University of Tennessee Athletics
2002-03 Men's Basketball Roster
Roster
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Jersey Number 35
Ron Slay
- Height:
- 6-8
- Weight:
- 240
- Class:
- Senior
- Hometown:
- Nashville, Tenn.
- High School:
- Pearl-Cohn High School
CAREER HIGHS
- Points: 38 // vs. New Mexico, 1/4/03
- Rebounds: 14 // at #2 Kentucky, 2/26/03
- Assists: 7 // vs. UT Martin, 12/30/02
- Steals: 2 (14x) // last at Vanderbilt, 3/8/03
- Blocks: 2 // vs. #20 UConn, 3/19/00
- Field Goals: 12 (2x) // last vs. #17 Georgia, 2/8/03
- 3-Pointers: 5 // vs. New Mexico, 1/4/03
- Free Throws: 15 // vs. New Mexico, 1/4/03
- Minutes: 42 // at #19 Georgia, 1/22/03
HONORS
- 2017 SEC Basketball Legend
- Tennessee Basketball All-Century Team
- 2003 SEC Player of the Year (Associated Press)
- 2003 Third-Team All-American (Associated Press)
- 2003 First-Team All-SEC (Associated Press, Coaches)
- SEC Player of the Week (Feb. 17, 2003)
- SEC Player of the Week (Feb. 10, 2003)
PROFESSIONAL CAREER
- Immediately following the completion of his career as a Vol, he embarked on a 13-year career as a professional basketball player overseas.
- Played in pro leagues in Israel, Venezuela, Italy, Spain, Puerto Rico, Portugal and France.
- Was a member of the Miami Heat's 2003 NBA Summer League roster.
2002-03 - SENIOR
- Finished his career ranked 13th on Tennessee's all-time scoring list with 1,569 points.
- Also finished among UT's all-time leaders in 3-point percentage (seventh, .370), free throws made (seventh, 402), free throws attempted (T-seventh, 532) and free throw percentage (11th, .7556).
- Earned 2003 SEC Player of the Year honors from the Associated Press, CollegeInsider.com and Dick Vitale of ESPN.
- Was a third-team All-America selection by the Associated Press and FOXsports.com.
- Garnered first-team All-SEC acclaim from the league's coaches, the Associated Press and Dick Vitale.
- Was a 2003 Wooden Award finalist.
- Other honors included USBWA All-District IV Team, NABC All-Disrict 7 first-team status and Basketball Times' All-South Team.
- Finished his senior season averaging 21.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists while shooting .486 from the field, .374 from 3-point range and .782 from the free-throw line.
- The SEC scoring champion, he led the league with an average of 21.2 points per game, nearly 3.0 points more than the next-closest player.
- He also led the league in scoring during SEC play, averaging 21.1 points.
- Was the only player in the SEC to finish among the league's top 10 in both scoring and rebounding (7.1 rpg, seventh).
- Was Tennessee's top scorer in 26 out of 29 games.
- When he returned to the court after his final game at Kentucky's Rupp Arena (2/26/03), he received a rousing ovation from the UK fans.
- He finished that Kentucky contest with a game-high 22 points and a career-high 14 rebounds.
- Became the first player since Florida's Dan Cross in 1994 to win back-to-back SEC Player of the Week honors when he earned the award on Feb. 10 and Feb. 17.
- Became only the third player in SEC history to capture back-to-back SEC Player of the Week awards (UT's Dyron Nix also did it to begin the 1989 SEC season).
- Was runner-up for FOXsports.com's National Player of the Week award on Feb. 10.
- Avenged an earlier loss at Georgia by scoring 33 points in the Vols' 78-72 home victory over the Bulldogs (2/8/03).
- Played a career-high 42 minutes during the Vols' 81-76 overtime loss at No. 19 Georgia (1/22/03), finishing with 29 points and eight rebounds.
- Flirted with a triple-double in the win over UT Martin (12/30/02), totaling 21 points, nine rebounds and a career-best seven assists.
- Broke the 30-point mark for the first time in his career when he dropped 31 in UT's season-opening win over Gardner-Webb (11/22/02).
2001-02 - JUNIOR
- Missed Tennessee’s final 15 games after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee when he was fouled with 4:39 left in the first half of Tennessee’s win over eighth-ranked Syracuse (1/19/02).
- Scored 20 or more points five times.
- Led the Vols in rebounding in six of his last eight games.
- In four games against SEC foes, he averaged 19.0 points and 8.8 rebounds.
- Tied his career-high 11 rebounds against third-ranked Florida (1/9/02).
- Had 21 points and nine rebounds on 6-of-10 shooting against Ole Miss (1/6/02).
- Tied his season-high with 23 points against West Virginia (12/22/01); his 10 free throws made against the Mountaineers tied his career-high to that point.
- Made his first start of the season at SMU (12/6/01) and finished with a game-high 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field, including 1-of-2 from 3-point range, to go along with eight rebounds and three assists in 30 minutes of action.
- In just 16 minutes of action, he scored 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting to go with five rebounds against Appalachian State (11/29/01); he set a then-career-high for 3-pointers made with his 3-of-4 effort from behind the arc against the Mountaineers.
- Returned from injury in a limited role for UT’s win over Alaska Anchorage (11/23/01), going 5-of-6 from the field and totaling 11 points in 16 minutes of action.
- Suffered a stress fracture to his right fibula on Oct. 28, which forced him to miss Tennessee’s first two games of the season.
