UT vs. Kentucky Game Notes

Tennessee		Ht.	Wt.	Yr.	PPG	RPG	APG
F	1 Tyler Smith	6-7	215	So.	13.3	5.9	3.4
F	4 Wayne Chism	6-9	242	So.	8.8	5.9	1.1
G	5 Chris Lofton	6-2	200	Sr.	13.4	3.3	2.2
G	2 JaJuan Smith	6-2	195	Sr.	14.8	3.3	2.6
G	15 Jordan Howell	6-2	200	So.	6.9	1.3	2.9
Kentucky		Ht.	Wt.	Yr.	PPG	RPG	APG
F	34 Ramon Harris	6-6	213	So.	3.8	3.7	0.8
F	42 Mark Coury	6-8	238	So.	3.3	2.8	0.9
C	54 Patrick Patterson	6-8	232	Fr.	16.6	8.0	1.7
G	3 Ramel Bradley	6-2	191	Sr.	16.1	3.8	3.2
G	32 Joe Crawford	6-5	207	Sr.	16.4	3.6	2.7

UT Seeks Best Start in its History at 17-1

Tennessee and Kentucky will meet for the 204th time when the Vols travel to Lexington, Ky., to meet the Wildcats on ESPN???s Super Tuesday, Jan. 22. The UT-UK rivalry is the second-most played rivalry in SEC history. Only Ole Miss and Mississippi State (235 meetings) have played more often.
The Vols improved to 16-1 on the season with a 74-69 victory over Ohio State Saturday in Knoxville. JaJuan Smith led the Vols with 15 points to go with six rebounds and three steals. Ramar Smith came off the bench to add 12 points, six rebounds and six assists. Tennessee???s bench outscored OSU???s 26-0.
UT is 3-0 in SEC play for the first time since 2000-01. The Vols have not opened league play with four consecutive wins since the 1981-82 campaign.
The Vols own an 11-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 11-game winning streak since the start of the 1999-2000 season. UT has not had a 12-game winning streak since 1976-77.
Tennessee has opened the year with a 16-1 record for the second time in school history. The only other time was in 2000-01. UT has never opened a season with a 17-1 record.
Chris Lofton needs five treys to break the SEC career record for 3-pointers. The Maysville, Ky., native has made 362 triples during his career. Only Arkansas??? Pat Bradley (366 from 1995-99) has made more shots from beyond the arc.
Tennessee will be playing its third game in six days on Tuesday. UT opened the stretch with an 80-60 win over Vanderbilt on Jan. 17 and then followed that with a 74-69 win over Ohio State on Jan. 19.
UT leads the SEC in scoring (85.6 ppg), assists (20.24 apg), steals (11.35 spg), turnover margin (+8.47), assist-turnover ratio (1.64), 3-point field goals made (9.53 3pg) and 3-point field goal defense (.289).
JaJuan Smith???s 14.8 points leads a balanced Tennessee scoring attack that features six players averaging seven or more points per game. He is averaging 16.7 points and 6.7 rebounds in SEC play.

Tennessee Trends

Tennessee???s last two opponents have combined to shoot 5-of-41 (12.2 percent) from 3-point range. Vanderbilt entered the game as the SEC???s top 3-point shooting team but made just 3-of-21 of its attempts and then Ohio State went 2-of-20 behind the arc.
Ramar Smith is averaging 7.5 assists in his last two games, including a nine assist performance against 16th-rank Vanderbilt.
UT???s schedule is ranked as the fourth-most difficult in the nation by kenpom.com
Tennessee is averaging 24.9 points per game off turnovers this season (424 points in 17 games).
No UT player ranks among the SEC???s top 30 in minutes played. UT has seven players averaging at least 19.9 minutes per game.
Tennessee has forced an average of 20.8 turnovers off an SEC-best 11.4 steals per game this year.
UT is leading the SEC with 20.2 assists per game.
Tennessee is the only state in the nation with three Top 15 teams within its borders. Memphis is No. 1, Tennessee is No. 3 and Vanderbilt is No. 14.
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.
UT???s home attendance has grown for the third consecutive year. The Vols are averaging 19,912 fans per game, up from 19,661 last season.
Lofton???s 1,799 career points rank eighth on UT???s all-time scorers list.
Tennessee is 39-2 at Thompson-Boling Arena since the start of the 2005-06 season.
UT has a 26-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 23-0 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 336 consecutive games.
Under Bruce Pearl, UT is 55-4 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 34-14 (.708) 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 (11/20/07) 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.
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 1,407-904-2 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 239-86 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 travel to meet Kentucky at 9 p.m. Tuesday, Tennessee will be playing its third game in six days ... UT started the stretch by playing two games in less than 48 hours ... UT defeated 16th ranked Vanderbilt 80-60 Thursday, Jan. 17, and then took a 74-69 win over Ohio State about 42 hours after the conclusion of the Vandy game.

