UT Won Five of Last Seven Versus Rebels

• 2008-09 marks Tennessee's 100th season of varsity basketball. The season-long centennial celebration included the selection of a Tennessee Basketball All-Century Team, which was honored Feb. 14.
• In its last outing, Tennessee defeated Vanderbilt 69-50 Saturday in Knoxville as Tyler Smith scored a career-high 30 points. J.P. Prince turned in an eight-point, 10-rebound, seven-assist performance.
• In UT's last two games, the Vols forced 48 total turnovers and recorded 22 steals. Tennessee surrendered a combined total of just 98 points in those contests, and its margin of victory was 25.0 points.
• In Tennessee's last five games, junior wing J.P. Prince has averaged 10.4 ppg, 5.2 rpg and 6.8 apg. Prince also has averaged 1.2 steals and 1.8 blocks during that span while shooting 61 percent (19-of-31).
• Tennessee is shooting 50.0 percent from the floor as a team in SEC road games. UT's top-four scorers on the road in SEC play (Smith, Chism, Prince, Maze) are all shooting 52 percent or better.
• Tennessee's 43 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.
• In SEC play, Tennessee leads the league in both assists (16.5 apg) and assist-turnover ratio (1.3).
• The UT bench has outscored the opposition's bench 598-331 this season. The Vols' bench has scored more than the opponents' in 22 games, and has done so by at least 17 points in 10 different games.
• Tennessee took some lumps but bolstered its postseason preparation with an unbelievably challenging January schedule. UT's slate last month included games against Kansas (L), Gonzaga (L), Georgia (W), Kentucky (L), South Carolina (W), Vanderbilt (W), Memphis (L), LSU (L) and Florida (W). By the time Feb. 1 rolled around, those opponents had combined to boast a 139-49 (.739) record.
• Tennessee under coach Bruce Pearl owns a 22-6 (.786) record in the month of February.
• UT's strength of schedule is rated second nationally by RPIratings.com and third by TheHoopsReport.com.
• Tennessee's postseason résumé includes four wins over teams currently listed among Sagarin's top 50.

Tennessee Trends

• Tennessee has an all-time record of 1,438-916-2 in 100 seasons of basketball.
• Tennessee's 79.7 points per game rank second the SEC this year (South Carolina averages 80.2 ppg).
Pearl's teams have led their respective league in scoring in 15 of his 16 full seasons as a head coach.
• Since Jan. 17, the Vols have improved their scoring defense by 12.8 ppg (76.3 to 63.5).
• The Vols are 15-1 this season when they shoot a higher percentage than their opponent. UT is shooting .478 in SEC games to lead the league.
• Tennessee is 16-3 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 22 of UT's 24 games this season.
• Wayne Chism is averaging 13.0 ppg (18th in the SEC) and 8.5 rpg (fifth in the SEC) in conference games this season.
• J.P. Prince has 34 assists in UT's last five games He is averaging 4.4 apg in SEC games to rank tied for fourth in the conference.
• Prince is shooting .655 (36-of-55) from the floor in SEC play this season.
• Tyler Smith has scored in double figures 54 times during his UT career (23 of 24 games this season).
• UT owns a 9-1 record when Wayne Chism records a double-double (5-1 this season).
• Bruce Pearl is seven wins shy of logging his 100th victory at Tennessee.
• The Vols are 28-2 in non-conference home games under Bruce Pearl.
• Under Bruce Pearl, UT is 86-8 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.
• Bruce Pearl is 18-10 against ranked teams at UT.
• UT's 641 regular-season SEC victories rank third all-time in the SEC. Only Kentucky and Alabama have won more league games.
• Tennessee is 254-90 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 54-6 at Thompson-Boling Arena since the start of the 2005-06 season.

The Ole Miss Series

Tennessee and Ole Miss will meet for the 103rd time Wednesday ... The Vols hold a 65-37 all-time advantage ... UT won last year's meeting 85-83 in Knoxville on a last-second turnaround jumper in the paint by Tyler Smith ... Tennessee has won 14 of the last 19 meetings dating back to the 1991 season ... When the series is played in Knoxville, the Vols have a 37-10 advantage ... Mississippi is the only SEC opponent against which the Vols have a winning record on its home court ... Tennessee leads the series 24-21 when it is played in Oxford ... Tennessee is 4-6 all-time against the Rebels in the SEC Tournament.

Noting Ole Miss

Ole Miss (13-11, 4-6 SEC) has won three of its last five games ... Despite missing three key backcourt members out with season-ending knee injuries (Chris Warren, Eniel Polynice and Trevor Gaskins), head coach Andy Kennedy's squad sits in fourth place in the SEC Western Division, one spot below where it was predicted to finish in the preseason media poll ... Ole Miss ranks second among SEC teams and 34th in the nation with a 73.9 free-throw percentage ... The Rebels set a school record with a 22-for-22 performance at the line against South Alabama earlier this season ... Junior guard David Huertas leads Ole Miss in scoring with 19.1 ppg, while freshman guard Terrico White (a two-time SEC Freshman of the Week) is second at 11.3 ppg ... In league play, Huertas averages 17.6 ppg and White adds 16.1 ppg ... Ole Miss has a pair of Tennessee natives on this year's roster in White and senior guard Patrick Spach, who both hail from Memphis ... The Rebels' lone 2008-09 signee, Reginald Buckner, is also a Memphis native ... Ole Miss is 10-2 at home this season, including a 3-1 mark in SEC play.

