University of Tennessee Athletics
HOOPS CENTRAL: Vols vs. Appalachian State
November 14, 2016 | Men's Basketball
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- The Tennessee basketball program returns to action on Tuesday to face Appalachian State at Thompson-Boling Arena. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. ET on SEC Network.
MORE INFO
Gameday Time & Broadcast Info
- Opponent: Appalachian State
- Date: Tuesday, Nov. 15
- Tipoff: 7 p.m. ET
- Venue: Thompson-Boling Arena
- Watch Online: SEC Network | WatchESPN
- Radio: Vol Network
- Online: Live Audio ,
Related Links
2016-17 Tennessee Media Guide Buy Tickets New Clear Bag Policy Gameday Info Follow @Vol_Hoops SEC Clubhouse
Tennessee (0-1)
Roster Schedule Stats Game Notes
Appalachian State (0-1)
Roster Schedule Stats Game Notes
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Matt Morgan (play-by-play) and former Vol Dane Bradshaw (analyst) have the call on SEC Network Tuesday night. The action can also be streamed live online through WatchESPN.com or the WatchESPN app.
Fans can also listen live on their local Vol Network affiliate to catch Bob Kesling and Bert Bertelkamp describing the action.
Tickets are still available and can be purchased online through AllVols.com.
Tennessee (0-1) and Appalachian State (0-1) are meeting for the just the fifth time on the hardwood despite a distance of just 160 miles separating the two campuses. The Vols are 4-0 in the series with every game having been played in Knoxville.
UT dropped its season opener last week, falling 82-69 to Chattanooga. Jordan Bone scored a team-high 21 points in his collegiate debut and fellow freshman Grant Williams pulled down 10 rebounds, but the Vols shot just 33 percent from the field to go along with 18 turnovers.
Tuesday marks Tennessee's last home game for a span of almost three weeks. The Vols depart Thursday for the Maui Jim Maui Invitational, a three-day holiday tournament in Lahaina, Maui. Action begins Monday, Nov. 21 against Wisconsin with two more contests set to follow on Tuesday and Wednesday. Upon its return to the mainland, UT will have 10 days to prepare for its next game -- a Dec. 3 tilt against Georgia Tech in Knoxville.
ABOUT APPALACHIAN STATE
- Appalachian State is located in Boone, North Carolina.
- App State opened its season Saturday with an 86-74 loss at Davidson. The Vols hosted Davidson for a closed scrimmage at Pratt Pavilion on Oct. 29.
- Four Mountaineers scored in double figures in Saturday's loss to the Wildcats. And although ASU out-rebounded Davidson 39-38, it allowed the Wildcats to shoot 48 percent as a team.
- The Mountaineers were picked by the Sun Belt Conference head coaches to finish 11th in the 12-team league this year after finishing 10th with a 9-22 (7-13 Sun Belt) record last season.
- Third-year head coach Jim Fox returns two starters from that squad in guard Ronshad Shabazz (11.9 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 1.5 apg) and forward Tyrell Johnson (3.9 ppg, 4.1 rpg).
- VMI transfer Craig Hinton (5.1 ppg, 2.5 rpg), a 6-7 junior forward, is eligible after sitting out last season.
- A big man who could contribute for ASU is 7-1, 230-pound sophomore Jake Wilson, who transferred from Division II Lenoir-Rhyne, which is the alma mater of Vols head coach Rick Barnes.
- The Mountaineers non-conference schedule also includes games against Duke, NC State, Davidson, Charlotte and James Madison.
- Before his hiring at App State, Fox played an instrumental role in signing NBA MVP, Finals Champion and Olympic Gold Medalist Stephen Curry at Davidson.
HIGH SCHOOL TEAMMATES WILLIAMS, JOHNSON COLLIDE
- Two players who were classmates and teammates at Providence Day School in Charlotte, North Carolina, the last four years will face off as opponents Tuesday, as Grant Williams is a freshman forward with the Vols and Isaac Johnson is a freshman forward at Appalachian State.
- This past spring, Providence Day--powered in the post by Williams and Johnson--earned a final USA TODAY Sports Super 25 Expert Ranking of No. 16.
- PDS won the 2016 North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association 3A state championship, and the Chargers finished the season with a 30-4 record (a school record for victories) and won 20 straight games before their season-ending loss at the eight-team DICK'S Sporting Goods High School National Tournament in New York City.
FULKERSON, GOOD LONGTIME FRIENDS & FOES
- Vols freshman John Fulkerson and Mountaineers freshman Patrick Good--both Upper East Tennessee natives--are friends who have played against one another in middle school, high school and AAU ball.
- During an outstanding career at David Crockett High School in Jonesborough, Tennessee, Good became the school's all-time scoring (2,716) and assists (780) leader.
- Fulkerson attended Dobyns-Bennett High School in Kingsport, Tennessee, during his freshman and sophomore years. He then transferred to The Christ School in Arden, North Carolina, for his final two prep seasons.
APP ASSISTANT HAS TIES TO BARNES
- Appalachian State assistant coach Bryan Lentz has a longstanding relationship with Vols head coach Rick Barnes.
- One of Barnes' closest friends in college at Lenoir-Rhyne was John Lentz, who is Bryan's father. John served as the head coach at Lenoir-Rhyne for 29 years before hanging up his whistle in April 2015.
