UT Seeks Ninth Consecutive Win Over Georgia

• 2008-09 marks Tennessee's 100th season of varsity basketball. A season-long centennial celebration includes the selection of a Tennessee Basketball All-Century Team. Ballots are available in the Thompson-Boling Arena concourse for all home games.
• In its last game, Tennessee lost at home to Gonzaga in overtime Wednesday 89-79. The setback snapped UT's school-record 37-game home win streak. Cameron Tatum scored a career-high 22 points.
• UT has won eight of its last nine SEC openers and is 3-0 in such games under head coach Bruce Pearl.
• Redshirt freshman Cameron Tatum is from Lithonia, Ga., and graduated from Tucker High School, which is located just 58 miles from UGA's Stegeman Coliseum. He was a two-time DeKalb County Player of the Year in high school.
• Junior Wayne Chism is averaging 14.0 points, 13.5 rebounds, and 2.8 blocks over the last four games.
He has five double-doubles this season; only two SEC players have more (Kentucky's Patrick Patterson has nine and Arkansas' Michael Washington has seven).
• In 110 games, this is just Tennessee's sixth losing streak under head coach Bruce Pearl. Only once have the Vols lost three straight games during the Pearl era (consecutive road losses at Vanderbilt, Ohio State and Auburn in January 2007).
• Tennessee has been ranked in the Associated Press top 25 for 30 consecutive weeks. The school record for consecutive weeks in the AP top 25 is 35 from March 1, 1999, to Feb. 19, 2001.
• In the most recent NCAA statistics (through the games of Jan. 4), the Vols were ranked seventh nationally in scoring, 11th nationally in assists per game and 14th nationally in rebounding margin.
• Tennessee navigates some rough waters during the month of January, as the Vols' opponents this month include Kansas, Gonzaga, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Memphis, LSU and Florida.

Tennessee Trends

• Through the games of Jan. 7, Tennessee led the SEC in scoring (84.2 ppg) and rebounding (42.7 rpg) while ranking third in assists (17.7 apg).
• UT remains the highest-ranked Southeastern Conference team in the national polls (No. 15 AP; No. 25 Coaches). No SEC team has been ranked higher than the Vols at any point this season.
• Tennessee is 9-0 this season when it holds its opponent under 80 points. The Vols are 0-4 when the opposition scores 80 or more.
• The Vols' bench has outscored the opponent's bench in all 13 games this season.
• Tennessee is 50-3 at Thompson-Boling Arena since the start of the 2005-06 season.
• The Vols are 28-1 in non-conference home games under Bruce Pearl.
• Bruce Pearl is 18-9 against ranked teams while at Tennessee.
• The Vols have made at least one 3-pointer in 368 consecutive games.
• Under Bruce Pearl, UT is 79-7 when leading or tied with five minutes left in the game.
• UT is 56-6 when scoring 80 or more points under the direction of Bruce Pearl.
• Tennessee has an all-time record of 1,431-912-2 in 100 seasons of basketball.
• UT's 634 regular-season SEC victories rank third all-time in the SEC. Only Kentucky and Alabama have won more league games.
• Tennessee is 250-87 in 22 seasons in Thompson-Boling Arena. The Vols have posted winning home records in 18 of their 21 full 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 year. The Vols turned the trick for the fifth time in 2007-08.

The Georgia Series

Saturday's meeting will be the 139th in the all-time series, with Tennessee holding an 87-51 advantage ... The Vols have an eight-game win streak in the series and have won 10 of the last 11 meetings ... Last season, UT posted an 85-69 win in Knoxville (1/26/08) and a 74-71 victory in Athens (2/16/08) ... Tennessee is 31-33 all-time when the series is played in Athens ... Tennessee holds a 52-13 series lead when playing in Knoxville ... The last eight games in Athens have been decided by a total of 42 points (5.25-point margin) with one game going into overtime and another going into double overtime ... The Vols are 21-24 all-time against Georgia in Stegeman Coliseum ... Tennessee's 87 wins over the Bulldogs are the second-most by the Vols over any opponent ... UT head coach Bruce Pearl owns a 6-0 head-to-head record against UGA head coach Dennis Felton.

Noting Georgia

Georgia (9-6, 0-0 SEC) concluded its pre-conference schedule with a 67-62 loss Tuesday night at Georgia Tech ... UGA is 8-2 at home this season ... Georgia's top scorer this season is freshman forward Trey Thompkins (14.4 ppg), and he also leads the squad in rebounding (6.6 rpg) ... Senior forward Terrance Woodbury (13.8 ppg) was named to the Coaches' Preseason All-SEC second team ... The 6-7 swingman was a key figure in Georgia's run to the SEC Tournament championship last March, averaging 15.8 points over the four-game weekend, including a career-best 25 points against Ole Miss in the first round ... Woodbury has scored in double figures in every game he's played so far this season ... In other preseason picks, Georgia was predicted to finished sixth in the SEC East by selected regional media ... UT redshirt freshman guard Cameron Tatum is the lone Georgia native onTennessee's roster ... Tatum attended the same prep school (The Patterson School in Lenoir, N.C.) as Bulldogs freshman forward Drazen Zlovaric, though the two were never teammates there ... The UGA roster does not feature any Tennessee natives.

Last Clash With Georgia

Tennessee completed the season sweep over Georgia for the fourth consecutive year with a 74-71 victory Feb. 16, 2008, in Athens ... Tennessee struggled with its outside shooting in the first half, going 1-of-9 from behind the arc ... Wayne Chism scored 14 first half points to help give the Vols a 35-31 lead at the half ... Georgia used a 3-pointer from Terrance Woodbury and a three-point play from Sundiata Gaines to take a 49-45 lead early in the second half ... After Zac Swansey gave the Bulldogs a 51-48 advantage, UT responded with a 10-0 run to take a 58-51 lead it would not relinquish ... Chris Lofton warmed up in the second half, making 5-of-7 3-pointers and scoring 19 of his 22 points in the final half ... Chism finished with 16 points and nine rebounds ... Tyler Smith had 12 points, 10 rebounds and six assists ... Gaines led UGA with 23 points and nine boards.

Chism, Prince and Williams Much-Improved at Free-Throw Line

Returners Wayne Chism, J.P. Prince and Brian Williams each are shooting significantly better from the free-throw line this season compared to last:

Bench Dominance

The Tennessee bench has outscored the opposition's bench in every game this season, and that margin has been at least 20 points five times ... The Vols are leading the battle of the benches 390-200 this season (30.0 ppg to 15.4 ppg).

Rebounding A Strength For Tennessee This Season

Tennessee has been strong on the boards this season, outrebounding its opponents by an average of 8.2 per game and winning the battle of the glass in 10 of 13 contests thus far ... The Volunteers lead the SEC in total rebounds per game (42.7) and offensive rebounds per game (15.7) ... Three times this season UT has pulled down at least 50 rebounds in a game, with a high of 58 against UT Martin on Nov. 18 (a Thompson-Boling Arena record and the Vols' most since at least 1980) ... UT also boasts two of the SEC's top rebounders, as Wayne Chism ranks fourth (9.3 rpg) and Brian Williams ranks 12th (6.5 rpg) ... Tyler Smith ranks 18th in the league with 6.0 rpg.

Nine Different Vols Have Started Games

Nine different Volunteers have started for UT this season, including nine players who have made multiple starts ... Junior forward Tyler Smith and junior point guard Bobby Maze are the only two Vols who have started all 13 games ... Head coach Bruce Pearl has used seven different combinations of starters thus far ... Freshman forward Emmanuel Negedu is the only scholarship Vol who has yet to start.