game.
- UT is 17-0 when scoring 80 or more points under the direction of Bruce Pearl.
- UT is 24-14 (.632) 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 1,371-893-2 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 215-86 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.
Tennessee In The NIT
The Vols are making their second appearance in the NIT Season Tip-Off and have advanced to the semifinals for the first time ... 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 In The Big Apple
The Vols are playing in New York City for the first time since they advanced to the final four of the 1985 National Invitation Tournament ... UT fell to Indiana 67-74 in the semifinals before defeating a Louisville team that won the national championship the next year 100-84 in the consolation game ... Tennessee has a 6-13 record in 19 games played in New York City ... The Vols are 5-7 at the current Madison Square Garden. Former Vols Have Made Their Name In NYC
Three former Vols have figured prominently in the history of the New York Knicks and Madison Square Garden ... Bernard King, Ernie Grunfeld and Allan Houston each enjoyed years of success for the Knicks in roles as players and in the front office. - Bernard King -- Ranks second in Knicks franchise history with a 26.5 career scoring average ... Led the Knicks in scoring three times, including a club record 32.9 points per game in 1984-85 ... Owns the franchise record for single-season field goal percentage (57.2 in 1983-84) ... On Christmas Day 1984 he scored a Knicks franchise record 60 points against New Jersey ... Holds the franchise record for points in a playoff game (46 in back-to-back games against Detroit in 1984) ... Two-time All-NBA Team selection (1984 an 1985) while playing for the Knicks.
- Ernie Grunfeld -- Spent 17 seasons with the Knicks as a player (1983-86), coach (1989-90) and broadcaster before eventually settling in as general manager (1991-99) where he built teams that appeared in the NBA Finals in 1995 and 1999.
- Allan Houston -- Spent nine of his 12 professional seasons with the Knicks, finishing his career as one of the NBA's best 3-point shooters ... Fourth all-time leading scorer in Knicks history with 11,165 career points and is second with 921 3-pointers ... Team captain for six seasons (1999-2005) ... His running one-hander with 0.8 seconds to play beat top-seeded Miami in game five of the first round of the playoffs and set the Knicks on the path to the 1999 NBA Finals ... In 2001 he set a club record with his 90.9 free throw percentage.
Looking At North Carolina
North Carolina fell to 3-1 on the season with a 74-82 loss to Gonzaga in the semifinals of the NIT Season Tip-Off ... The Tar Heels are ranked No. 2 in both major polls ... UNC is led by preseason All-America Tyler Hansbrough ... The 6-foot-9 sophomore leads the team with 19.0 points and 8.8 rebounds per game ... Freshman forward Brandan Wright adds 16.0 points and 7.3 rebounds per contest ... Carolina is 16-3 all-time in the NIT Season Tip-Off with tournament titles in 1998-99 and 2002-03 ... The Tar Heels advanced to New York City with regional wins over Sacred Heart and Winthrop in Charlotte, N.C. The North Carolina Series
North Carolina leads the all-time series 7-1 and owns a 4-0 advantage when playing at neutral sites ... The last time Tennessee and North Carolina met was in the second round of the 2004 Maui Invitational when the 11th-ranked Tar Heels took a 94-81 win ... UNC won the first five meetings between the schools until an 84-56 UT win Jan. 31, 1949 in Knoxville ... Tennessee and North Carolina were both members of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) that later reorganized into the Southern Conference ... UT left the Southern Conference before the 1932-33 season to join the Southeastern Conference while North Carolina was a member of the SoCon through the 1953 campaign. Last Meeting With North Carolina
North Carolina raced out to a 20-point halftime lead and then held on to a 94-81 win in the semifinals of the EA SPORTS Maui Invitational Nov. 23, 2004 ... Rashad McCants led the Tar Heels with 27 points while Jawad Williams added 21 points ... North Carolina shot 65.4 percent from the field in the first half and finished the game shooting 58.8 percent from the field and 50 percent from 3-point range ... Tennessee struggled from the field in the opening half, shooting 36.7 percent, but made half of its shots in the second half to finish the game with a 43.5 shooting percentage ... Chris Lofton, playing in just his second collegiate game, scored 22 points on 6-of-10 3-point shooting against the 11th-ranked Tar Heels ... Scooter McFadgon made 9-of-9 free throws and added 16 points ... C.J. Watson had 14 points to go with seven assists ... UNC went on to win the national championship that season. Last Game: Butler Upsets Vols In NIT Semis
Tennessee ran out to an early lead but suddenly went through a cold streak that lasted nearly 30 minutes as the Butler Bulldogs upset the Vols 56-44 in the semifinals of the NIT Season Tip-Off at Madison Square Garden in New York ... UT took a 21-8 lead on a Tony Passley lay-up with just under eight minutes left in the first half ... Suddenly Tennessee couldn't make a shot while the Bulldogs went on a 14-4 run to end the half, cutting UT's lead to 25-22 at the break ... The Vols were even colder in the second half as they made just three of 29 field goals (10.3 percent) as Butler shot 47.6 percent (10-of-21) from the field ... JaJuan Smith was the only Vols in double figure scoring with 16 points to go with a team-high eight rebounds ... Julian Betko and A.J. Graves each had 15 points for Butler. Bench Contributing
| Opponent | Bench Pts | Total Pts | % Bench Pts | | Middle Tennessee | 42 | 83 | .506 | | Fordham | 18 | 78 | .231 | | UNCW | 28 | 87 | .322 | | Coppin State | 46 | 99 | .465 | | Butler | 29 | 44 | .659 | Tennessee's bench has played a key role in the Vols' success early this season ... Through five games, UT's bench is averaging 29.2 points per game ... Two times this season the bench has contributed at least 40 points in a game ... Ryan Childress is giving the Vols 8.8 points per game coming off the bench ... Last year UT got 21.0 points per game from its bench ... Part of the reason for the production off the bench is that UT has eleven players who play at least 10 minutes per game and no one averages more than 28 minutes ... Following is a breakdown of UT's bench scoring. Small Lineup Not Keeping Vols Off The Boards
Much has been made about Tennessee's lack of size this year ... Who can blame them when the Vols' starting lineup lists just one player taller than 6-foot-4, and that player is only 6-7 ... That hasn't stopped the Vols from crashing the boards ... UT has outrebounded each of its first five opponents and owns a +9.2 rebounding advantage so far ... Freshman center Wayne Chism leads the Vols 6.2 rebounds per game and senior guard Dane Bradshaw is adding 5.0 boards ... The Vols are averaging 14.4 offensive rebounds per game. 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 215-86 (.714) entering its 20th season in Thompson-Boling Arena.
