University of Tennessee Athletics
Friday, March 11
Tampa, FL
6 PM
University of Tennessee
vs
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Mississippi State
Hoops Central: Tennessee vs. Mississippi State
March 08, 2022 | Men's Basketball
The ninth-ranked and No. 2 seed Tennessee basketball team is set to begin postseason action Friday in Tampa, Florida, facing Mississippi State at 6 p.m. ET in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals.
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No. 10 seed Mississippi State defeated No. 7 seed South Carolina Thursday, 73-51.
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Fans can catch Friday's game on SEC Network and online or on any mobile device through WatchESPN. WatchESPN can be accessed through the ESPN App, or online at espn.com/watch. Tom Hart (play-by-play), Dane Bradshaw (analysis) and Alyssa Lang (reporter) will have the call.
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Fans can also listen live on their local Vol Network affiliate to hear Bob Kesling and Bert Bertelkamp calling the action. A national radio broadcast is also available on channel 134 on Sirius, channel 190 SiriusXM and channel 961 on the SiriusXM app.
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On Saturday, Tennessee (23-7, 14-4 SEC) closed out its regular season and capped off a perfect 16-0 season at Thompson-Boling Arena with a home win over No. 14 Arkansas, 78-74.
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Freshman guard Kennedy Chandler sunk a career-high five 3-pointers, finishing with 15 points. Josiah-Jordan James put together yet another strong overall performance for the Vols with 12 points, seven rebounds and a team-high three steals.
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Santiago Vescovi had a team-high-tying 15 points, while Zakai Zeigler had 13 points, a career-high six assists and five rebounds.
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Following the conclusion of the regular season, three Vols also earned All-SEC honors. Vescovi was named first-team All-SEC, Chandler was included on the second-team All-SEC and Zeigler was selected to the SEC All-Defensive Team. Chandler and Zeigler also both made the SEC All-Freshman Team.
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With a win Friday, Tennessee advances to the SEC Tournament semifinals on Saturday at approximately 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN (25 minutes after the conclusion of the first semifinal game).
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Following the SEC Tournament, Tennessee will await Selection Sunday to learn its seeding and matchup for the NCAA Tournament. The 2022 NCAA Tournament Selection Show will air on Sunday at 6 p.m. ET on CBS.
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BRACKET BREAKDOWN
• Mississippi State was Tennessee's first opponent at both the 2018 and 2019 SEC Tournaments. The Vols won each of those meetings.
• The Vols won their only meeting with Mississippi State this season, 72-63, in Starkville on Feb. 9.
• Should Tennessee advance to Saturday's semifinals, it would face either Kentucky or Vanderbilt.
• The Volunteers are 7-2 against the teams on their side of the bracket.
• UT has won nine of its last 10 games and enters the SEC Tournament riding a four-game win streak.
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LAYUP LINES – TEAM
• Tennessee stands at No. 8 in the NCAA's latest NET ratings. Each of UT's seven losses are Quad 1.
• The Vols have faced 11 AP Top 25 opponents so far this season and own wins over the teams ranked Nos. 2, 4 and 5 in this week's poll.
• Tennessee's 2021-22 slate is rated eighth nationally in the NCAA's "toughest schedule" metric.
• According to KenPom, the Vols rank third in the nation in adjusted defensive efficiency, allowing only 87.1 points per 100 possessions.
• Tennessee's scoring defense of 66.4 ppg in SEC play was the best in the league. The Vols have held seven of their last nine SEC opponents to fewer than 65 points.
• Tennessee also led the SEC in assists per game during conference play (14.9 apg).
• Tennessee finished fifth nationally in average home attendance (18,202) and was a perfect 16-0 at Thompson-Boling Arena.
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LAYUP LINES – PLAYERS
• All-SEC first-teamer Santiago Vescovi was the league's top 3-point shooter during SEC play, hitting at a .445 clip.
• Second-team All-SEC performer Kennedy Chandler's 2.21 steals per game rank 17th in Division I and second nationally among true freshmen.
• During SEC play, SEC All-Freshman teamers Chandler (2.24 spg) and Zakai Zeigler (2.22 spg) ranked second and third, respectively, in steals per game.
