UT owns a 6-2 mark against Tigers in Knoxville

• 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 outing, Tennessee improved to 2-0 in SEC road games with a 76-63 win at Vanderbilt Tuesday. Wayne Chism scored a game-high 20 points off the bench in the victory.
• Tennessee under Bruce Pearl owns a 2-1 record against Memphis and a 12-1 mark in against in-state, non-conference opponents. The Vols are 28-1 in non-conference home games under Pearl's direction.
• This is one of six nationally televised games for the Vols this month. Only two teams in the country will appear on national TV more during the month of January (Kansas and Notre Dame; seven each).
• Tyler Smith is the only player in the SEC to be ranked among the top 20 in the conference in scoring (sixth; 17.9 ppg), rebounding (18th; 5.9 rpg) and assists (seventh; 3.9 apg).
• The Tennessee bench has outscored the opposition's bench 469-280 (27.6 to 16.5 ppg) this season. Only twice 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 national NCAA statistics (through the games of Jan. 18), the Volunteers were ranked seventh nationally in scoring, 17th in assists per game and 20th in rebounding margin.
• 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 (W), Memphis, LSU and Florida. Through Jan. 21, those opponents combined to boast a 121-40 (.752) record.
• UT's overall strength of schedule is rated second nationally by KenPom.com.

Tennessee Trends

• Tennessee's 82.9 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 .451 and averages 79.7 ppg.
• Tennessee is 12-0 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 17 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 82-7 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 1,434-913-2 in 100 seasons of basketball.
• Tyler Smith has scored in double figures 48 times during his UT career (all 17 games this season).
• UT owns an 8-1 record when Wayne Chism records a double-double (4-1 this season).
• UT's 637 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 Memphis Series

Tennessee leads the all-time series with Memphis 12-7, dating to 1969 ... Tennessee has won seven of the last nine meetings, including a 66-62 win in Memphis last season as the second-ranked Vols toppled the top-ranked Tigers ... That game drew 5.28 million viewers to ESPN's telecast, making it the most-watched men's college basketball game in ESPN history to that point ... UT's triumph in that clash led to the program's first-ever No. 1 national ranking ... The Vols are 6-2 against the Tigers when playing in Knoxville ... The series is deadlocked at 5-5 when it is played in Memphis ... Fourteen of the 19 all-time meetings between the two schools have been decided by 10 points or less ... Tennessee is 44-35 all-time against current members of Conference USA, including a 2-1 mark under head coach Bruce Pearl.

Noting Memphis

Memphis (15-3, 5-0 C-USA) is currently riding a nine-game win streak and is 2-1 in true road games ... John Calipari is in his ninth season at the helm of the Tigers program and owns a 234-68 record at the school ... He owns an overall collegiate record of 427-139 (.754) ... Memphis is outscoring its opponents by an average of 16.2 ppg, and its +4.7 rebounding margin ranks third in Conference USA ... The Tigers are holding opponents to 37.1 percent shooting from the floor ... During the Calipari era, Memphis has a 61-28 record in road games (not including neutral sites) for a 68.5 winning percentage ... The Tigers have won their last 30 January games, with their last January setback coming against Texas on Jan. 2, 2006 (69-58) ... Point guard Tyreke Evans leads the Tigers in scoring with 16.6 ppg, followed by Robert Dozier (11.8 ppg) and Shawn Taggart (10.3 ppg) ... Taggart's 7.4 rpg lead the team, while Antonio Anderson paces the squad with 4.3 apg.

Last Clash With Memphis

In just the 38th meeting between the top two teams in the Associated Press poll, second-ranked Tennessee upset the top-ranked Memphis Tigers 66-62 Saturday, Feb. 23, at the FedExForum in Memphis ... It was just the fifth time that the top two ranked teams hailed from the same state ... Tennessee's win ended the Tigers' 26-game winning streak and 45-game regular season win streak ... It also ended the nation's longest homecourt winning streak at 47 ... A Tyler Smith layup with 2:12 left brought the Vols to within 60-61 and then his turnaround jumper in the paint with 28 seconds remaining gave UT a 62-61 lead ... Antonio Anderson missed a shot at the other end and the Tigers were forced to foul with 8.8 seconds left when Memphis native J.P. Prince grabbed the rebound ... A 47 percent free throw shooter on the season, Prince sank both free throws to give UT a 64-61 advantage ... The Vols fouled Derrick Rose at midcourt to send him to the line for a 1-and-1 ... The freshman made the first before intentionally missing the second ... Chris Lofton was fouled after grabbing the rebound and made both of his free throws to seal the win ... Tyler Smith led the Vols with 16 points to go with six rebounds and three assists ... Prince scored all of his 13 points in the second half and added eight rebounds ... Wayne Chism threw in 13 points and seven boards ... JaJuan Smith tied a career-high with 10 rebounds ... Rose led the Tigers with a game-high 23 points ... UT won the battle of the boards 50-34 ... Memphis connected on five of its first eight 3-pointers but made just 3-of-19 after that ... Tickets were selling on the Internet for as much as $5,000.

Tennessee - Memphis Connections

Vols junior J.P. Prince is a native of Memphis where he attended White Station High School ... His father, John, served as an assistant coach at Memphis under Larry Finch in the mid-1990s ... Tennessee junior big man Wayne Chism and Memphis guard Willie Kemp were high school teammates at Bolivar Central High School, where they combined to lead the Tigers to the 2005 Class AA state title.

Smith Stroking It From The Free-Throw Line

Tyler Smith has been on target from the free-throw line in Tennessee's last five games ... During that span, Smith is shooting 81.6 percent from the charity stripe (31 for 36) ... He has shot a team-high 124 free throws this season, and his 7.3 attempts per game have him on track to post the seventh-highest single-season free-throw attempts total in UT history (219; and that's excluding any possible postseason games) ... That would be the most attempts by a Vol since Allan Houston shot 225 free throws in 34 games during the 1991-92 season.

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, MSU, 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 6.8 per game and winning the battle of the glass in 12 of 17 contests thus far ... The Volunteers lead the SEC in total rebounds per game (41.5) and offensive rebounds per game (15.4) ... 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 (8.9 rpg), Brian Williams ranks tied for 13th (6.5 rpg) and Tyler Smith ranks 17th (5.9 rpg).

SEC Holding Its Own

The SEC has won 75.1 percent (127-42) of its nonconference games this season, including 46 of its last 58 ... The SEC also is the only league in which none of its members have a losing record; each of the SEC teams began league play with at least nine wins.

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 17 games ... Head coach Bruce Pearl has used eight different combinations of starters this season ... Freshman forward Emmanuel Negedu is the only scholarship Vol who has yet to start.