UT looks for second SEC road win

• 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 defeated South Carolina 82-79 Saturday in Knoxville. It was UT's fourth consecutive win over the Gamecocks. Vols freshman Scotty Hopson scored a season-high 19 in the win.
• The Vols have won six of their last seven Southeastern Conference road games. Their last league loss in a true road game was a 72-69 setback at Vanderbilt on Feb. 26, 2008.
• Tennessee under Bruce Pearl owns a 4-2 record against Vanderbilt and a 7-3 mark in Nashville.
• In four career games vs. Vanderbilt, Vols junior Wayne Chism averages 12.5 ppg and 9.5 rpg while shooting .513 from the floor and .417 from 3-point range.
• Junior Tyler Smith is the only player in the SEC to be ranked among the top 20 in the conference in scoring (fifth; 17.9 ppg), rebounding (18th; 5.8 rpg) and assists (T-eighth; 3.9 apg).
• The Tennessee bench has outscored the opposition's bench 444-248 (27.8 to 15.5 ppg) this season. Only once (Jan. 10 at Georgia) has the Vols' bench been outscored by the opponent's non-starters.
• Nine different Volunteers have scored in double figures at least once this season • In the most recent NCAA statistics (through the games of Jan. 15), the Volunteers were ranked seventh nationally in scoring, 17th nationally in rebounding margin and 18th 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 (W), Vanderbilt, Memphis, LSU and Florida. Through Jan. 18, those opponents combined to boast a 116-38 (.753) record.
• UT's overall strength of schedule is rated second nationally by KenPom.com.

Tennessee Trends

• Tennessee's 83.4 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.
• The Vols shoot .467 and score an average of 86.6 pgg at home this season. Away from Thompson-Boling Arena, UT shoots .445 and averages 80.1 ppg.
• Tennessee is 11-0 this season when it holds its opponent under 80 points. The Vols are 0-5 when the opposition scores 80 or more.
• The Vols' bench has outscored the opponent's bench in 15 of UT's 16 games this season.
• Tennessee is 51-4 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 at UT.
• Under Bruce Pearl, UT is 81-7 when leading or tied with five minutes left in the game.
• UT is 58-6 when scoring 80 or more points under the direction of Bruce Pearl.
• Tennessee has an all-time record of 1,433-913-2 in 100 seasons of basketball.
• Tyler Smith has scored in double figures 47 times during his UT career (all 16 games this season).
• UT owns an 8-1 record when Wayne Chism records a double-double (4-1 this season).
• UT's 636 regular-season SEC victories rank third all-time in the SEC. Only Kentucky and Alabama have won more league games.
• Tennessee is 251-88 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 Vanderbilt Series

Tennessee leads the all-time series 106-67 ... The Vols won 80-60 last season in Knoxville before falling 72-69 in Nashville in late February ... The Vols have won four of the last six meetings ... UT leads the series 65-16 when playing in Knoxville ... Vanderbilt leads 50-35 when it is played on the Commodores' home court ... Tennessee's 106 wins over Vanderbilt are the most by the Vols over any opponent ... Tennessee and Vanderbilt have played every season since their first meeting during the 1922 season except for the WWII years of 1944 and 1945 ... Only Kentucky has been an opponent of the Vols more times than Vanderbilt ... The Vols have played the Wildcats 206 times while Tuesday's game will be their 174th against the Commodores ... Tennessee has won more games at Vanderbilt (35) than any other place outside of Knoxville.

Noting Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt (12-5, 1-2 SEC) is coming off a 73-66 road loss to Mississippi State on Saturday ... The Dores lead the SEC in scoring defense, as opponents are scoring just 58.9 ppg ... Vandy has held its opponents to less than 35.5 percent shooting in eight games this season and leads the nation in field-goal percentage defense (.366) ... The Commodores are one of only four SEC teams with a negative turnover maring (-1.2) ... All-SEC sophomore big man A.J. Ogilvy ranks ninth in the SEC in scoring (16.4 ppg) and is 11th in rebounding (6.9 rpg) ... A Wooden Award candidate, Ogilvy is shooting 55.5 percent from the floor this season but has been slowed recently with a bone bruise in his right heel ... Junior guard Jermaine Beal averages 12.1 points per game and is ranked in the SEC in seven categories ... Beal also is shooting 42.2 percent from 3-point range and leads the league in assist-turnover ratio (2.2) ... Sophomore guard Jamie Graham has returned to the team after helping the Commodores football team to a New Year's Eve bowl win; he is the only player in the SEC playing both basketball and football ... Vanderbilt joins Tennessee and Florida as the only three programs in the SEC to appear in multiple Sweet Sixteens in the last five years ... The Commodores were picked by the SEC head coaches to finish fourth in the Eastern Division this season.

Last Clash With Vanderbilt

Playing its second road game against a nationally ranked instate rival in less than 72 hours, No. 1 Tennessee fell 69-72 to No. 14 Vanderbilt at Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville ... The Vols made just eight of their 34 first-half shots, while Vanderbilt came out firing to build a 14-point (23-9) lead midway through the opening half ... Tennessee's defense tightened up and helped the Vols cut the deficit to 31-28 at the half ... UT built a 43-40 lead early in the second half, but Vandy took the lead for good on an Alan Metcalfe 3-pointer that made the score 46-43 with 14:20 left ... The Vols weren't finished though, cutting the Vanderbilt lead to 72-69 on a Wayne Chism dunk with 7.5 seconds left ... Keegan Bell then missed both of his free throw attempts with 1.8 seconds on the clock ... JaJuan Smith grabbed the rebound but his three-quarter court heave missed ... Chris Lofton scored his 2,000th career point while leading the Vols with 25 ... Tyler Smith had 11 points and 17 rebounds ... VU's Shan Foster led all scorers with 32 points.

Tennessee - Vanderbilt Connections

UT head coach Bruce Pearl was an assistant coach to Dr. Tom Davis at Iowa for six seasons (1986-92) ... For two of the years Pearl was at Iowa, Vanderbilt head coach Kevin Stallings was on the Purdue bench (1979-1988) assisting the legendary Gene Keady.

Plenty Of Points To Go Around

Tennessee is the only team in the Southeastern Conference to boast six players who average at least 9.0 ppg ... No other conference team has more than four players averaging 9.0 ppg (Arkansas, South Carolina and Vanderbilt each have four) ... This proves that while the Vols lead the SEC in scoring, contributions are being made by many different offensive weapons.

Rebounding A Strength For Tennessee This Season

Tennessee has been strong on the boards this season, outrebounding its opponents by an average of 7.6 per game and winning the battle of the glass in 12 of 16 contests thus far ... The Volunteers lead the SEC in total rebounds per game (42.0) and offensive rebounds per game (15.8) ... 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 (9.0 rpg), Brian Williams ranks 13th (6.6 rpg) and Tyler Smith ranks 18th (5.8 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 16 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.