Vanderbilt Game Preview

Tennessee		Ht.	Wt.	Yr.	PPG	RPG	APG
F	1 Tyler Smith	6-7	215	So.	13.3	5.6	3.7
F	4 Wayne Chism	6-9	242	So.	8.5	5.1	1.1
G	5 Chris Lofton	6-2	200	Sr.	13.5	3.4	2.5
G	2 JaJuan Smith	6-2	195	Sr.	14.9	2.9	2.7
G	15 Jordan Howell	6-2	200	So.	7.3	1.5	3.1
Vanderbilt		Ht.	Wt.	Yr.	PPG	RPG	APG
F	32 Shan Foster	6-6	205	Sr.	20.6	5.0	1.8
F	41 Ross Neltner	6-9	240	Sr.	7.9	5.5	2.1
C	4 A.J. Ogilvy	6-10	250	Fr.	19.4	7.1	1.1
G	0 Jermaine Beal	6-3	210	So.	8.1	2.1	4.7
G	3 Alex Gordon	6-0	170	Sr.	10.6	2.8	3.6

UT Seeks First 15-1 Start Since 2000-01 Season

Tennessee meets Vanderbilt for the 172nd time when the Commodores visit Thompson-Boling Arena at 7 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 17. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN.
Thursday???s game will feature the Southeastern Conference???s two top scoring and 3-point shooting teams. Tennessee???s 86.7 points leads the SEC while Vanderbilt is second with 86.0 points per game. The Vols also lead the league with 9.73 3-pointers and the Commodores are second with 9.29 triple per game.
The Vols are coming off their biggest SEC road win in a decade, an 80-56 victory at South Carolina Saturday, Jan. 12. The Vols used a 23-5 run to open the second half to put the Gamecocks away. JaJuan Smith led the Vols for the third consecutive game with 15 points to go with a season-high eight rebounds. Wayne Chism added 13 points while Tyler Smith and J.P. Prince had 11.
The win over South Carolina gave the Vols a 14-1 record on the season and a 2-0 mark in SEC play. UT has not opened SEC play with a 3-0 record since 2000-01.
The Vols own a nine-game winning streak that includes five wins that have come on either their opponents??? homecourt or a semi-neutral court. This is the second consecutive season that Tennessee has had a winning streak of at least nine games. UT has not had a 10-game winning streak since 1997-98.
UT???s 14-1 record ties for the best 15-game start in school history. The Vols also started with a 14-1 record in 2000-01, 1999-2000, 1941-42 and 1922-23.
JaJuan Smith is leading the Vols with 14.9 points per game on the season and is averaging 18.0 points and 7.0 rebounds in SEC play. He is shooing 54.2 percent (13-of-24) from the field and 46.7 percent (7-of-15) from 3-point range in league games.
Tyler Smith has made a significant impact for the Vols since transferring from Iowa after last season. The 6-foot-7 forward from Pulaski, Tenn., leads the Vols in rebounds (5.6 rpg), assists (3.6 apg), steals (2.0 spg), is second on the team in field goal percentage (.573) and third in scoring (13.3 ppg).

Tennessee Trends

The Vols ranked No. 3 in the first official RPI released by the NCAA on Jan. 8.
A win over Vanderbilt would give UT a 15-1 record for the first time since the 2000-01 team started 16-1. It would be the fourth time in school history (2000-01, 1941-42 and 1922-23) the Vols have started 15-1.
Tennessee is averaging 24.9 points per game off turnovers this season (374 points in 15 games).
No UT player ranks among the SEC???s top 30 in minutes played. Only seven times this season has a UT player played more than 30 minutes in a game.
Tennessee has forced an average of 21.1 turnovers off an SEC-best 11.5 steals per game this year.
UT is leading the SEC with 20.6 assists per game.
Tennessee is the only state in the nation with three ranked teams within its borders. Memphis is No. 2, Tennessee is No. 8 and Vanderbilt is No. 13.
UT???s 80-56 win at South Carolina (1/12/08) is the Vols??? largest SEC road win since an 87-63 win at Mississippi State (2/17/98). It is tied for the seventh largest SEC road win in school history.
Despite a reduction in arena capacity (from 24,535 to 21,678 this season), the Vols are averaging a similar home attendance number (from 19,661 to 19,568).
UT???s crowd of 21,846 for the Ole Miss game (1/9/08) was 168 above capacity (21,678) for Thompson-Boling Arena.
Lofton???s 1,775 career points rank eighth on UT???s all-time scorers list.
Tennessee is 37-2 at Thompson-Boling Arena since the start of the 2005-06 season.
UT has a 24-game homecourt winning streak. The Vols??? last home loss was a 78-80 decision to Kentucky in the final home game of the 2005-06 season.
The Vols are 22-0 in non-conference home games under Bruce Pearl.
Bruce Pearl is 11-6 against ranked teams while at Tennessee.
The Vols have made at least one 3-pointer in 334 consecutive games.
Under Bruce Pearl, UT is 53-4 when leading or tied with five minutes left in the game.
UT is 41-4 when scoring 80 or more points under the direction of Bruce Pearl.
UT is 32-14 (.696) when playing before crowds of 20,000 or larger at Thompson-Boling Arena. In 2006-07 the Vols were 6-0 playing in front of 20,000 fans at home.
UT???s 69-point (109-40) win over Middle Tennessee is the second-largest margin of victory in school history.
The Vols tied a school record with 16 3-pointers against Middle Tennessee (11/20/07). Their 30 assists were one dime shy of tying a school record.
The 21,817 fans for Tennessee???s game against Temple (11/9/07) was the largest crowd for a home opener in the nation this year.
Chris Lofton and JaJuan Smith were the highest scoring duo in the Southeastern Conference in 2006-07. Lofton averaged 20.8 points while Smith added 15.2 points.
Tennessee has an all-time record of 1,405-904-2 in its 99th season of basketball.
UT???s 622 regular season SEC victories rank third all-time in the SEC. Only Kentucky and Alabama have won more league games.
Tennessee is 237-86 in its 21st season in Thompson-Boling Arena. The Vols have winning home records in 18 of their 20 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 fourth time in 2006-07.