- Since the 1998 season, the Vols are 116-27 (.811) in Thompson-Boling Arena.
- The Vols are 52-20 against SEC teams at home over the last nine seasons.
- UT has won 69 of its last 76 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. - UT is averaging 8.2 3-pointers per game this year.
- Lofton is leading UT with 2.8 triples per game.
Lofton A Wooden & Naismith Award Candidate
Junior guard Chris Lofton was named one of the top 50 preseason candidates for the 2006-07 Wooden Award All-American Team and the Naismith Trophy ... The Maysville, Ky., native was one of six players from the Southeastern Conference named to the Wooden Award and one of 10 for the Naismith Trophy 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. Lofton Named SEC Player Of The Week
Chris Lofton was named the SEC Player of the Week on Nov. 20 ... It was the fourth time the junior guard has won the honor ... Only Dyron Nix (five times from 1986-89) earned the award more times for the Vols ... Allan Houston (1989-93) also won the award four times in his career ... Lofton averaged 22.0 points in Tennessee's three games, including a 30-point outing against Fordham. 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 Reaches 1,000-Point Mark
When Chris Lofton hit his first bucket against Butler (11/22/06) in the semifinals of the NIT Season Tip-Off in New York City's Madison Square Garden, he became the 39th player in Tennessee history to score 1,000 career points ... The Maysville, Ky., native entered the Butler game with 999 career points in 65 career games ... 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 almost reached the milestone against Coppin State (11/19/06) but his last shot, a 3-pointer from the corner, rattled out. He entered the game needing 20 points to reach 1,000 for his career but came up one short.
Lofton Hits Them Often
Chris Lofton needs just one point to become the 39th player in school history to reach the 1,000 career point mark ... The Maysville, Ky., native has scored 999 points in his first 65 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 ranks fourth all-time with 221 career 3-pointers made and sixth with 497 triples attempted.
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). - Bradshaw has led the Vols in assists four out of five games this year and recorded a career-high nine dimes against Coppin State (11/19/06).
- He ranks second on the team with 5.0 rebounds and third with 1.6 steals per game.
JaJuan Smith Finally Gets Starting Role
Named the "Best Player Off The Bench" in the SEC by The Tennessean, JaJuan Smith has worked 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. - Against UNC Wilmington (11/14/06) in the NIT Season Tip-Off he recorded career-highs with 21 points and five steals in just 27 minutes of action.
- Led UT's scoring efforts in three of five games this season after leading the Vols in scoring once last year.
Hard Work Pays Off For Childress
There is an old saying that goes, "The best thing about freshmen is that they become sophomores." .. That couldn't be more true for UT sophomore forward Ryan Childress ... As a true freshman last season the Cincinnati, Ohio, product averaged 1.2 points and 1.2 rebounds in 29 appearances for the Vols ... After a summer of hard work that resulted in him dropping 20 pounds and adding more than seven inches to his vertical leap ... That hard work in the offseason has paid huge dividends for the 6-foot-9 Childress as he ranks fourth on the team with 8.8 points and averages 4.0 rebounds. - Childress needed just four games this season to score more points than he did all season as a freshman. He scored 43 points through UT's first four games after having 33 points in 29 games as a freshman.
- Already this season he has set or tied career marks for points (14), rebounds (5), assists (4), blocks (2) and steals (2).
Crews Missile
One of the most heralded freshmen in the Southeastern Conference this season, Duke Crews has not disappointed ... The 6-foot-7 forward earned a starting assignment in the Vols season-opener and has won over Tennessee fans with his hustle and athleticism ... Named the SEC Newcomer of the Year by Lindy's and Athlon, the Hampton, Va., native is averaging 10.5 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. - In the South Region championship game of the NIT Season Tip-Off against UNC Wilmington (11/14/06) he narrowly missed a double-double with 13 points and eight rebounds.
- Crews has improved with every game he has played, scoring five points in the season opener, 11 points in the second game and 13 points in each of his last two outings.
Big Wayne Strong In The Paint
Freshman center Wayne Chism has played a key role for a Tennessee team that lists just two players taller than 6-foot-7 ... A 6-9 native of Boliver, Tenn., Chism became the first Vols freshman to record a double-double since Vincent Yarbrough (22 points and 11 rebounds vs. Georgia) did it during the 1998-99 season when he had 11 points and 11 rebounds against Coppin State (11/19/06) ... Chism is leading the team with 6.8 rebounds and is fifth on the squad with 8.0 points per game. - Chism has been the first Vol off the bench in each of Tennessee's five games.
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.
|