• Over Tennessee's last three games, junior Josiah-Jordan James leads the Vols in scoring (15.0 ppg), rebounding (8.0 rpg) and steals (2.3 spg) while shooting 50 percent from 3-point range (7 of 14).
• True freshman forward Brandon Huntley-Hatfield has a team-high 15 offensive rebounds over Tennessee's last four games.
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SEC TOURNAMENT HISTORY
• Tennessee is 70-56 (.556) in 60 all-time SEC Tournament appearances.
• The Vols own the third-best SEC Tournament winning percentage among league schools, trailing only Kentucky (.832) and Alabama (.569).
• Since the tournament was renewed in 1979, the Vols are 35-41 (.461).
• Tennessee has won the SEC Tournament four times, tying Florida for third-most among league schools. The Vols won the event in 1936, 1941, 1943 and 1979.
• UT has reached the title game 12 times (third-most among league schools), most recently back-to-back in 2018 (St. Louis) and 2019 (Nashville).
• Tennessee has been the No. 2 seed four times previously (1979, 1982, 2012 and 2018).
• This is the second time Tampa has hosted the SEC Tournament (same venue as this year). As the East No. 1 seed in Tampa in 2009, Tennessee defeated Alabama and Auburn to advance to the championship game, where it fell to Mississippi State, 64-61.
• Tennessee's SEC Tournament record in Tampa is 2-1, and the Vols own a 2-2 SEC Tournament record in the state of Florida (0-1 in Orlando in 1990).
• This week marks UT's first trip to the Sunshine State this season.
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BARNES IN LEAGUE TOURNEYS
• Rick Barnes is 38-32 (.543) in conference tournament games as a head coach. That includes a 7-5 record with Tennessee.
• He led Providence to the Big East Tournament championship in 1994.
• Barnes guided Tennessee to back-to-back SEC Tournament championship games in 2018 and 2019.
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HALF OF TENNESSEE'S SEASON WERE QUAD 1 GAMES (15 OF 30)
• Tennessee is one of only six teams in Division I to play at least 15 Quadrant 1 games this season: West Virginia (2-15), Iowa State (9-7), Baylor (11-4), Kansas (10-5), Tennessee (8-7), Alabama (7-8).
• The Vols are one of only five teams with at least nine regular-season Quad 1 victories. UT is joined on that list by Kentucky, Gonzaga, Baylor and Kansas.
• The SEC was the only league to conclude the regular season with at least three teams in the top 10 of the NCAA's NET ratings.
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VOLS BEST IN NATION AT DENYING SECOND-CHANCE POINTS
• Per analytics website Haslametrics.com, Tennessee leads the nation in defensive second-chance point conversion percentage.
• The Vols' defensive SCC% of 2.60 is a result of dividing the field goal conversions that occur five seconds or less after an offensive rebound by the total number of opponents' missed field goals.
• Tennessee's active hands on defense often lead to a block or strip steal after offensive boards by the opposing team.
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SANTI SEEING A BIG RIM, BUT NOW MORE THAN JUST A SNIPER
• All-SEC first-teamer Santiago Vescovi's 87 made 3-pointers already stand as the eighth-most ever by a Vol in a single season.
• Vescovi is averaging 2.9 made threes per game.
• He led the SEC with a .445 3-point percentage during league play. No other "major conference" player in the nation with at least 100 attempts shot a better percentage during conference play this year.
• Vescovi this season is a more balanced scorer as well. While he made just 18 total 2-point field goals last season, he's made 41 2-point field goals this year—many of them layups.
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KC STARRING AS A FRESHMAN
• Tennessee leading scorer Kennedy Chandler (13.7 ppg) was one of only four freshmen named to the coaches' first or second All-SEC teams.
• Chandler has scored (397) or assisted (325) on 33 percent of Tennessee's total points this season (722 of 2,209).
• He is the first Vol since Dane Bradshaw in 2006-07 to total at least 125 assists and 50 steals in a season.
• Chandler also was the first freshman in Division I this season to reach 300 points, 100 assists and 50 steals.
• The Memphis native is projected by multiple outlets as a first-round NBA Draft pick this summer.
