UT Seeks Record 34th Consecutive Home Victory

• 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 Chattanooga 114-75 in Knoxville. The Vols set a school-record with 32 assists and had six players score in double figures (including two players with double-doubles).
• UT's 114 points Saturday tied for the seventh-highest single-game scoring output in program history.
• After scoring 17 points in 19 minutes of action during the Chattanooga game, UT freshman guard Scotty Hopson was named the SEC Freshman of the Week. Hopson was 7-of-11 from the floor in the win and also recorded three rebounds, one steal and one block.
• A win Tuesday against UT Martin would give Tennessee its 34th straight home victory; that would set the record for longest home win streak in program history. The Vols are riding a streak of 33 straight home wins, which ties the previous school-record streak that ran from Jan. 3, 1966, to Feb. 3, 1968, under legendary head coach Ray Mears. See note on Page 3 for more.
• After suffering a preseason shoulder injury and sitting out UT's two exhibition wins, junior guard J.P. Prince returned to action in the opener vs. Chattanooga. Prince scored 14 points with five assists.
• The Vols return a total of six letterwinners, including two starters, from last year's squad that posted a 31-5 overall record and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
• UT newcomers include four true freshmen, one junior-college transfer and a redshirt freshman.
• A panel of SEC and national media tabbed the Vols as the preseason favorite to win the Southeastern Conference championship this season. Tyler Smith was named the preseason SEC Player of the Year by the panel and also was a first-team All-SEC selection by the league's coaches.

Tennessee Trends

• Tennessee is 46-2 at Thompson-Boling Arena since the start of the 2005-06 season.
• UT has a 33-game homecourt winning streak. The Vols' last home loss was a 78-80 decision to Kentucky in the final home game of the 2005-06 season.
• The Vols are 24-0 in non-conference home games under Bruce Pearl.
• Bruce Pearl is 16-8 against ranked teams while at Tennessee.
• The Vols have made at least one 3-pointer in 356 consecutive games.
• Under Bruce Pearl, UT is 71-6 when leading or tied with five minutes left in the game.
• UT is 51-5 when scoring 80 or more points under the direction of Bruce Pearl.
• Tennessee has an all-time record of 1,423-908-2 in 100 seasons of basketball.
• UT's 634 regular-season SEC victories rank third all-time in the SEC. Only Kentucky and Alabama have won more league games.
• Tennessee is 246-86 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 season. The Vols turned the trick for the fifth time in 2007-08.

The UT-Martin Series

The Vols have faced the Skyhawks just twice previously on the hardwood, with both contests taking place at Thompson-Boling Arena and the Big Orange holding a 2-0 advantage in the series ... Tennessee handed the Skyhawks a 97-80 loss on Nov. 26, 1993, and also beat UTM 77-50 on Dec. 30, 2002 ... In 2002-03, UT Martin has had the misfortune of facing a Tennessee team that featured Ron Slay, who earned second-team All-America acclaim and was named SEC Player of the Year that season ... Slay poured in 21 points vs. the Skyhawks to go along with nine rebounds ... Ed Gray scored 29 points against UT Martin in the 1993-94 meeting; it was Gray's Tennessee debut.

Noting UT-Martin

The Skyhawks are projected by many publications to be the favorites in the Ohio Valley Conference this season, though the league's head coaches and SIDs picked them second ... Head coach Bret Campbell returns four starters and eight lettermen from last season's 17-16 (11-9 OVC) squad ... UT Martin is led by guard Lester Hudson, who is projected as a likely first-round NBA draft pick after this season ... Hudson, a senior and the reigning OVC Player of the Year, and fellow guard Marquis Weddle, a sophomore, give UTM the most feared backcourt in the OVC this season ... Hudson is the nation's secondhighest scorer among returning players, behind Davidson's Stephen Curry ... Hudson averaged 25.7 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 4.5 apg and had 97 steals last season and also recorded the first quadruple-double in NCAA Division I history (25 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 steals against Central Baptist College) ... Freshman guard M.J. Brown earned two Class A Mr. Basketball awards at Tennessee's Union City High School ... The 6-9 tandem of shot-blocker Dominique Mpondo and McNeese State transfer Eric Massey provides some punch in the frontcourt for the Skyhawks ... UTM defeated Maryville University (St. Louis) 121-56 Friday ... Campbell believes his team could surprise people this year: "Whether it's Tennessee or Southern California that are on our schedule, or even if we get into the NCAA Tournament, I think we have upset potential because our guards are so talented and we have enough size to compete outside our league."

Vols Dish Out School-Record 32 Assists in Season-Opening Rout

The Vols made history Saturday in their season-opening rout of Chattanooga by dishing out a schoolrecord 32 assists ... The previous record was 31 assists against Tennessee Tech on Nov. 25, 1988 ... Ironically, that game also was a season-opening rout, as UT pounded the Golden Eagles 118-86 to open coach Don DeVoe's 11th and final season on Rocky Top ... Junior point guard Bobby Maze led the way Saturday with a game-high 10 assists (against only one turnover) in his official Tennessee debut ... J.P. Prince and Tyler Smith added five assists apiece, and center Brian Williams logged four ... Nine of the 11 Vols who played against the Mocs recorded at least one assist.

Vols Tie School Record With 33-Game Home Win Streak

Tennessee's 33-game home winning streak is tied for the longest in school history ... The last team to leave Knoxville with a win was Kentucky after an 80-78 decision on March 1, 2006 ... The Vols were 16-0 at home in both 2006-07 and 2007-08 ... In his fourth season at UT, Bruce Pearl is 46-2 in Thompson- Boling Arena ... Tennessee's 33-game streak is the third-longest active streak in NCAA Division I.

Games - Started - Ended
33 - Jan. 2, 1966 - Feb. 24, 1968
33 - Nov. 10, 2006 - present

Hopson's Debut Nets Him SEC Freshman of the Week Honors

Scotty Hopson's 17-point performance in UT's season-opening win over Chattanooga (11/15/08) earned him SEC Freshman of the Week honors ... In his 19 minutes played, he also logged three rebounds, one block and one steal while going 7-of-11 from the floor (3-of-6 from 3-point range) ... One of his four dunks in the 114-75 rout was featured on ESPN SportsCenter's Top-10 Plays ... Hopson was one of two freshman starters for the Vols in the opener (guard Renaldo Woolridge was the other).

Pearl's Take on the New 3-Point Line

A noteworthy change to the men's college game this season is the moving of the 3-point line from 19'9" to 20'9" ... The desired effect of this change is to extend the game and open up the interior (also making physical interior play more visible to officials) ... UT head coach Bruce Pearl, who voted against the change, said, "I don't know if it's going to open the lane up more. I think it will make zone defenses much more effective. The matchup zone will make a comeback." ... Pearl added that the men's game will see less hedging out to challenge a shooter as a result of the new line ... Tennessee ranked 11th (9.3) and 25th (8.7) among Division I teams the last two seasons, respectively, in 3-pointers made per game.