Vols Complete Three-Game Homestand vs. Texas A&M Tuesday
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| Brandon Crump has recorded double-doubles in each of the Vols' first two games this season. |
Tennessee Headlines
* Tennessee will conclude a three-game home stand to open the 2003-04 season with a contest against Texas A&M Tuesday, Dec. 2.
* UT has opened the season with wins over Wofford (81-70) and Tennessee State (81-56).
* Scooter McFadgon leads Tennessee with 21.5 points per game while Brandon Crump is averaging a double-double with 12.0 points and 11.0 rebounds. Sophomore point guard C.J. Watson is averaging 10.5 points and 8.0 assists per game.
* Texas A&M is 3-0 on the season following an 88-79 win over Prairie View A&M Saturday.
* The Vols are looking to start the season with three straight wins for the first time since the 2000-01 season when UT opened the campaign with nine consecutive wins.
* Texas A&M is the first of two Big 12 teams UT plays this year. The Vols travel to Nebraska Dec. 13.
Tennessee Tidbits
* Texas A&M will be the first Big 12 Conference team to play against the Vols in Thompson-Boling Arena. Kansas is the only Big 12 team to have previously played a game in the arena. UT hosted the 1994 NCAA Tournament in which the Jayhawks fell to Purdue in the Sweet 16.
* Brandon Crump has recorded a double-double in each of UT's two games this year. He is trying to become the first Vol to have three consecutive double-doubles since Ron Slay did it against Texas A&M, Georgia Tech and Charleston Southern in 2002-03.
* Dane Bradshaw has not missed a shot this season, going 3-for-3 from the field (including 2-for-2 from three-point range) and 2-for-2 from the free throw line.
* The Vols have outshot their opponents at the free throw line 65-8 in the first two games.
* UT is shooting 59.5 percent (25-of-42) from the field in the second half this season.
* Seven Vols have tied or set new career scoring marks in UT's first two games.
* Tennessee is 49-3 in its last 52 home games against non-conference opponents.
* The Vols got an early start to the 2003-04 season with a trip to the Dominican Republic from Oct. 15-19. UT went 1-1 playing against teams that were made up of members of the Dominican Under-21 National Team. Scooter McFadgon led the Vols with 29.0 points per game while C.J. Watson and Brandon Crump each added 12.0 points Jemere Hendrix contributed 9.5 points and 9.0 rebounds in the two contests.
* The Vol roster does not list any seniors. In fact, the only scholarship player who has been a part of the program for more than one season is junior forward Brandon Crump.
* C.J. Watson gained additional international experience as a member of the 2003 USA Basketball Men's Junior World Championship Team that competed in the Global Games in Dallas and in the FIBA (International Basketball Federation) Junior World Championship in Thessaloniki, Greece.
* After sitting out the 2002-03 season, transfers Jemere Hendrix and Scooter McFadgon are eligible to play. Hendrix is a sophomore forward from Clemson who gained a reputation as a tenacious rebounder in practices last season while McFadgon is a junior guard from Memphis who is an outstanding shooter.
* UT was picked to finish third in the SEC East in a preseason poll of the league's media.
* Tennessee is in its 95th season of basketball with a 1,318-853-2 overall record.
Vols Begin Season At Home
Seven of Tennessee's first eight games will be played at Thompson-Boling Arena ... UT's only road trip before January is a Dec. 13 visit to Nebraska ... The Vols play two non-conference games on the road (at Nebraska and at UMass on Jan. 3) ... Nine of Tennessee's 11 non-conference games are at home.
Looking At Texas A&M
Texas A&M enters Tuesday's contest with a 3-0 record after recording wins over Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Alabama A&M and Prairie View A&M to open the season ... Nearly 77 percent ( 95 FG, 73 assists) of Texas A&M's field goals have been accompanied by an assist ... As a team the Aggies are averaging 24.3 assists per game ... Jesse King, a senior forward/guard leads the team with 17.0 points per game while also adding 8.7 rebounds ... Sophomore forward/guard Antoine Wright, who has received preseason mention as a potential All-America, is averaging 14.7 points, 3.7 assists and 3.0 rebounds ... Seven-footer Andy Slocum is coming off a career game with 21 points and 16 rebounds against Prairie View A&M Saturday ... Leandro Garcia-Morales is averaging 5.0 assists and 3.7 steals ... The Aggies are faced with replacing Bernard King, who finished his career as the Big 12 Conference's career scoring leader with 1,990 career points ... A&M was picked to finish ninth in the Big 12 Conference by both the league's media and coaches ... Melvin Watkins is 56-91 in his sixth season as the head coach at Texas A&M and has a 98-111 career mark as a head coach.
The Series
Tennessee leads the all-time series with Texas A&M 3-1 ... UT leads the series 2-0 when it is played in Knoxville ... Tennessee won the lone neutral site meeting, a 70-64 victory at the 1985 Sugar Bowl Classic in New Orleans ... Last year the Aggies went on a 20-3 run with three minutes left in the game to take an 83-66 win in College Station ... The two teams first met on Dec. 15, 1951 when the Vols took a 60-52 win at Alumni Gym ... Tennessee and Texas A&M both participated in the 2000 Rainbow Classic but were in opposite ends of the bracket and did not play each other ... The Vols won the Rainbow Classic while Texas A&M finish fifth ... Tennessee is 10-8 all-time against current members of the Big 12 Conference.