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UNHERALDED ZEIGLER EARNS PAIR OF SEC HONORS
• True freshman guard Zakai Zeigler should be a high school senior, but he instead is an SEC All-Freshman Teamer and SEC All-Defensive selection.
• He is just the fourth Vol ever to earn a spot on the SEC All-Defensive Team.
• Zeigler was Tennessee's fourth-leading scorer in SEC play (10.1 ppg) and ranked second on the team with 2.2 steals per game vs. conference foes.
• Zeigler ranked third in the league with an .866 free-throw percentage in SEC games.
• He twice exploded for 18 points in wins over North Carolina and South Carolina—two of his 13 double-digit scoring performances off the bench this season.
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VOL NATION RESPONDS TO ZEIGLER FAMILY TRAGEDY
• Hours after Zakai Zeigler helped the Vols upset third-ranked Auburn on Feb. 26, his mother's apartment complex in Queens, New York was destroyed by fire.
• His mother, Charmane Zeigler, and his 4-year-old nephew, Nori—who she is raising—lost everything.
• On March 2, with the assistance of Tennessee Athletics' compliance office and administration, Zeigler launched a GoFundMe fundraiser. Tennessee fans responded in extraordinary fashion, collectively donating $363,027 in less than 24 hours before the fundraiser was closed.
• Charmane and Nori are now considering permanently relocating to the Knoxville area.
• Fundraiser proceeds in excess of what the NCAA ultimately allows the Zeiglers to retain will be donated to charity.
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NUMBERS PROVE TENNESSEE HAS NATION'S MOST PASSIONATE FANS
• Tennessee is yet again the only school in America to rank in the top 10 in average home attendance for football, men's basketball and women's basketball.
• In football, the Vols ranked ninth with an average home attendance of 86,386 in 2021.
• In hoops, the Vols and Lady Vols finished the season ranked fifth (18,202) and sixth (7,728), in the NCAA, respectively.
MORE INFO
GAMEDAY TIMES & BROADCAST INFO
- Opponent: Mississippi State Bulldogs
- Tipoff:Â Friday, March 11, 6Â p.m. ET
- Venue:Â Amalie Arena
- Watch Online:Â SEC Network
- Radio: Vol Network
- Online: Live Audio | Live Stats
RELATED LINKS
Buy Tickets Game Day Information Follow @Vol_Hoops SEC ClubhouseTENNESSEE
Roster Schedule Stats Game NotesMISSISSIPPI STATE
Roster Schedule StatsTHE LATEST FROM THE VOLS
Barnes Media AvailabilityThree Vols Garner All-SEC HonorsVols Finish Perfect 16-0 at Home as Barnes Logs 750th WinFulkerson Named to Third Straight SEC Community Service Team#13 Vols Win Road Finale at Georgia, 75-68Chandler Earns Second SEC Freshman of the Week HonorNo. 10 seed Mississippi State defeated No. 7 seed South Carolina Thursday, 73-51.
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Fans can catch Friday's game on SEC Network and online or on any mobile device through WatchESPN. WatchESPN can be accessed through the ESPN App, or online at espn.com/watch. Tom Hart (play-by-play), Dane Bradshaw (analysis) and Alyssa Lang (reporter) will have the call.
Â
Fans can also listen live on their local Vol Network affiliate to hear Bob Kesling and Bert Bertelkamp calling the action. A national radio broadcast is also available on channel 134 on Sirius, channel 190 SiriusXM and channel 961 on the SiriusXM app.
Â
On Saturday, Tennessee (23-7, 14-4 SEC) closed out its regular season and capped off a perfect 16-0 season at Thompson-Boling Arena with a home win over No. 14 Arkansas, 78-74.
Â
Freshman guard Kennedy Chandler sunk a career-high five 3-pointers, finishing with 15 points. Josiah-Jordan James put together yet another strong overall performance for the Vols with 12 points, seven rebounds and a team-high three steals.
Â
Santiago Vescovi had a team-high-tying 15 points, while Zakai Zeigler had 13 points, a career-high six assists and five rebounds.
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Following the conclusion of the regular season, three Vols also earned All-SEC honors. Vescovi was named first-team All-SEC, Chandler was included on the second-team All-SEC and Zeigler was selected to the SEC All-Defensive Team. Chandler and Zeigler also both made the SEC All-Freshman Team.
