La.-Lafayette Game Preview

Tennessee		Ht.	Wt.	Yr.	PPG	RPG	APG
F	1 Tyler Smith	6-7	215	So.	12.1	4.9	3.0
F	4 Wayne Chism	6-9	242	So.	9.4	5.9	0.9
G	5 Chris Lofton	6-2	200	Sr.	15.3	3.3	2.7
G	2 JaJuan Smith	6-2	195	Sr.	14.7	1.6	2.3
G	15 Jordan Howell	6-2	200	So.	5.9	1.3	3.3
Louisiana-Lafayette		Ht.	Wt.	Yr.	PPG	RPG	APG
F	23 La???Ryan Gary	6-7	207	Sr.	5.8	2.0	0.3
F	3 Elijah Millsap	6-6	211	So.	17.8	7.8	1.8
C	32 Abray Milson	6-9	240	Sr.	3.0	3.8	0.5
G	21 David Dees	6-5	209	Sr.	10.0	5.5	2.0
G	12 Willie Lago	6-1	182	So.	3.0	0.8	2.5

Vols Aim For Fourth Straight Win Over Cajuns

Tennessee will conclude the busiest month of November in school history when the Vols host Louisiana-Lafayette at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 30, at Thompson-Boling Arena.
The game against the Ragin??? Cajuns will be Tennessee???s eighth contest in the month of November, breaking the previous record of seven games played set last season.
After the conclusion of the Louisiana-Lafayette game, the Vols will play just one home game in the following 39 days. Four of Tennessee???s five games in the month of December will be away from Thompson-Boling Arena.
Tennessee bounced back from its first loss of the season to take a 93-59 win over North Carolina A&T Tuesday night in Knoxville. Chris Lofton led a UT bomb squad with 24 points on eight 3-pointers. As a team the Vols broke the previous school record of 37 3-point attempts by firing up 50 shots from beyond the arc against the Aggies.
Last week the Vols tied the school record for 3-pointers made with 16 against Middle Tennessee (11/20/07) and then again against Texas (11/24/07).
Chris Lofton is leading a balanced UT scoring attack with 15.3 points and is averaging 3.29 triples per game. Backcourt mate JaJuan Smith is second on the squad with 14.7 points and 2.71 treys per game. Tyler Smith adds 12.1 points and more than half (18 of 34) of his 4.9 rebounds have come at the offensive end of the floor. Ramar Smith contributes 10.3 points while Wayne Chism has 9.4 points and 5.9 rebounds.
Like this season, last year the Ragin??? Cajuns entered their game against Tennessee with a 1-3 record. The Vols held a two-point lead with less than five minutes to go before rallying for a 77-67 win Nov. 27, 2006, at the Cajundome in Lafayette, La. The 2007 Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year Elijah Millsap, who did not play against the Vols last season, leads ULL with 17.8 points and 7.8 rebounds per game.

Tennessee Trends

Tyler Smith is averaging 14.0 points, 10.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game over his last two games. 12 of his rebounds have come at the offensive end of the floor and he is shooting 52.4 percent (11-of-21) from the field during the two games.
Lofton has made 336 career 3-pointers. He is 10 shy of tying Allan Houston???s (1989-93) school record of 346 career triples.
After opening the season by making just 3-of-17 (17.6 percent) of his 3-pointers, Lofton has made 43.5 percent (20-of-46) over the last four games.
Lofton moved into the top 10 of UT???s all-time scorers, passing Brandon Wharton (1,651 from 1995-99) for 10th place with 1,679 career points. He needs five points to pass Carl Widseth (1,683) for ninth on the list.
Tennessee has forced an average of 24.1 turnovers off 12.7 steals per game this year.
The Vols are averaging 21.1 assists per game.
JaJuan Smith is leading the Vols with an assist turnover ratio of 2.67 (16 assists, 6 turnovers) while Josh Tabb owns a 2.57 ratio (18 assists, 7 turnovers) and Chris Lofton has a 2.38 ratio (19 assists, 8 turnovers)
UT???s 69-point (109-40) win over Middle Tennessee is the second-largest margin of victory in school history.
The Vols tied a school record with 16 3-pointers against Middle Tennessee (11/20/07). The 30 assists were one dime shy of tying a school record.
11 players are averaging at least 10 minutes of action. No one averages more than 26 minutes.
The 21,817 fans for Tennessee???s game against Temple (11/9/07) was the largest crowd for a home opener in the nation this year.
Chris Lofton and JaJuan Smith were the highest scoring duo in the Southeastern Conference in 2006-07. Lofton averaged 20.8 points while Smith added 15.2 points.
Tennessee is 34-2 at Thompson-Boling Arena since the start of the 2005-06 season.
UT has a 21-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 20-0 in non-conference home games under Bruce Pearl.
Bruce Pearl is 9-6 against ranked teams while at Tennessee.
The Vols have made at least one 3-pointer in 326 consecutive games.
Under Bruce Pearl, UT is 46-4 when leading or tied with five minutes left in the game.
UT is 34-4 when scoring 80 or more points under the direction of Bruce Pearl.
UT is 30-14 (.682) when playing before crowds of 20,000 or larger at Thompson-Boling Arena. In 2006-07 the Vols were 6-0 playing in front of 20,000 fans at home.
Tennessee has an all-time record of 1,397-904-2 in its 99th season of basketball.
UT???s 620 regular season SEC victories rank third all-time in the SEC. Only Kentucky and Alabama have won more league games.
Tennessee is 234-86 in its 21st season in Thompson-Boling Arena. The Vols have winning home records in 18 of their 20 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 fourth time in 2006-07.

