UT-Gonzaga Clash in First of Two Meetings

• In its last game, Tennessee defeated Georgetown 90-78 in Game Six of the Old Spice Classic in Orlando, Fla. The Vols had at least four players score in double figures for the fifth straight game.
• Tennessee's 90 points Friday were the most ever scored against a John Thompson III-coached Georgetown squad. It was the third time the Vols scored at least 90 points this season.
• UT head coach Bruce Pearl is just one win shy of logging his 400th career victory. Pearl was the second-fastest to reach 300 wins among active head coaches (382), trailing only current UNC head coach Roy Williams (370 games).
• Bruce Pearl now owns a 5-0 record as a collegiate head coach at The Milk House. He led Southern Indiana to a 3-0 record and the championship at the 1997 Disney Division II Tip-Off Classic.
• Tennessee owns a 5-3 all-time record against current members of the West Coast Conference, including a 1-0 mark during the Bruce Pearl era (win over Gonzaga last season).
• The Vols own a 4-1 record in the state of Florida during the Bruce Pearl era.
• 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 17-8 against ranked teams while at Tennessee.
• The Vols have made at least one 3-pointer in 360 consecutive games.
• Under Bruce Pearl, UT is 75-6 when leading or tied with five minutes left in the game.
• UT is 53-5 when scoring 80 or more points under the direction of Bruce Pearl.
• Tennessee has an all-time record of 1,427-908-2 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.

NBA Bloodlines

Sunday's Tennessee-Gonzaga matchup features an underclassman starter on each team whose father played in the NBA ... UT's Renaldo Woolridge (1981-94) is the son of Orlando Woolridge ... Gonzaga newcomer Austin Daye is the son of Darren Daye (1983-88).

The Gonzaga Series

Tennessee won its only previous meeting with Gonzaga, posting an 82-72 victory at the "Battle in Seattle" at KeyArena in Seattle, Wash., last season (12/29/07) ... The Vols, who led 36-31 at the half, started the second half on an 8-2 run to stretch their lead to 11 points ... Chris Lofton made back-to-back 3-pointers to give Tennessee its biggest lead at 64-46 ... The Zags trimmed UT's lead to 74-64 with 3:16 left in the game on a Jeremy Pargo jumper, his only field goal of the game ... Matt Bouldin drilled a 3- pointer with 1:15 remaining to cut the lead to five points (76-71) but the Vols withstood the rally ... J.P. Prince was fouled by Bouldin on UT's next possession ... After making the first attempt, Prince missed the second but the Vols kept possession when Wayne Chism tipped the rebound out to Jordan Howell ... Prince made two more free throws to give UT a 79-71 lead with 40 seconds left ... JaJuan Smith led six Vols in double figures with 18 points ... Tyler Smith finished with 11 points, 11 rebounds and six assists without a turnover ... Tennessee shot 51.5 percent in the second half and finished the game shooting 46.3 percent from the field ... UT had 10 steals off 18 Gonzaga turnovers ... The Vols had 28 points off turnovers ... Bouldin led the Zags with a game-high 21 points.

Noting Gonzaga

Riding 10 straight NCAA Tournament appearances, Gonzaga (4-0) under head coach Mark Few is ranked ninth by the AP and 10th in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' poll ... The Bulldogs' run to the finals of the Old Spice Classic has included an 83-71 win over Oklahoma State on Thursday and an 81-59 triumph over Maryland on Friday ... Senior Josh Heytvelt is averaging a team-high 15 pppg on 63.2 percent shooting and is one of four Zags who stand 6-11 or taller ... Gonzaga enjoys a +24.8 scoring margin and a +11.6 rebounding margin while blocking 6.5 shots per game ... Sophomore forward Austin Daye leads the Zags with 9.0 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game while also averaging 14.5 points ... Point guard Jeremy Pargo is the returning WCC Player of the Year and joins Vols forward Tyler Smith on this year's John R. Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 list ... Senior guard Matt Bouldin was an All-WCC selection last season and is one of four Bulldogs averaging double digits in scoring (10.0 ppg) ... Gonzaga shoots 48.0 percent from the floor, 31.2 percent from 3-point range and 65.0 percent from the free-throw line ... Sunday's Old Spice Classic championship game marks the first of two regular-season meetings between Tennessee and Gonzaga this season ... The Zags travel to Rocky Top on Jan. 7 (9 p.m. ET, ESPN) ... The January clash will be the third between the teams since December of 2007; the programs had never met prior to last season ... Mark Few (.809) and Bruce Pearl (.787) are the second- and third-winningest active Division I head coaches, respectively.

Negedu Efficient on the Glass

Tennessee true freshman Emmanuel Negedu has been an extremely efficient rebounder off the bench this season ... The Nigerian forward has played only 60 minutes through five games (one-third of which came Friday against Georgetown) but he has pulled down 22 rebounds ... Negedu is averaging approximately one rebound every 2.5 minutes ... His 4.4 rpg ranks fourth on the team, while his 12.0 minutes played per game ranks 10th.

Pearl Closing in on 400th Career Win

Bruce Pearl has 507 games of collegiate head coaching experience under his belt, and he is just one win shy of logging his 400th career victory ... As long as the Volunteers win one game before playing in 14 more, Pearl is assured of becoming the sixth-fastest coach ever to reach the 400-win milestone ... That would place him ahead of legendary coaches such as Phog Allen, Jim Boeheim, Dean Smith and Lou Carnesecca just to name a few.

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

The Vols made history Nov. 15 in their season-opening rout of Chattanooga by dishing out a school record 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 in this season's record-breaking performance with a game-high 11 assists (against only one turnover) in his official Tennessee debut ... Forward Tyler Smith added seven assists apiece, and guard J.P. Prince logged five ... Nine of the 11 Vols who played against the Mocs recorded at least one assist ... It tied for the 15th-highest single-game assist total in SEC history and was the most by an SEC team since 2006.

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).