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With a win Friday, Tennessee advances to the SEC Tournament semifinals on Saturday at approximately 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN (25 minutes after the conclusion of the first semifinal game).
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Following the SEC Tournament, Tennessee will await Selection Sunday to learn its seeding and matchup for the NCAA Tournament. The 2022 NCAA Tournament Selection Show will air on Sunday at 6 p.m. ET on CBS.
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BRACKET BREAKDOWN
• Mississippi State was Tennessee's first opponent at both the 2018 and 2019 SEC Tournaments. The Vols won each of those meetings.
• The Vols won their only meeting with Mississippi State this season, 72-63, in Starkville on Feb. 9.
• Should Tennessee advance to Saturday's semifinals, it would face either Kentucky or Vanderbilt.
• The Volunteers are 7-2 against the teams on their side of the bracket.
• UT has won nine of its last 10 games and enters the SEC Tournament riding a four-game win streak.
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LAYUP LINES – TEAM
• Tennessee stands at No. 8 in the NCAA's latest NET ratings. Each of UT's seven losses are Quad 1.
• The Vols have faced 11 AP Top 25 opponents so far this season and own wins over the teams ranked Nos. 2, 4 and 5 in this week's poll.
• Tennessee's 2021-22 slate is rated eighth nationally in the NCAA's "toughest schedule" metric.
• According to KenPom, the Vols rank third in the nation in adjusted defensive efficiency, allowing only 87.1 points per 100 possessions.
• Tennessee's scoring defense of 66.4 ppg in SEC play was the best in the league. The Vols have held seven of their last nine SEC opponents to fewer than 65 points.
• Tennessee also led the SEC in assists per game during conference play (14.9 apg).
• Tennessee finished fifth nationally in average home attendance (18,202) and was a perfect 16-0 at Thompson-Boling Arena.
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LAYUP LINES – PLAYERS
• All-SEC first-teamer Santiago Vescovi was the league's top 3-point shooter during SEC play, hitting at a .445 clip.
• Second-team All-SEC performer Kennedy Chandler's 2.21 steals per game rank 17th in Division I and second nationally among true freshmen.
• During SEC play, SEC All-Freshman teamers Chandler (2.24 spg) and Zakai Zeigler (2.22 spg) ranked second and third, respectively, in steals per game.
• Over Tennessee's last three games, junior Josiah-Jordan James leads the Vols in scoring (15.0 ppg), rebounding (8.0 rpg) and steals (2.3 spg) while shooting 50 percent from 3-point range (7 of 14).
• True freshman forward Brandon Huntley-Hatfield has a team-high 15 offensive rebounds over Tennessee's last four games.
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SEC TOURNAMENT HISTORY
• Tennessee is 70-56 (.556) in 60 all-time SEC Tournament appearances.
• The Vols own the third-best SEC Tournament winning percentage among league schools, trailing only Kentucky (.832) and Alabama (.569).
• Since the tournament was renewed in 1979, the Vols are 35-41 (.461).
• Tennessee has won the SEC Tournament four times, tying Florida for third-most among league schools. The Vols won the event in 1936, 1941, 1943 and 1979.
• UT has reached the title game 12 times (third-most among league schools), most recently back-to-back in 2018 (St. Louis) and 2019 (Nashville).
• Tennessee has been the No. 2 seed four times previously (1979, 1982, 2012 and 2018).
• This is the second time Tampa has hosted the SEC Tournament (same venue as this year). As the East No. 1 seed in Tampa in 2009, Tennessee defeated Alabama and Auburn to advance to the championship game, where it fell to Mississippi State, 64-61.
• Tennessee's SEC Tournament record in Tampa is 2-1, and the Vols own a 2-2 SEC Tournament record in the state of Florida (0-1 in Orlando in 1990).
• This week marks UT's first trip to the Sunshine State this season.
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BARNES IN LEAGUE TOURNEYS
• Rick Barnes is 38-32 (.543) in conference tournament games as a head coach. That includes a 7-5 record with Tennessee.
• He led Providence to the Big East Tournament championship in 1994.
• Barnes guided Tennessee to back-to-back SEC Tournament championship games in 2018 and 2019.
