UT vs. Ohio State Game Notes

Tennessee		Ht.	Wt.	Yr.	PPG	RPG	APG
F	1 Tyler Smith	6-7	215	So.	13.4	5.8	3.6
F	4 Wayne Chism	6-9	242	So.	9.1	5.9	1.1
G	5 Chris Lofton	6-2	200	Sr.	13.4	3.3	2.3
G	2 JaJuan Smith	6-2	195	Sr.	14.8	3.1	2.7
G	15 Jordan Howell	6-2	200	So.	7.2	1.4	3.0
Ohio State		Ht.	Wt.	Yr.	PPG	RPG	APG
F	21 Evan Turner	6-6	200	Fr.	7.0	3.0	1.9
F	45 Othello Hunter	6-8	225	Sr.	9.2	5.9	0.8
C	31 Kosta Koufos	7-0	265	Fr.	13.8	6.9	0.5
G	14 Jamar Butler	6-1	195	Sr.	15.1	3.9	6.2
G	23 David Lighty	6-5	215	So.	9.4	4.2	2.7

UT Seeks First 16-1 Start Since 2000-01 Season

The Tennessee Volunteers host the Ohio State Buckeyes at 3:30 p.m. (EST) Saturday, Jan. 19, in a rematch of last year???s Sweet 16 NCAA Tournament game in San Antonio, Texas.
The Vols and Buckeyes are meeting for the third time in just over 12 months. In addition to the NCAA Regional Semifinal meeting last year, Tennessee traveled to Columbus, Ohio, to meet the Buckeyes. OSU won both of last year???s meetings by a combined three points.
Saturday???s game will feature two of the winningest active coaches in the nation. UT???s Bruce Pearl ranks third nationally with a .784 winning percentage (378-104) while OSU???s Thad Matta ranks fifth after having won .771 percent (195-58) of his games.
UT opened Southeastern Conference action with a 3-0 record for the first time since 2000-01 with an 80-60 win over 16th-ranked Vanderbilt Thursday night at Thompson-Boling Arena. Wayne Chism led the Vols with 18 points and a career-high 18 rebounds while Tyler Smith added 14 points and nine boards. Ramar Smith came off the bench to contribute nine assists against one turnover. The Vols held Shan Foster and A.J. Ogilvy - two of the SEC???s top three scorers - to a combined 26 points on 10-of-26 shooting. The Commodores shot just 14.3 percent from 3-point range and turned the ball over 22 times.
The Vols own a 10-game winning streak that includes five wins that have come on either their opponents??? homecourt or a semi-neutral court. This is Tennessee???s first 10-game winning streak since 1997-98. UT has not had an 11-game winning streak since the start of the 1999-2000 season.
UT???s 15-1 record ties for the best 16-game start in school history. The only other time the Vols won fifteen of their first 16 games was in 2000-01 when they opened the season with a 16-1 record.
JaJuan Smith???s 14.8 points leads a balanced Tennessee scoring attack that features seven players averaging seven or more points per game. He is averaging 16.7 points and 6.7 rebounds in SEC play. Chris Lofton and Tyler Smith are tied for second on the team with 14.3 points while J.P. Prince adds 11.3.

