UT has won six straight at TBA over SC

• 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 dropped a 90-72 contest to Kentucky at Thompson-Boling Arena Tuesday. Wildcats junior Jodie Meeks scored a school-record 54 points as the Vols' 16-game SEC home win streak came to an end. It was UT's first home SEC loss since March 1, 2006.
• The Vols are looking to end their second home losing streak under head coach Bruce Pearl. Under Pearl's direction, Tennessee has never lost three consecutive home games.
• UT has won seven of its last nine games against South Carolina, including each of the last three.
• Vols head coach Bruce Pearl is 2-0 in head-to-head matchups with Gamecocks head coach Darrin Horn. Pearl orchestrated Tennessee wins over WKU in Knoxville (12/16/06) and Nashville (12/15/07).
• Junior Tyler Smith is the only player in the SEC to be ranked among the top 20 in the conference in scoring (6th; 17.8 ppg), rebounding (17th; 6.5 rpg) and assists (T-6th; 3.8 apg).
• Junior Wayne Chism is averaging 12.9 points and 11.9 rebounds in UT's seven home games. He has five double-doubles overall this season; only two SEC players have more (Kentucky's Patrick Patterson has nine and Arkansas' Michael Washington has eight).
• In the most recent NCAA statistics (through the games of Jan. 11), the Volunteers were ranked sixth nationally in scoring, 12th nationally in rebounding margin and 16th nationally in assists per game.
• Tennessee navigates some rough waters during the month of January, as the Vols' opponents this month include Kansas (L), Gonzaga (L), Georgia (W), Kentucky (L), South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Memphis, LSU and Florida. Through Jan. 15, those opponents combined to boast a 109-35 (.757) record.
• UT's overall strength of schedule is rated fourth nationally by KenPom.com.

Tennessee Trends

• Tennessee's 83.5 points per game are leading the SEC for the fourth consecutive year. Pearl's teams have led their respective league in scoring in 16 of his 17 years as a head coach.
• UT remains the highest-ranked Southeastern Conference team in the national polls (No. 24 AP).
No SEC team has been ranked higher than the Vols at any point this season.
• Tennessee is 10-0 this season when it holds its opponent under 80 points. The Vols are 0-5 when the opposition scores 80 or more.
• UT owns an 8-1 record when Wayne Chism records a double-double (4-1 this season).
• The Vols' bench has outscored the opponent's bench in 14 of UT's 15 games this season.
• Tennessee is 50-4 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.
• Under Bruce Pearl, UT is 80-7 when leading or tied with five minutes left in the game.
• UT is 57-6 when scoring 80 or more points under the direction of Bruce Pearl.
• Tennessee has an all-time record of 1,432-913-2 in 100 seasons of basketball.
• UT's 635 regular-season SEC victories rank third all-time in the SEC. Only Kentucky and Alabama have won more league games.
• Tennessee is 250-88 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. UT did so for the fifth time in 2007-08.

The South Carolina Series

Tennessee leads the all-time series 29-23 after winning both regular-season meetings last season and then adding a victory over the Gamecocks in the 2008 SEC Tournament ... UT took an 80-56 win in Columbia and then an 89-56 victory in Knoxville before posting an 89-87 triumph in Atlanta ... The Vols have won 16 of the last 24 meetings between the schools ... When the series is played in Knoxville, the Vols own an 19-7 advantage ... South Carolina leads the series 14-8 when it is played in Columbia ... Tennessee and South Carolina met for the first time on Jan 15, 1927, in Columbia ... The teams played off-and-on between the 1927 and 1972 seasons but did not play each other from 1972 until 1988 when the series was renewed.

Noting South Carolina

Led by first-year head coach Darrin Horn, South Carolina (12-3, 1-1 SEC) defeated Auburn last Saturday to open Southeastern Conference play before falling at LSU Wednesday 85-68 ... Prior to his arrival in Columbia, Horn was the head coach at Western Kentucky from 2003-08 ... The Gamecocks are 2-2 on the road so far this season with a win at then-10th-ranked Baylor on Jan. 2 ... Junior point guard Devan Downey leads a pack of four Gamecocks averaging double figures, and he has tallied double-digit points in every game this season (including a career-high 37 points against Clemson) to pace Carolina with 19.6 ppg ... Downey also leads the Gamecocks in assists (4.2 apg) and steals (2.9 spg) ... Senior guard Zam Fredrick provides 16.2 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game ... Carolina leads the SEC in 3-point field goal percentage with a .394 mark from beyond the arc ... The Gamecocks also pace the league with a +5.6 turnover margin while ranking second in the conference with 10.3 steals per game ... The Gamecocks were picked by the SEC head coaches to finish fifth in the Eastern Division.

Last Clash With South Carolina

Less than a week after beating South Carolina by 33 points, Tennessee squeezed out an 89-87 victory over the Gamecocks to advance to the semifinals of the 2008 SEC Tournament Friday, March 14, at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Ga. ... Much like the meeting five days earlier, the first half was closely contested and the Vols took a one-point lead at the half ... The second half featured eight lead changes and six ties ... A jumper by Devan Downey and then a pair of free throws by Mike Holmes gave the Gamecocks an 84-83 lead with 1:38 left ... Tyler Smith's layup gave the Vols the lead back, but 14 seconds later Dominique Archie put Carolina back on top 87-86 with 23 seconds remaining ... Chris Lofton, who had been just 1-of-9 from 3-point range to that point, came off a screen at the top of the key and drained a trey that gave Tennessee an 89-87 advantage with 11 seconds left ... Downey missed a 3-pointer at the other end, but Carolina got one more chance as the ball went out of bounds off a UT player with 1.1 seconds left ... The Gamecocks were not able to get another shot off as time expired, giving the Vols their first semifinal appearance since 1991 ... Wayne Chism led the Vols with a career-high 23 points and five blocks ... Tyler Smith scored 11 of UT's final 14 points to finish with 13 points ... Lofton had 10 points ... Downey led the Gamecocks with 26 points while Zam Fredrick added 24.

Down Late? Just Wait

Twice this season, Tennessee has overcome sizable second-half deficits to win ... The Vols were down by eight points in the second half vs. Georgetown before rallying to post a 12-point triumph on Nov. 28 ... And Georgia built a 10-point second-half lead in Athens Jan. 10 before UT erupted for 42 points in the final 12 minutes en route to an 86-77 victory ... The Vols have won three games this season when trailing with 10 minutes left to play.

Rebounding A Strength For Tennessee This Season

Tennessee has been strong on the boards this season, outrebounding its opponents by an average of 7.5 per game and winning the battle of the glass in 11 of 15 contests thus far ... The Volunteers lead the SEC in total rebounds per game (42.3) and offensive rebounds per game (16.1) ... 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 three of the SEC's top rebounders, as Wayne Chism ranks fourth (9.1 rpg), Brian Williams ranks 15th (6.3 rpg) and Tyler Smith ranks 17th (6.1 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 15 games ... Head coach Bruce Pearl has used seven different combinations of starters this season ... Freshman forward Emmanuel Negedu is the only scholarship Vol who has yet to start.