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HALF OF TENNESSEE'S SEASON WERE QUAD 1 GAMES (15 OF 30)
• Tennessee is one of only six teams in Division I to play at least 15 Quadrant 1 games this season: West Virginia (2-15), Iowa State (9-7), Baylor (11-4), Kansas (10-5), Tennessee (8-7), Alabama (7-8).
• The Vols are one of only five teams with at least nine regular-season Quad 1 victories. UT is joined on that list by Kentucky, Gonzaga, Baylor and Kansas.
• The SEC was the only league to conclude the regular season with at least three teams in the top 10 of the NCAA's NET ratings.
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VOLS BEST IN NATION AT DENYING SECOND-CHANCE POINTS
• Per analytics website Haslametrics.com, Tennessee leads the nation in defensive second-chance point conversion percentage.
• The Vols' defensive SCC% of 2.60 is a result of dividing the field goal conversions that occur five seconds or less after an offensive rebound by the total number of opponents' missed field goals.
• Tennessee's active hands on defense often lead to a block or strip steal after offensive boards by the opposing team.
Â
SANTI SEEING A BIG RIM, BUT NOW MORE THAN JUST A SNIPER
• All-SEC first-teamer Santiago Vescovi's 87 made 3-pointers already stand as the eighth-most ever by a Vol in a single season.
• Vescovi is averaging 2.9 made threes per game.
• He led the SEC with a .445 3-point percentage during league play. No other "major conference" player in the nation with at least 100 attempts shot a better percentage during conference play this year.
• Vescovi this season is a more balanced scorer as well. While he made just 18 total 2-point field goals last season, he's made 41 2-point field goals this year—many of them layups.
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KC STARRING AS A FRESHMAN
• Tennessee leading scorer Kennedy Chandler (13.7 ppg) was one of only four freshmen named to the coaches' first or second All-SEC teams.
• Chandler has scored (397) or assisted (325) on 33 percent of Tennessee's total points this season (722 of 2,209).
• He is the first Vol since Dane Bradshaw in 2006-07 to total at least 125 assists and 50 steals in a season.
• Chandler also was the first freshman in Division I this season to reach 300 points, 100 assists and 50 steals.
• The Memphis native is projected by multiple outlets as a first-round NBA Draft pick this summer.
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UNHERALDED ZEIGLER EARNS PAIR OF SEC HONORS
• True freshman guard Zakai Zeigler should be a high school senior, but he instead is an SEC All-Freshman Teamer and SEC All-Defensive selection.
• He is just the fourth Vol ever to earn a spot on the SEC All-Defensive Team.
• Zeigler was Tennessee's fourth-leading scorer in SEC play (10.1 ppg) and ranked second on the team with 2.2 steals per game vs. conference foes.
• Zeigler ranked third in the league with an .866 free-throw percentage in SEC games.
• He twice exploded for 18 points in wins over North Carolina and South Carolina—two of his 13 double-digit scoring performances off the bench this season.
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VOL NATION RESPONDS TO ZEIGLER FAMILY TRAGEDY
• Hours after Zakai Zeigler helped the Vols upset third-ranked Auburn on Feb. 26, his mother's apartment complex in Queens, New York was destroyed by fire.
• His mother, Charmane Zeigler, and his 4-year-old nephew, Nori—who she is raising—lost everything.
• On March 2, with the assistance of Tennessee Athletics' compliance office and administration, Zeigler launched a GoFundMe fundraiser. Tennessee fans responded in extraordinary fashion, collectively donating $363,027 in less than 24 hours before the fundraiser was closed.
• Charmane and Nori are now considering permanently relocating to the Knoxville area.
• Fundraiser proceeds in excess of what the NCAA ultimately allows the Zeiglers to retain will be donated to charity.
Â
NUMBERS PROVE TENNESSEE HAS NATION'S MOST PASSIONATE FANS
• Tennessee is yet again the only school in America to rank in the top 10 in average home attendance for football, men's basketball and women's basketball.
• In football, the Vols ranked ninth with an average home attendance of 86,386 in 2021.
• In hoops, the Vols and Lady Vols finished the season ranked fifth (18,202) and sixth (7,728), in the NCAA, respectively.
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Players Mentioned
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