December On The Road

After playing six of their first eight games at home, Tennessee is about to begin a 39-day period (Dec. 1 through Jan. 8) where they only play one game at Thompson-Boling Arena ... UT???s only home game during the stretch is a Dec. 19 contest against UNC Asheville ... Tennessee will travel to play games in Chattanooga (UT-Chattanooga Dec. 4), Nashville (Western Kentucky Dec. 15), Cincinnati (Xavier Dec. 22) and Seattle (Gonzaga Dec. 29) before opening Southeastern Conference play Jan. 9 against Ole Miss in Knoxville.

Vols Tie 3-Point Record Twice In A Week

Tennessee never made more than 15 triples in a game from when the 3-point shot was introduced to college basketball for the 1986-87 season through the conclusion of the 2004-05 campaign ... In barely more than two seasons under Bruce Pearl the Vols have made 16 3-pointers in a game four times, including doing it twice in less than a week ... Against Middle Tennessee (11/20/27) the Vols tied the school record by making 16-of-28 3-pointers and then against Texas (11/24/07) they made 16-of-33 from behind the arc ... Entering the 2007-08 campaign UT had only made 16 3-pointers in a game two times (Feb. 15, 2006 against Auburn and March 22, 2007 against Ohio State).

Looking At Louisiana-Lafayette

The Ragin??? Cajuns fell to 1-3 on the season with a 72-78 overtime loss to UAB Tuesday night in Lafayette, La. ... The loss was the third in a row for the Cajuns ... Each of the losses have been by nine points or less ... Reigning Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year and third team preseason all-conference selection Elijah Millsap leads the Cajuns with 17.8 points, including a 26-point effort against the Blazers ... The 6-foot-6 sophomore, who is the younger brother of Utah Jazz star Paul Millsap, also leads ULL with 7.8 rebounds per game ... Senior guard David Dees, who was a second team preseason All-Sun Belt Conference selection, is second on the team with 10.0 points and 5.5 rebounds per game ... Louisiana has held three of its four opponents this season to under 50 percent shooting ... 13 players on the ULL roster are from the state of Louisiana ... The Ragin??? Cajuns are one of the least experienced teams in the nation with eight players having earned just one letter each on the roster ... The Cajuns were picked to finished fifth in the Sun Belt???s West Division ... Robert Lee is 26-43 in his fourth season at the helm of the Louisiana-Lafayette program and as a head coach.

It Doesn???t Rain 3s, It Pours Them

The 3-point shot has been a key part of Tennessee???s repertoire this season ... The Vols are averaging 28.4 3-point shots per game this season ... 43.7 percent (199 of 455) of the Vols??? shots have been from 3-point range ... UT is averaging 10.0 3-pointers made per game on the year ... 10 different Vols have made a 3-pointer this season.

??? UT shattered the previous school record of 37 3-point attempts by firing up 50 shots from beyond the arc against North Carolina A&T (11/27/07). That is the third-highest total in SEC history.

??? Chris Lofton broke his own single-game record for attempts by going 8-of-20 from 3-point range against North Carolina A&T (11/27/07). It tied for the third-highest number of attempts in SEC history.

??? The Vols have tied the school record for 3-pointers made in a game with 16 two times this season. They performed the feat less than a week between games, doing it against Middle Tennessee State (11/20/07) and then against Texas (11/24/07).

??? Lofton???s eight 3-pointers against North Carolina A&T are tied for second-most in school history. Lofton already holds the school record with nine triples in a game against Georgia his sophomore season.

??? JaJuan Smith???s seven 3-pointers against Middle Tennessee (11/20/07) rank in a tie for fourth on UT???s single-game lists.

Smith & Company

Three of Tennessee???s top four scorers are named Smith ... No member of the trio is related to another ... Senior guard JaJuan Smith is second on the team with 14.7 points per game and is shooting 35.8 percent (19-of-53) from 3-point range ... Tyler Smith, a 6-7 sophomore forward, is third on the team with 12.1 points and is second on the team lead with 21 assists ... Ramar Smith, a 6-2 sophomore point guard, is fourth on the squad with 10.3 points per game.

University of Tennessee Athletics