- Like Barnes and his father, Bryan Lentz also played collegiately at Lenoir-Rhyne, which is located in Barnes' hometown of Hickory, North Carolina.
- When Barnes was the head coach at Texas, Bryan Lentz spent four years as a special assistant on the Longhorns' staff and was involved in all aspects of internal operations. In Lentz's four seasons working alongside Barnes at Texas, the Longhorns compiled an 87-48 record, made three NCAA Tournament appearances (2011, 2012, 2014) and won a pair of NCAA Tournament games.
- Bryan Lentz is one of UT video coordinator Riley Davis' closest friends.
- Barnes and John Lentz remain extremely close. In fact, John Lentz visited Barnes in Knoxville earlier this month.
FORMER UT HEAD COACH PETERSON SPENT TIME IN BOONE
- Buzz Peterson, who was Tennessee's head coach from 2001-05, served as head coach at Appalachian State prior to his tenure on Rocky Top.
- Peterson guided the Mountaineers to three Southern Conference division titles in four years before spending one season as head coach at Tulsa. Tennessee then hired the Asheville, North Carolina, native following Jerry Green's departure following the 2000-01 campaign.
- Peterson is now senior advisor of basketball operations with the NBA's Charlotte Hornets.
BARNES: VOLS BETTER SHOOTERS THAN THEY SHOWED IN OPENER
- Tennessee shot just 1-of-16 (.063) from 3-point range in Friday's season-opener vs. Chattanooga.
- Seven different Vols had attempts from long range in the loss. A first-half make by freshman Jordan Bone was the only thing that extended UT's streak of 167 games with at least one made 3-pointer.
- Said Rick Barnes concisely after the game: "We're better than that shooting the ball."
BONE'S FRESHMAN DEBUT RANKS AMONG TENNESSEE'S BEST
- Freshman point guard Jordan Bone's 21-point effort vs. Chattanooga Nov. 11 ranks sixth among offensive outputs by a Vol in his freshman debut.
| Rank | Points | Player | Opponent | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 42 | Bernard King | Wisconsin-Milwaukee | Nov. 30, 1974 |
| 2 | 29 | Ed Gray | UT-Martin | Nov. 26, 1993 |
| 3 | 28 | Ernie Grunfeld | North Texas State | Nov. 30, 1973 |
| 4 | 24 | Dan Federman | Rollins | Nov. 29, 1980 |
| 5 | 23 | Cornelius Jackson | Morehead State | Nov. 24, 1996 |
| 6 | 21 | Jordan Bone | Chattanooga | Nov. 11, 2016 |
BIG DEBUT ON THE BOARDS FOR WILLIAMS
- With a team-high 10 rebounds in Friday's opener vs. Chattanooga, freshman forward Grant Williams became the first Vol to log double-digit rebounds in his Tennessee debut since graduate transfer John Fields had 10--also against Chattanooga--on Nov. 12, 2010.
- Prior to Friday, the last Vol freshman to record 10 or more rebounds in his Tennessee debut was C.J. Black on Nov. 24, 1996, vs. Morehead State.
150 SECONDS OF ALL YOU'VE GOT
- With greater depth from top to bottom this season, head coach Rick Barnes has begun challenging his Vols to play with maximum effort for two-and-a-half minute shifts during game action. The concept requires not only mental and physical tenacity, but also a teamwide trust that after playing to exhaustion, the next man can come in and maintain the intensity and production.
- Said Barnes: "(One of the most important things this team is learning), if you ask these guys, is understanding how hard it is to play two-and-a-half minutes as hard as you can play, knowing that if you do that, there's somebody waiting to come in and try to keep it going. I think that's probably (the challenge) for the majority of the younger guys--understanding just how hard it is to play two-and-a-half minutes really hard."
TENNESSEE ROSTER BREAKDOWN
- The Vols' 2016-17 roster features 16 players (13 scholarship student-athletes) representing six states as well as Ontario, Canada.
- There are five Vols who hail from the state of Tennessee, three from North Carolina, and a pair of players are from Alabama. Georgia, Illinois, Texas and Utah also are represented.
- Tennessee has two seniors, one junior, five sophomores and eight freshmen (including one redshirt freshman).
- Thirteen Vols stand 6-5 or shorter, and three players are 6-6 or taller.
- For the second straight season, UT has just three players listed at 6-7 or taller.
YOUNGEST UT TEAM IN 20 YEARS
- In terms of under- and upperclassmen, this is the youngest Tennessee team in 20 years.
- Kevin O'Neill's 1996-97 Vols had only three upperclassmen, just like this current UT squad.
UP NEXT: MAUI NO KA OI
- We'll save you the trouble of Googling that. It means "Maui is the best," in the Polynesian language of `Ōlelo.
- In one week, Tennessee joins Chaminade (host school), UConn, Georgetown, North Carolina, Oklahoma State, Oregon and Wisconsin in the 2016 Maui Jim Maui Invitational field.
- It will be UT's third all-time appearance at the Maui Invitational. The Vols also played in the event in 2004 (fourth place) and 2011 (seventh place).
- Rick Barnes will make history as the first head coach ever to take three different schools to the tournament, as his Providence (1991) and Texas (2004, 2008, 2012) teams also played in Maui.
- Barnes' 2004 Longhorns squad handed Tennessee a 95-70 loss in that year's third-place game.
- Friday's Chattanooga game was Tennessee's Maui Invitational "Opening Game."
