Vols Travel to Nebraska For First Road Game of Season
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| Scooter McFadgon is averaging 22.0 points per game in leading the Vols to a 3-0 mark. |
Tennessee Headlines
* Tennessee will be coming off an 11-day break for final exams when the Vols visit Lincoln, Neb., to play the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Saturday, Dec. 13.
* UT's 3-0 start is its best since beginning the 2000-01 season with nine consecutive wins.
* The Nebraska game is Tennessee's first road game of the 2003-04 season. The Vols are 3-3 in their first game away from home over the last six seasons.
* Scooter McFadgon leads Tennessee with 22.0 points per game on 55.6 percent shooting from the field. Brandon Crump is almost averaging a double-double with 14.0 points and 9.7 rebounds. Sophomore point guard C.J. Watson is averaging 12.3 points and 7.3 assists per game.
* The second consecutive Big 12 Conference squad the Vols will play, Nebraska is 5-0 on the season following a Dec. 8 win over Delaware State. The Huskers play Creighton Dec. 10 before hosting the Vols.
Tennessee Tidbits
* The Nebraska game will be UT's first of four contests in 10 days.
* The Vols have outshot their opponents at the free throw line 99-37 in the first three games. UT has made almost double (69) the number of free throws its opponents have attempted (37).
* UT is shooting 59.7 percent (46-of-77) from the field in the second half this season.
* Tennessee is averaging 90.0 points per game through its first three games. That is the highest scoring average through three games since 1988-89 when the Vols averaged 97.6 points.
* Eight Vols have tied or set new career scoring marks in UT's first three games.
* At least four players have scored in double-figures in each of UT's games this year.
* Point guards C.J. Watson (22 assists, 8 turnovers) and Dane Bradshaw (8 assists, 1 turnover) have combined for 30 assists against just nine turnovers in a combined 134 minutes of action this season.
* UT has hit a shot at the buzzer just before halftime in its last two games. Justin Albrecht hit a tip-in against Texas A&M (12/2/03) and Dane Bradshaw had a 3-pointer against Tennessee State (11/28/03).
* UT's 108 points in its win over Texas A&M (12/2/03) are the most by the Vols in the Buzz Peterson era and the most since scoring 110 against Georgia (2/9/00).
* Tennessee is 50-3 in its last 53 home games against non-conference opponents.
* Head coach Buzz Peterson has called this team one of his most enjoyable. "The big thing about this group this year is they are fun to coach and be around," Peterson said.
* 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.
* Former Vol Bernard King (1974-77) was named the 67th-best college basketball player of all-time by Street & Smith's.
* 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 1,319-853-2 overall record.
Looking At Nebraska
Nebraska improved to 5-0 on the season following a 68-39 win over Delaware State on Monday, Dec. 8 ... The Huskers travel to Omaha, Neb., to play the Creighton Blue Jays on Wednesday before hosting the Vols ... John Turek, a 6-foot-9 forward, leads UNL with 11.2 points and 8.2 rebounds per game ... Nate Johnson, a 6-foot-2 senior guard who earned honorable mention all-Big 12 honors last year, is adding 10.8 points per game ... Junior guard Jake Muhleisen has started all five games and is averaging 9.2 points after missing most of last season with a fractured hip socket ... The Huskers are outrebounding their opponents by 9.6 rebounds per game ... Nebraska's opponents are shooting a paltry 35.3 percent from the field, including just 23.5 percent from three-point range ... Nebraska will be playing its fifth game in 11 days when the Huskers host the Vols ... Since Tennessee last played (Dec. 2 against Texas A&M), the Huskers have played Arizona State, South Florida, Delaware State and at Creighton ... The Huskers will take a week-long break following this game for final exams ... Nebraska returns almost 90 percent of its scoring from last year and almost 80 percent of its assists and rebounds ... UNL posted an 11-19 record last year after losing its top two point guards midway through the year ... Nebraska is picked to finish 11th in the Big 12 Conference in polls of the league's coaches and media.
The Nebraska Series
This is the first meeting between Tennessee and Nebraska ... The Vols are 11-8 all-time against current members of the Big 12 Conference following a 108-84 win over Texas A&M on Dec. 2 ... Tennessee is 1-0 all-time against teams from the state of Nebraska with a 34-28 win over Creighton in 1937 ... UT is making its first visit to the state of Nebraska.
