UT has won 5 of last 6 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 dropped just its second non-conference home game of the Bruce Pearl era (second setback in 30 games), as Memphis posted a 54-52 win Saturday at Thompson-Boling Arena.
• The Vols' have held their last two opponents to just 58.5 ppg. LSU averages 75.7 ppg.
• Tennessee's 39 Southeastern Conference wins over the past four seasons are the most among all league teams. After claiming the outright SEC title last season, the Vols are picked to win the league this year.
• Tyler Smith is the only player in the SEC to be ranked among the top 20 in the conference in scoring (seventh; 17.7 ppg), rebounding (18th; 6.1 rpg) and assists (seventh; 3.8 apg). Smith's 20.3 ppg in SEC games rank second in the conference.
• The Tennessee bench has outscored the opposition's bench 478-285 (26.6 to 15.8 ppg) this season.
Only twice has the Vols' bench been outscored by the opponent's non-starters.
• In the most recent national NCAA statistics (through the games of Jan. 25), the Volunteers were ranked 11th nationally in scoring, 18th in assists per game and 30th in rebounding margin.
• Tennessee opponents during the month of January include Kansas (L), Gonzaga (L), Georgia (W), Kentucky (L), South Carolina (W), Vanderbilt (W), Memphis (L), LSU and Florida. Through Jan. 25, those opponents combined to boast a 127-43 (.747) record.
• UT's overall strength of schedule is rated second nationally by KenPom.com.
• Tennessee plays six nationally televised games 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).

Tennessee Trends

• Tennessee's 81.2 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 .454 and score an average of 82.8 pgg at home this season. Away from Thompson-Boling Arena, UT shoots .451 and averages 79.7 ppg.
• Tennessee is 12-1 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 16 of UT's 18 games this season.
• Tennessee is 51-5 at Thompson-Boling Arena since the start of the 2005-06 season.
• The Vols are 28-2 in non-conference home games under Bruce Pearl.
• Bruce Pearl is 18-10 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 1,434-914-2 in 100 seasons of basketball.
• Tyler Smith has scored in double figures 49 times during his UT career (all 18 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 251-89 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 LSU Series

Tennessee leads the all-time series 56-42 ... UT is 22-24 all-time when playing LSU in Baton Rouge ... The Vols own a 27-15 advantage when playing in Knoxville ... Last year Tennessee defeated the Tigers 47-45 in Baton Rouge ... Tennessee has won 11 of the last 15 games in the series ... The series dates to the 1933 season when the two teams met in the second round of the SEC Tournament in Atlanta ... UT and LSU have played each other nine times in the SEC Tournament, with the Vols winning six of those meetings.

Noting LSU

Like Tennessee, LSU (15-4, 3-1 SEC) is celebrating its 100th season of varsity basketball ... The Tigers mark their centennial season under the guidance of first-year head coach Trent Johnson ... Johnson previously coached at Nevada (five seasons) and Stanford (four seasons) before his arrival in Baton Rouge ... LSU is 1-3 away from home and 1-2 in true road games this season ... LSU has used the same starting lineup in its first 19 games this season (compared to UT, which has used eight different starting-five combinations through 18 games) ... Marcus Thornton averages a team-best 18.9 ppg to lead three Tigers who average double-digit scoring ... Chris Johson (7.6 rpg) and Tasmin Mitchell (6.3 rpg) rank first and second, respectively, on the team in rebounding ... Garrett Temple paces the team in both assists per game (4.2) and steals per game (2.3) ... The Tigers average 75.7 points per game and enjoy a scoring margin of +13.6 ppg ... LSU ranks third in the SEC with 39.7 rebounds per game and second in the conference in scoring defense (62.1 ppg allowed) ... The Tigers have a +2.3 turnover margin (12.1 to 14.3) and average 8.4 steals per games ... LSU was picked by the SEC head coaches to finish second in the Western Division this season.

Last Clash With LSU

Tennessee didn't play its best game but made its best plays when it mattered most to squeeze out a 47-45 win at LSU on Feb. 9, 2008 ... UT's 47 points were a season low and the fewest in a win since a 47-46 victory at Kentucky Jan. 12, 1999 ... A 3-pointer by Garrett Temple just before halftime cut Tennessee's lead to 27-24 ... Three layups by Wayne Chism and two more from Tyler Smith helped the Vols build a 37-25 lead to open the second half but UT would only score 10 more points over the final 16 minutes of the game ... LSU's Chris Johnson converted a traditional three-point play with 1:15 left to tie the score 45-45 ... After Chris Lofton missed a 3-pointer at the other end, LSU had a chance to take the lead ... That is when Bruce Pearl substituted JaJuan Smith, who had been fighting a 101-degree temperature earlier in the day, to help with defense ... Shortly after the Tigers inbounded the ball, JaJuan Smith stripped Marcus Thornton and drove the length of the court for the game-winning layup with 11 second left ... LSU had one last chance but Johnson's dunk was ruled to have happened after the clock had expired ... Lofton led the Vols with 15 points on 3-of-5 3-point shooting ... Tyler Smith added 12 points ... JaJuan Smith scored his only points on that last play ... Johnson led the Tigers with 17 points ... Tennessee shot just 31.7 percent from the field, 26.3 percent from 3-point range and 26.7 percent (4-of-15) from the free throw line ... Butch Pierre was serving as the interim head coach for the Tigers after the school had fired John Brady barely 24 hours earlier.

Vols Homecourt Boasts Four Of NCAA's 20 Largest Crowds This Season

Tennessee has played just nine home games this season, and four of those crowds have been among the 20 largest crowds in the country ... UT is one of just two schools with four crowds of more than 21,800.

Smith On Pace to Rank High on UT's Single-Season Free-Throw Attempts List

Tyler Smith has shot a team-high 128 free throws this season, and his 7.1 attempts per game have him on track to post the eighth-highest single-season freethrow attempts total in UT history (213; and that's excluding any possible postseason games) ... Even if the Vols were to play just four postseason games, at his current pace, Smith would attempt the third-highest number of free throws in a season in program history (242).

Plenty Of Points To Go Around

Tennessee is the only team in the Southeastern Conference to boast five players who average at least 9.0 ppg ... No other conference team has more than four players averaging 9.0 ppg ... 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 6.4 per game and winning the battle of the glass in 12 of 18 contests thus far ... The Volunteers lead the SEC in total rebounds per game (41.5) and offensive rebounds per game (15.3) ... 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 fifth (8.7 rpg), Brian Williams ranks 11th (6.5 rpg) and Tyler Smith ranks 18th (6.1 rpg).

Defense Much-Improved In Last Two Games

After allowing their opponents to score an average of 76.3 ppg through the first 16 games of the season, the Vols have held their last two foes (Vanderbilt and Memphis) to just 58.5 ppg ... Memphis' 54 points last Saturday marked the lowest scoring output for a UT opponent since the Vols held LSU to 45 points in Baton Rouge last season (2/9/08).

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 18 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.