Last Clash With Ole Miss

Tennessee won its fifth consecutive SEC opener by knocking off previously unbeaten Ole Miss 85-83 on Jan. 9, 2008, at Thompson-Boling Arena ... The Vols built a 72-60 lead with 11 minutes remaining but the Rebels used a 23-7 run that put them up 83-79 on an Eniel Polynice jumper with 2:22 left ... A Wayne Chism lay-in and then a Tyler Smith bucket tied the score at 83 with just over a minute remaining ... The Rebels missed a shot in the paint but got several more cracks at it with four offensive rebounds until Smith finally fouled Kenny Williams with 31 seconds left ... A sold out crowd of 21,846 raised the pressure as Williams missed the front end of the one-and-one ... JaJuan Smith grabbed the rebound, and the Vols got one last shot ... Tyler Smith got the ball on the wing and drove in for the game-winning lay-up with 4.2 seconds left ... Ole Miss was not able to get a good shot off as the final horn sounded, ending its 13-game win streak ... Tyler Smith finished the game with 21 points, six rebounds and five assists, while JaJuan Smith also had 21 points on five 3-pointers to go with six rebounds ... Chris Lofton added 10 points ... UT had 24 assists on 32 field goals ... Ole Miss freshman point guard Chris Warren led all scorers with 24 points ... The Rebels won the battle of the boards 44-39 and had 20 offensive rebounds that led to 23 second-chance points.

Tennessee - Ole Miss Connection

J.P. Prince's father, John, served as an assistant coach under Bob Weltlich at Ole Miss from 1980-82 ... During Prince's time in Oxford, the Rebels won an SEC Tournament title and made appearances in both the NCAA Tournament and the NIT.

Juniors Stepping It Up In SEC Road Games

UT juniors Wayne Chism, Bobby Maze, J.P Prince and Tyler Smith all have stepped up their play in UT's four SEC road games ... Chism is averaging 16.3 ppg in those games (up from his season average of 13.0 ppg) and is shooting 55.8 percent from the field (up from 48.0 percent overall) ... Chism led the Vols in scoring at Vanderbilt (20) and Arkansas (22) ... Maze has upped his scoring in SEC road games to 9.8 ppg (8.8 overall average) and hit the game-winning shot at Arkansas ... Maze is shooting 50 percent from 3-point range (6-of-12) in the four games ... Prince's scoring has risen 4.3 ppg in SEC road games, and he is shooting 76 percent from the field (19-of-25) ... Prince also leads the team in free-throw attempts (25) and makes (19) in SEC road games and is averaging 4.5 apg while maintaining a 3.6 assist/turnover ratio ... Smith leads the team with 19.8 ppg on the road (17.7 season average) and is shooting almost 53 percent from the field (29-of-55) (season average of 47 percent) ... Smith also hit 81 percent of his free throws (17-of-21) in the four road games ... Overall, the junior quartet is combining to average almost 11 more ppg in SEC road games (60.2 in SEC road games; 49.5 in all games) and is shooting almost 10 percentage points better (57.7 percent in SEC road games; 48.2 percent in all games).

Defensive Turnaround

After allowing an average of 76.3 ppg through Jan. 17, UT has allowed an average of 63.5 ppg in its last eight contests ... On Jan. 24, UT held Memphis to its lowest scoring output of the season (54) ... Jan. 31 against Florida, UT held the Gators to their second-lowest scoring output of the season (63) and their fourth-lowest shooting percentage of the season (.423) ... More recently, the Vols forced 25 turnovers against Georgia on Feb. 11 before forcing 23 turnovers on a season-high 15 steals against Vanderbilt last Saturday.

Vols Valuing The Basketball

Tennessee has had 15 or less turnovers in each of it's last eight games and has not had a negative assist-to-turnover ratio during that span ... UT's opponents, meanwhile, have had a negative assist-to-turnover ratio in six of the last eight games ... On the season, Tennessee is 13-1 when its opponent has a negative assist-to-turnover ratio.

Prince A Royal Pain For Recent UT Opponents

Junior wing J.P. Prince has bean playing some of the best basketball of his career as of late ... Injury-plagued early on this season, Prince has been the picture of productivity recently:

• Florida, Jan. 31 - Career-high 34 minutes played, and a UT career-high nine assists.
• at Auburn, Feb. 7 - Season-high 18 points, and 8-of-9 at the free-throw-line (both career-highs).
• Georgia, Feb. 11 - Career-high nine rebounds, and tied his UT career-high with three steals.
• Vanderbilt, Feb. 14 - Set a new career-high with 10 rebounds, dished out seven assists and tied career-highs for steals (3) and blocks (3).