Tennessee Trends

OSU is the first Big Ten Conference team to visit Thompson-Boling Arena since the 2000-01 season.
The Vols ranked No. 3 in the official RPI released by the NCAA on Jan. 14.
A win over Ohio State would give UT a 16-1 record for just the second time in school history. The 2000-01 team posted the best start in school history with a 16-1 mark.
Tennessee is averaging 25.3 points per game off turnovers this season (404 points in 16 games).
No UT player ranks among the SEC???s top 30 in minutes played. UT has had a player on the floor for more than 30 minutes just eight times this season.
Tennessee has forced an average of 21.2 turnovers off an SEC-best 11.5 steals per game this year.
UT is leading the SEC with 20.4 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. 6 and Vanderbilt is No. 16.
Five different players have led the Vols in scoring this season.
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 more fans this year (from 19,661 to 19,704).
Lofton???s 1,786 career points rank eighth on UT???s all-time scorers list.
Tennessee is 38-2 at Thompson-Boling Arena since the start of the 2005-06 season.
UT has a 25-game home court 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 12-6 against ranked teams while at Tennessee.
The Vols have made at least one 3-pointer in 335 consecutive games.
Under Bruce Pearl, UT is 54-4 when leading or tied with five minutes left in the game.
UT is 42-4 when scoring 80 or more points under the direction of Bruce Pearl.
UT is 33-14 (.702) 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 1,406-904-2 in its 99th season of basketball.
UT???s 623 regular season SEC victories rank third all-time in the SEC. Only Kentucky and Alabama have won more league games.
Tennessee is 238-86 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

When the Vols meet Ohio State at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Tennessee will be playing their second game in less than 48 hours and the second of three games in a six day stretch ... UT defeated 16th-ranked Vanderbilt 80-60 Thursday night and will travel to Kentucky for a Tuesday night contest at Rupp Arena.

Turning Up The Heat

Tennessee is forcing its opponents to turn the ball over an average of 21.2 times per game which ranks as the third-most in the nation (as of Jan. 18) ... The Vols are averaging 25.3 points per game off turnovers this season (404 points in 16 games) ... UT???s turnover margin of +8.69 easily leads the SEC.

Looking At Ohio State

The Buckeyes are 12-5 on the season and, after opening Big Ten Conference play with three consecutive wins, have dropped their last two league games ... After trailing by as many as 21 points at Michigan State on Tuesday, Ohio State cut the lead to three points but could get no closer as the Spartans won 66-60 ... Senior guard Jamar Butler, who scored his 1,000th career point against Michigan State, leads OSU with 15.1 points and 6.2 rebounds ... Butler is shooting 95.6 percent from the free throw line and has made a school record 31 consecutive free throws dating back to Dec. 10 of this season ... A preseason All-Big Ten selection, Butler is OSU???s career leader with 190 3-pointers and his 466 career assists rank third ... Kosta Koufos, a 7-foot freshman center who earned all-tournament honors at the NIT Season Tip-Off, leads the team with 6.9 rebounds and is second on the squad with 13.8 points ... The Buckeyes, who are the two-time defending regular season champions and defending postseason league tournament winners, were picked to finish third in the Big Ten this season ... Thad Matta is 93-27 in his fourth year at Ohio State and 195-58 in his eighth season as a head coach.

UT???s 10-Game Win Streak Longest Since 1999

Tennessee???s 10-game winning streak is its longest since the Vols won 11 consecutive games to open the 1999-2000 season ... UT???s current win streak began with a 93-59 win over North Carolina A&T (11/27/07).

Vols Riding 25-Game Home Win Streak

Tennessee???s 25-game home winning streak is the Vols??? longest in more than three decades and is one of the longest in school history ... The last team to leave Knoxville with a win was Kentucky after an 80-78 decision on March 1, 2006 ... The Vols were 16-0 at home in 2006-07 ... In his third season at UT, Bruce Pearl is 37-2 in Thompson-Boling Arena ... As of Jan. 18, Tennessee???s 25-game streak was the fifth-longest in NCAA Division I.

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 86.3 points per game but leading scorer JaJuan Smith ranks 15th in the league individually with 14.8 points ... Seven Vols are averaging seven or more points this season ... Tennessee also leads the SEC and the nation with 20.4 assists per game but UT leader Tyler Smith ranks 12th with 3.57 assists per game ... Six Vols are averaging at least two 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 11 times this year. Five or more players scored at least 10 points in a game four times.

Vols Second In 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 27.1 3-point shots per game this season ... 41.9 percent (434 of 1,035) of the Vols??? shots have been from 3-point range ... UT leads the SEC with 9.66 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 358 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.

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