UTC Game Preview

Tennessee		Ht.	Wt.	Yr.	PPG	RPG	APG
F	1 Tyler Smith	6-7	215	So.	13.4	5.1	3.6
F	4 Wayne Chism	6-9	242	So.	9.4	5.8	0.8
G	5 Chris Lofton	6-2	200	Sr.	14.3	3.3	2.9
G	2 JaJuan Smith	6-2	195	Sr.	14.8	1.8	2.5
G	15 Jordan Howell	6-2	200	So.	7.3	1.4	3.1
UT-Chattanooga		Ht.	Wt.	Yr.	PPG	RPG	APG
F	1 Marcus Watts	6-7	215	Sr.	6.3	4.3	2.4
F	34 Nicchaeus Doaks	6-7	235	Jr.	14.0	6.4	1.4
F	44 Khalil Hartwell	6-8	225	Jr.	4.9	6.3	1.4
G	0 Stephen McDowell	5-11	181	Jr.	18.3	1.9	1.1
G	11 Kevin Bridgewaters	5-9	175	Sr.	9.2	2.2	3.3

Vols Face Mocs in First True Road Game

Tennessee will face its first true road test of the season when the Volunteers travel south down I-75 to face the UT-Chattanooga Mocs. Tip off is scheduled for 7 p.m. (EST) Tuesday, Dec. 4, at McKenzie Arena.
The Vols are making their first appearance in McKenzie Arena in a quarter century. Almost 25 years ago to the day, Tennessee ruined the arena???s opening night with a 55-49 victory over UTC on Dec. 1, 1982.
The Vols lead the all-time series with UT-Chattanooga 25-9. This is the first meeting between the schools since UTC broke Tennessee???s 23-game winning streak in the series with a 69-66 win Dec. 5, 2004, in Knoxville.
Four of Tennessee???s five games in the month of December will be away from Thompson-Boling Arena. In fact, the Vols are in the midst of a 39-day period in which they play just one game in Knoxville.
Tyler Smith nearly turned in the first triple-double in school history while leading the Vols to a 98-70 win over Louisiana-Lafayette Friday in Knoxville. Smith led all players with 22 points while dishing out eight assists and gathering seven rebounds in 25 minutes of action. Jordan Howell added a career-high 17 points as Tennessee shot 53.8 percent from the field and 48.0 percent from 3-point range.
JaJuan Smith is closing in on becoming the 40th player in Tennessee history to join the 1,000-point club. The senior guard has scored 983 points in 98 career games entering Tuesday???s contest.
JaJuan Smith is leading a balanced UT scoring attack with 14.8 points per game. The senior guard ranks among the SEC leaders with 2.50 steals per game. Backcourt mate Chris Lofton is second on the squad with 14.3 points and leads the team with 3.00 3-pointers per game. Tyler Smith is leading the Vols with 3.6 assists and is third on the squad with 13.4 points per game. Ramar Smith contributes 10.8 points while Wayne Chism has 9.4 points and a team-best 5.8 rebounds.
Following the UTC game, Tennessee will take an 11-day break for final exams. The Vols will return to action Dec. 15 when they travel to Nashville to meet Western Kentucky in the Sun Belt Classic.

Tennessee Trends

Tyler Smith is averaging 16.7 points, 9.0 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game over his last three games. Thirteen of his rebounds have come at the offensive end of the floor and he is shooting 56.7 percent (17-of-30) from the field during the three games.
Lofton has made 337 career 3-pointers. He is nine 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 42.9 percent (21-of-49) over the last five games.
Lofton???s 1,686 career points rank ninth on UT???s all-time scorers list.
Duke Crews made his first start of the season against Louisiana-Lafayette (11/30/07). UT has used three different starting lineups this season.
Tennessee has forced an average of 23.4 turnovers off 12.5 steals per game this year.
The Vols are averaging 21.6 assists per game.
JaJuan Smith is leading the Vols with an assist turnover ratio of 2.86 (20 assists, 7 turnovers) while Tyler Smith owns a 2.48 ratio (29 assists, 12 turnovers) and Chris Lofton has a 2.30 ratio (23 assists, 10 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 35-2 at Thompson-Boling Arena since the start of the 2005-06 season.
UT has a 22-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 21-0 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 327 consecutive games.
Under Bruce Pearl, UT is 47-4 when leading or tied with five minutes left in the game.
UT is 35-4 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 1,398-904-2 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 235-86 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 UT-Chattanooga

UT-Chattanooga opened Southern Conference action Saturday night with an 87-74 victory against The Citadel in Chattanooga ... The win improved UTC???s record to 4-3 on the season ... Junior guard Stephen McDowell is leading the Mocs with 18.3 points per game ... The 5-foot-11 McDowell shoots an average of 10.1 3-pointers per game and is making 36.6 percent of his attempts ... Nicchaeus Doaks is second on the team with 14.0 points while leading the squad with 6.4 rebounds per game ... Much like UT???s Tyler Smith, UTC???s Verice Cloyd did not have to sit out the typical one-year period after transferring from Alabama ... Cloyd, who was granted a waiver from the NCAA in early November, transferred to UTC so he could be closer to his terminally ill mother ... He played three games last fall for the Crimson Tide before transferring to Chipola JC where he did not play ... UTC has shown some moxie already this season, rallying two times from double-digit second half deficits to garner wins ... The Mocs rallied from a 12-point deficit with less than nine minutes left to take an 85-80 victory over UC-Irvine (11/23/07) ... The Mocs outscored the Anteaters 26-9 down the stretch ... UTC trailed East Tennessee State by 13 at halftime before taking an 82-78 win ... The Mocs own a +5.6 rebounding advantage ... A spectacular pass from Matt Gwynne to Kevin Goffney for a lay up against Southern Illinois was featured as the ESPN SportsCenter Top 10 Play of the Day ... Four of UTC???s first seven games have been away from home ... In a preseason poll of the league???s coaches, UTC was tabbed to finish fourth in the SoCon???s North Division ... Jeff Shulman is 58-45 in his fourth season at the helm of the UTC 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 28.0 3-point shots per game this season ... 43.1 percent (224 of 520) of the Vols??? shots have been from 3-point range ... UT is averaging 10.3 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). It 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.

JaJuan Smith Nearing 1,000 Points

JaJuan Smith needs just 17 points to become the 40th player in Tennessee history to record 1,000 career points ... The Cleveland, Tenn., native has scored 982 points in 98 career games (10.0 ppg) ... Last year he ranked second on the team and ninth in the Southeastern Conference with 15.2 points per game.

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