2000-01 - SOPHOMORE
- A third-team All-SEC selection by both the league’s coaches and the Associated Press.
- Considered by many to be the best sixth0man in the nation
- ESPN analyst Dick Vitale said, “Ron Slay brings the energy and enthusiasm when he comes in the game. He’s the best sixth man in college basketball.”
- Moved into the starting lineup for five of Tennessee’s final six regular-season games and then started the Vols’ NCAA Tournament game.
- Averaged 13.0 points per game when in the starting lineup (91 points in seven starts).
- Averaged 21.0 points and 8.0 rebounds in Tennessee’s two SEC Tournament games.
- Scored 20 points against Ole Miss (3/9/01) in the second round of the SEC Tournament.
- Came off the bench to register 22 points and 11 rebounds in 21 minutes of action against Auburn (3/8/01) in UT’s SEC Tournament first-round game.
- Recorded his second career double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds in 27 minutes of action against Georgia (2/21/01).
- Tossed in 15 points in only 20 minutes of action against 11th-ranked Florida (2/18/01).
- Scored 18 points with nine rebounds in his third career start, which came against No. 22 Kentucky (2/14/01)
- Got his second career start in Tennessee’s 84-79 victory over Mississippi State (1/20/01), during which he scored 15 points in 33 minutes of action.
- Saw a streak of 10 straight games scoring in double figures come to an end against South Carolina (1/13/01) when he recorded nine points in 17 minutes.
- During Tennessee’s seven-game road trip over the holidays, he averaged 15.6 points and 5.4 rebounds while shooting .633 (38-of-60) from the field and .600 (3-of-5) from 3-point range.
- Came off the bench to record his first career double-double with a then-career-high 27 points and 10 rebounds at No. 12 Syracuse (12/22/01).
- Named to the All-Tournament Team at the Rainbow Classic after averaging 15.0 points and 4.0 rebounds in leading Tennessee to the tournament championship in Honolulu, Hawaii (12/28-30/00).
- Listed as one of Andy Katz’s Top Five Players from around the nation for the week of his Dec. 11 Weekly Word column on ESPN.com.
- Scored 22 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field and 9-of-14 shooting from the free-throw line against SMU (12/5/00).
- Rated as the No. 10 power forward in the nation in The Sporting News’ 2000-01 season preview.
1999-2000 - FRESHMAN
- Saw action in all 33 games, making one start against American- Puerto Rico (12/21/99).
- Played the second-most minutes among the freshmen, averaging 17.3 minutes per game.
- Ranked as the third-leading scorer on team with 320 point for a 9.7 average, while pulling down 4.4 rebounds
- Led team in free-throw percentage at .798 while shooting .511 percent from the field.
- Scored in double figures 16 times, including nine of the UT’s final 12 games.
- Played at least 20 minutes on 11 occasions and scored at least eight points 23 times.
- Scored double-digits in five consecutive games at Alabama (17), vs. Arkansas (13), at Georgia (17), vs. South Carolina (13) and vs. Louisiana-Lafayette (15).
- Averaged 11.7 points and 5.0 rebounds in three NCAA Tournament games, shooting 52 percent from the field (13-of-25).
- Had 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds against North Carolina (3/24/00).
- Totaled 15 points against Louisiana-Lafayette (3/17/00) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, scoring 11 in the second half.
- Set a season-high with two blocks and two steals against UConn (3/19/00) while scoring eight points with four rebounds.
- Scored a career-high 17 points four times: against Elon, at Mississippi State, when he hit 9-of-10 free throws, at Alabama (2/26/00) and vs. Georgia (3/4/00).
- Had 13 points with five rebounds against South Carolina (3/10/00) in the SEC Tournament.
- Scored 17 at Georgia (2/23/99), connecting on a then-career-high seven field goals.
- Scored 13 against Arkansas (2/2/99).
- Pulled down at least six boards on nine occasions, including a career-high 10 in the Radford game (1/2/00).
- Scored 11 points with six rebounds in his only start of the season vs. American-Puerto Rico (12/21/99).
- Scored 14 vs. Long Island (11/26/99) on 5-of-7 shooting from the field.
HIGH SCHOOL
- Led prestigious Oak Hill Academy (Va.) to a 31-0 record and the final USA Today No. 1 high school ranking in 1998-99; was coached at Oak Hill by Steve Smith.
- Averaged 17 points, nine rebounds and 2.5 blocks as a senior in 1998-99.
- Chosen to participate in the Derby Classic and the SEC-ACC Hoops Classic, two of the nation's highest-profile prep all-star games, following his senior season.
- Captured the slam-dunk contest championship at the Derby Classic.
- Played his first three high school seasons at Pearl-Cohn High School in his hometown of Nashville, where he was a first-team All-State performer.
- Averaged 22 points and 12 rebounds as a junior in 1997-98 and finished as runner-up (to eventual UT teammate Vincent Yarbrough) for the state of Tennessee's Class AAA Mr. Basketball Award.
- Led Pearl-Cohn to consecutive state tournament appearances in 1997 and 1998.
- Named Nashville's 1998 Metro Player of the Year.
- Averaged 15.6 points and 9.6 rebounds as a sophomore.
- Was a high school teammate of eventual Tennessee football All-American and 2001 Outland Trophy winner John Henderson, who was a 2002 first-round NFL Draft pick.
PERSONAL
- Full name is Ronald Sylvester Slay
- Born June 29, 1981, in Memphis, Tennessee
- Son of Lolita Slay
- Completed his Tennessee degree in Arts & Sciences in 2018
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