Last Meeting
Tennessee rallied late in the second half but couldn't hold off a late three-point barrage from Texas A&M in a 66-83 loss to the Aggies on Dec. 4, 2002 in College Station, Texas. The Vols, playing in their first road game of the season and their first game in 10 days, started off cold from the field, making just one of their 13 (7.7 percent) three-point attempts. Meanwhile, Texas A&M shot 43.3 percent from the field in building a 39-27 halftime lead. Coming out of the locker room Ron Slay scored 21 of his game-high 24 point in the second half in rallying the Vols. UT chipped away at Texas A&M's lead until cutting it to 63-62 on a pair of Brandon Crump free throws with 5:26 left. Tennessee couldn't ever take the lead but didn't let Texas A&M score as both teams could find the bottom of the bucket for more than two minutes. A&M's Kevin Turner ended the scoring drought with a three-pointer with 3:05 left in the game. After another Tennessee miss, Turner heated up with another deep three. Led by four treys by Turner, the Aggies went on a 20-3 run to end the game and take the win. Slay finished with 24 points and 12 rebounds while Houston, Texas, native Brandon Crump recorded his first career double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Bernard King led Texas A&M with 19 points while Antoine Wright had 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Texas A&M's Watkins Played Against The Vols
Texas A&M head coach Melvin Watkins played against the University of Tennessee during his senior season ... The 15th-ranked Vols rallied from an eight point halftime deficit to take a 69-67 win over UNC Charlotte at UT's Stokely Athletic Center on Dec. 4, 1976 ... Watkins had eight points and five rebounds in the game while Mike Jackson led the Vols with 18 points ... UNCC's Cedric Maxwell led all scorers with 25 points and 12 rebounds ... Other notables for the Vols were Ernie Grunfeld's 17 points and current Vol Radio Network analyst Bert Bertelkamp's one rebound in three minutes ... UT's Bernard King, who was a junior that season, did not play in the game because of a disciplinary suspension.
Texas Volunteers
Tennessee has two players from the state of Texas on its roster, both of them from southeast Texas ... Stanley Asumnu and Brandon Crump are both Houston natives ... Houston is approximately 95 miles from College Station.
Last Time Out
Tennessee held Tennessee State scoreless over the final four and a half minutes while taking an 81-56 win at Thompson-Boling Arena Nov. 28 ... Tennessee went on a 21-3 run to finish the game, including a 17-0 run at the end ... Tennessee led by as many as 19 points early in the second half but the Tigers went on a 16-4 run to close the lead to 60-53 with 7:30 left in the game ... The Vols received a balanced scoring effort with eight players scoring seven or more points ... Brandon Crump led the Vols with his second double-double of the season when he turned in a 13 points, 11 rebound effort ... Dane Bradshaw gave the Vols a big spark off the bench with eight points, two rebounds and two assists ... Garrett Richardson led the Tigers with 18 points while Cedric Bryson had nine rebounds ... The Vols shot 49.1 percent from the field while holding Tennessee State to just 31.1 percent shooting.
Scooter Scores Big In Season Opener
Scooter McFadgon had a memorable debut in a Tennessee uniform with a 31-point outing against Wofford (11/21/03) ... His 31 points were the most in a UT debut since Bernard King scored 42 against Wisconsin-Milwaukee (11/30/74) ... McFadgon, a transfer from Memphis, easily topped his previous career mark of 22 points against Temple (12/22/01) ... In an exhibition game in the Dominican Republic, McFadgon also had a big game by scoring a game-high 36 points against Libre (10/16/03).
Tis The Season: Watson Giving Out Gifts
As a true freshman in 2003 C.J. Watson proved himself as one of the top point guards in the Southeastern Conference by leading the league with 5.44 assists per game against conference opponents while also leading the SEC in minutes played ... His 160 assists as a rookie ranked seventh on UT's single-season charts and were the second-most ever by a Tennessee freshman ... This year Watson has picked up where he left off last season by dishing out eight assists in each of UT's two games.
Crump Doubles Up
Brandon Crump recorded his fifth career double-double and his second of the season with a 13-point, 11-rebound effort against Tennessee State (11/28/03) ... Crump opened the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds against Wofford (11/21/03) ... As a sophomore in 2002-03 the Houston, Texas, native had three double-doubles ... The 6-foot-10 forward is Tennessee's top returning scorer (11.0 ppg), rebounder (5.9 rpg) and shot blocker (1.03 bpg) from last season.
Tennessee Improves In Openers
Tennessee increased its winning streak in season openers to five games and in home openers to 12 games with an 81-70 win over Wofford on Nov. 21 ... The Vols are 17-2 in their last 19 season openers ... UT is 36-2 in their last 38 home openers dating back to the 1966-67 campaign.
The Memphis Mafia
From the late 1950s until his death in 1977, Elvis Presley's friends were known as the Memphis Mafia ... In 2003-04 the Tennessee Volunteers have their own version of the Memphis Mafia ... Four players and one staff member are natives of the Bluff City ... Dane Bradshaw (White Station HS), Scooter McFadgon (Raleigh-Egypt HS), Fred Smithwick (Christian Brothers HS) and Lou Wright (Raleigh-Egypt HS) all attended high school in Memphis ... Former Vol guard and current administrative coordinator Clarence Swearengen is also a native of Memphis.
Homecourt Advantage
Thompson-Boling Arena has provided the Vols with a definite homecourt advantage since the facility opened in time for the 1987-88 season.
* Tennessee is 178-75 (.704) in its 17th season in Thompson-Boling Arena.
* Since the 1998 season, the Vols are 79-16 (.832) in Thompson-Boling Arena.
* Tennessee is 65-14 (.823) since the 1999 season at home. UT recorded a 14-1 record in 1999, a 15-1 mark in 2000, 12-3 in 2001, 10-4 in 2002 and 12-5 in 2003.
* The Vols are 36-13 against SEC teams at home over the last four plus seasons.
* UT has won 49 of its last 52 home games against non-conference opponents.
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