UT Seeks Seventh Consecutive Win Over Blue Raiders

• 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 UT Martin 91-64 in Knoxville. The Vols had at least five players score in double figures (including two players with double-doubles) for the second straight game.
• Tuesday's win over UT Martin gave Tennessee its 34th straight home victory, giving Tennessee its longest home win streak in program history. The previous school-record streak of 33 games ran from Jan. 3, 1966, to Feb. 3, 1968, under legendary head coach Ray Mears.
• UT's 114 points in Saturday's opener vs. Chattanoga 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 (11/15), 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.
• Through the games of Tuesday, Nov. 18, Vols point guard Bobby Maze was leading the SEC with 9.0 assists per game. The first-year Vol also leads the team with five steals.
• 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 has had two players record double-doubles in each of its first two games this season.
• Tennessee is 47-2 at Thompson-Boling Arena since the start of the 2005-06 season.
• UT has a 34-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 25-0 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 357 consecutive games.
• Under Bruce Pearl, UT is 72-6 when leading or tied with five minutes left in the game.
• UT is 52-5 when scoring 80 or more points under the direction of Bruce Pearl.
• Tennessee has an all-time record of 1,424-908-2 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 247-86 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 Middle Tennessee Series

The Vols have faced the Blue Raiders seven previous times on the hardwood, with UT holding a 6-1 edge in the series, which dates to 1988 ... Middle Tennessee won the first meeting in the 1988 NIT, downing the Vols 85-80 in Murfreesboro, but the Big Orange have won each of the last six meetings (all in Knoxville) ... Last season, Tennessee posted a 109-40 win, and the Vols under coach Bruce Pearl also dispatched the Blue Raiders 83-52 on Nov. 10, 2006 ... UT has been ranked for four of its seven games with Middle, and three of the seven meetings between the schools have been decided by five points or less.

Noting Middle Tennessee

Middle Tennessee was picked by 11 of 13 Sun Belt head coaches as well as numerous publications to win the Sun Belt Conference championship this season as the Blue Raiders are led by head coach Kermit Davis and conference player of the year candidate Desmond "Boogie" Yates (Jr., 6-7, 225) ... Middle Tennessee returns 91 percent of its scoring, 92 percent of its rebounding and 91 percent of the assists from 2007-08 when the squad won 10 of its final 14 games and reached the SBC championship game before falling to eventual champion and Sweet 16 participant Western Kentucky ... The Blue Raiders return all five starters and their top eight players, including the return of guard Calvin O'Neil who suffered a season-ending injury in the 2007-08 opener against San Jose State ... 6-4 senior guard Demetrius Green finished runner-up to former Vols Chris Lofton for the 2004 Mr. Basketball award in Kentucky ... Coach Davis, a 1982 Mississippi State alum, owns a 102-82 record at Middle and is in his seventh season on the Raider bench ... The Blue Raiders are off to a 2-0 start this season, wins over Trevecca (94-53) and Houston Baptist (80-63) ... Both wins came at the Murphy Center in Murfreesboro ... In the win over Trevecca, Middle Tennessee was 12-of-18 from 3-point range, setting a single-game school record for 3-point field goal percentage (.667).

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 Riding School-Record 34-Game Home Win Streak

Tennessee's 34-game home winning streak is 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 47-2 in Thompson-Boling Arena ... Tennessee's 34-game streak is the third-longest active streak in NCAA Division I.

Vols Getting Point Production Off The Bench

Through UT's first two games, three of the Vols' top five scorers are non-starters ... Redshirt freshman guard Cameron Tatum ranks second on the team with 14.5 ppg, followed by backup center Brian Williams at 13.5 ppg ... Fifth-leading scorer J.P. Prince is averaging 12.5 ppg off the UT bench ... UT got 44 points from its bench against Chattanooga and 47 points from the bench against UT Martin.

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).