Turning Up The Heat

Tennessee is forcing its opponents to turn the ball over an average of 20.8 times per game which ranks as the third-most in the nation (as of Jan. 20) ... The Vols are averaging 24.9 points per game off turnovers this season (424 points in 17 games) ... UT???s turnover margin of +8.47 easily leads the SEC.

Looking At Kentucky

Kentucky dropped to 7-9 on the season and 1-2 in Southeastern Conference play with a 70-81 overtime loss at Florida Saturday night ... The ???Cats rallied from a 12-point second half deficit to tie the game 61-61 with 2.5 seconds left on a Ramel Bradley 3-pointer ... Two of UK???s three SEC games have gone to overtime, including a 79-73 double overtime win over 13th-ranked Vanderbilt ... Patrick Patterson, a 6-foot-8 freshman, leads the Wildcats with 16.6 points, 8.0 rebounds and 21 blocks ... Patterson ranks second among all SEC freshmen in scoring and rebounding ... Patterson (seventh with 16.6 ppg), Joe Crawford (eighth with 16.4 ppg) and Ramel Bradley (ninth with 16.1 ppg) each rank among the SEC???s top 10 scorers ... Bradley has recorded six consecutive games with 20 or more points to become the first Wildcat to accomplish that feat since Jamal Mashburn in 1993 ... He has played 174 out of a possible 175 minutes in Kentucky???s last four games ... Crawford has moved into 39th place on UK???s career scoring lists with 1,162 career points ... UK leads the SEC in free throw shooting, making 76.2 percent of its charity tosses ... Bradley leads the conference with a .857 free throw percentage while Crawford is second at .836 ... The ???Cats have used 12 different starting lineups in 16 games this season ... Kentucky has battled the injury bug this season with Patterson (1), Jodie Meeks (9), and Derrick Jasper (11) combining to miss 21 games so far ... The Wildcats are holding their opponents to just 38.9 percent shooting from the field which ranks second in the SEC ... Billy Gillispie is 7-9 in his first season at Kentucky and 107-67 in his sixth year as a head coach.

UT???s 11-Game Win Streak Longest Since 1999

Tennessee???s 11-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) ... UT last won 12 straight from Dec. 11, 1976 - Jan. 30, 1977.

My Old Kentucky Home

In six career games against Kentucky, University of Tennessee senior guard Chris Lofton is averaging 19.2 points per game on 45.6 percent (26-of-57) 3-point shooting ... The Maysville, Ky., native is also adding 3.7 rebounds in the six games ... In two games at UK???s Rupp Arena, he is averaging 24.0 points on 63.2 percent (12-of-19) 3-point shooting ... Lofton is no stranger to Kentucky???s Rupp Arena, having played an estimated 10 high school games in the arena ... He made nine 3-pointers and scored 39 points to lead Mason County HS to a 2003 state championship over Louisville Ballard HS in Rupp Arena.

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 85.6 points per game but leading scorer JaJuan Smith ranks 15th in the league individually with 14.8 points ... Tennessee also leads the SEC and the nation with 20.2 assists per game but UT leader Tyler Smith ranks 12th with 3.35 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 12 times this year. Five or more players scored at least 10 points in a game four times.

Vols Lead The Nation in Assists

UT is prominently listed among the national leaders according to the January 17 NCAA statistics.

Assists per game: 20.4 apg / 1st
Assist-Turnover Ratio: 1.64 / 1st
Steals per game: 11.5 spg / 2nd
Scoring offense: 86.3 ppg / 4th
3-pointers per game: 9.6 3pg / 8th
Scoring margin: 18.1 / 10th
Turnovers per game: 12.5 / 21st

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 26.9 3-point shots per game this season ... 41.6 percent (457 of 1,100) of the Vols??? shots have been from 3-point range ... UT leads the SEC with 9.53 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 362 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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