Busy Stretch

Beginning with the Vanderbilt game, Tennessee will be playing three games in a six day stretch ... UT hosts the Commodores on Thursday, Jan. 17 ... Less than 48 hours later on Saturday, Jan. 19, the Vols will host Ohio State ... On Tuesday, Jan. 22, Tennessee travels up I-75 to meet Kentucky.

Turning Up The Heat

Tennessee is forcing its opponents to turn the ball over an average of 21.1 times per game which ranks as the third-most in the nation (as of Jan. 13) ... The Vols are averaging 24.9 points per game off turnovers this season (374 points in 15 games) ... UT???s turnover margin of +8.93 easily leads the Southeastern Conference.

Looking At Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt is coming off its first loss of the season, a 73-79 double overtime setback at Kentucky ... The Commodores overcame a 16-point second half deficit against the Wildcats ... Vanderbilt???s 16-0 start to the season was a school record ... Vandy has overcome 14-point deficits in two of its last three games (trailed UMass by 14 in the first half) ... VU???s roster features the SEC???s top two leading scorers ... Shan Foster, a preseason first team All-SEC selection, leads the conference with 20.6 points per game ... The 6-foot-6 senior is shooting 51.1 percent (71-of-139) from 3-point range and leads the league with 4.18 triples per game ... Foster recently became Vandy???s career leader with 302 3-pointers ... A.J. Ogilvy is second in the conference with 19.4 points per game ... The 6-10 freshman from Sydney, Australia, leads the ???Dores with 7.1 rebounds per game ... Vandy owns the SEC???s second-highest scoring offense with 86.0 points per game ... The Commodores are one of the best shooting teams in the SEC, ranking first in 3-point percentage (.439) and second in both field goal percentage (.487) and free throw percentage (.740) ... VU???s 3-point percentage also leads the nation ... Kevin Stallings is 160-109 in his ninth season in Nashville and 283-172 in his 15th season as a head coach.

Pressure Defense

Tennessee???s pressure defense has made the simple act of inbounding the ball a headache for its opponents ... Since the start of the 2006-07 season (50 games), Tennessee has forced 232 turnovers on inbounds plays ... Over the last 50 games, the Vols??? inbounds pressure has caused:

41 timeouts to be called
25 five-second calls
Coppin State (11/19/06) committed the highest number of turnovers (13) during the last two years.

Balanced Offense

Tennessee is leading the Southeastern Conference in both scoring and assists but does not list a single player among the top 10 in either individual category ... UT is averaging an SEC-high 86.7 points per game but leading scorer JaJuan Smith ranks 15th in the league individually with 14.9 points ... Seven Vols are averaging seven or more points this season ... Tennessee also leads the SEC and the nation with 20.3 assists per game but UT leader Tyler Smith ranks 12th with 3.60 assists per game ... Six Vols are averaging at least 2.25 assists per game for the year.

UT has had a player score 20 or more points just five times this season.
The Vols have had four or more players reach double figure scoring in a game 10 times this year. Five or more players scored at least 10 points in a game four times.

UT Leading The Nation in Assists

UT is prominently listed among the national leaders according to the January 13 NCAA statistics.

Assist-Turnover Ratio: 1.66 / 1st
Assists per game: 20.3 apg / 2nd
Steals per game: 11.5 spg / 2nd
Scoring offense: 86.7 ppg / 3rd
3-pointers per game: 9.7 3pg / 8th
Scoring margin: 18.0 / 12th
Turnovers per game: 12.2 / 14th

It Doesn???t Rain 3s, It Pours Them

The 3-point shot has been a key part of Tennessee???s repertoire under Bruce Pearl ... The Vols are averaging 27.5 3-point shots per game this season ... 42.4 percent (412 of 972) of the Vols??? shots have been from 3-point range ... UT leads the SEC with 9.7 3-pointers made per game on the year ... 13 different Vols have made a 3-pointer this season.

Tennessee???s 50 3-point attempts against North Carolina A&T (11/27/07) shattered the school record of 37 and are the third-most in SEC history. The Vols??? 37 3-point attempts at UT-Chattanooga (12/4/07) are tied for the second-most in school history.
The Vols have tied the school record for 3-pointers made in a game with 16 two times this season. They performed the feat less than a week between games, doing it against Middle Tennessee State (11/20/07) and then against Texas (11/24/07).
Chris Lofton became UT???s career leader for 3-pointers made against UNC Asheville. The senior guard???s 356 triples rank second in SEC history.
Lofton broke his own single-game record for attempts by going 8-of-20 from 3-point range against North Carolina A&T (11/27/07). It tied for the third highest number of attempts in SEC history.
Lofton???s eight 3-pointers against North Carolina A&T are tied for second-most in school history. Lofton already holds the school record with nine triples in a game against Georgia his sophomore season.
JaJuan Smith???s seven 3-pointers against Middle Tennessee (11/20/07) rank in a tie for fourth on UT???s single-game lists.

University of Tennessee Athletics