Nebraskans For Tennessee
Justin Albrecht, the first Nebraska native to play for the University of Tennessee basketball team, will have a sizeable cheering section at the Bob Devaney Center ... Albrecht, a 6-foot-6 junior forward is a native of Omaha which is about an hour northeast of Lincoln ... Albrecht is expecting in the neighborhood of 40 friends and family to be in attendance for the game ... UT head coach Buzz Peterson has started a tradition of scheduling games as close as possible to player's home towns ... Later this season the Vols will play at UMass which is nearby John Winchester's hometown of Stamford, Conn.
Cornhusker Connections
In addition to Justin Albrecht being a native of Omaha, the Vols have other connections to Nebraska ... UNL athletic director Steve Pederson served as Tennessee's assistant athletic director for football recruiting (1992-93) and associate athletic director for football operations (1993-94) ... Keith Mann, an associate sports information director at UNL, spent a year as an assistant in Tennessee's sports information office where he worked with the football team ... Former Vol Marcus Haislip and former Husker Erick Strickland are teammates on the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA.
Looking Back At The Texas A&M Game
Justin Albrecht's tip-in at the halftime buzzer gave the Vols a lead they never relinquished in a 108-84 win over Texas A&M on Dec. 2 ... Albrecht's tip-in on a John Winchester 3-point miss gave UT a 45-44 lead at the break ... UT opened the second half with a 13-2 run to take a 58-46 lead and never looked back, outscoring the Aggies 63-40 in the second half ... Scooter McFadgon led the Vols with 23 points while Brandon Crump added 18 points on 9-of-10 shooting ... C.J. Watson added 16 points and six assists without a turnover ... Freshman Acie Law led the Aggies with 19 points while star forward Antoine Wright was limited to nine points on 3-of-13 shooting ... Jesse King, who entered the game leading Texas A&M in scoring played just five minutes after injuring his back ... The Vols did not commit a turnover in the final 18 minutes of the game ... Tennessee's 108 points are its most since scoring 110 against Georgia (2/9/00) ... The Vols shot 55.1 percent from the field ... Tennessee's two Texas natives (Crump and Stanley Asumnu) combined for 30 points, eight rebounds, eight assists, two steals and just one turnover.
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.
New Guys Contributing
The Vols are receiving significant contributions from four new players in the UT lineup ... Scooter McFadgon, a junior transfer from Memphis, is leading the Vols with 22.0 points per game ... Jemere Hendrix, a sophomore transfer from Clemson, is averaging 9.7 points and 6.0 rebounds while starting all three games ... Dane Bradshaw, a freshman guard, has given the Vols a huge boost off the bench with 6.0 points per game to go with eight assists and one turnover ... Major Wingate, a 6-foot-10 freshman, has averaged 17.0 minutes per game off the bench and is second on the team with four blocked shots.
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).
Watson One Of The SEC's Top Playmakers
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 22 assists in UT's three 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 an 11 point, 11 rebound outing 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.
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 179-75 (.704) in its 17th season in Thompson-Boling Arena.
* Since the 1998 season, the Vols are 80-16 (.833) in Thompson-Boling Arena.
* Tennessee is 66-14 (.825) 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 50 of its last 53 home games against non-conference opponents.
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.
Vols Get Head Start On Season
While most other Division I basketball teams were holding their first practice of the season on Oct. 18, the Vols had already practiced 10 times and played two games ... After starting practice on Oct. 1, Tennessee traveled to the Dominican Republic Oct. 15-19 to play a pair of exhibition games against members of the Dominican Under-21 National Team ... Tennessee dropped the first game in La Romana 96-92 despite 36 points from Scooter McFadgon and 16 points and eight rebounds from Brandon Crump ... The next night the Vols traveled to Santo Domingo where they picked up a 95-92 win ... During the trip, McFadgon led the Vols with 29.0 points per game while C.J. Watson and Crump each added 12.0 points and Jemere Hendrix contributed 9.5 points and 9.0 rebounds ... The Vols had an opportunity to enjoy the Caribbean sun and beaches but also assisted the communities they visited by holding youth clinics and bringing gifts of books, clothing and medicine ... One of the highlights of the trip came on the final afternoon when each of the players and coaches participated in a game of donkey polo.
Watson's World Tour
Sophomore point guard C.J. Watson had a busy summer travelling the world in 2003 ... The Las Vegas, Nev., native was 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 Championships in Thessaloniki, Greece ... Team USA rolled through the Global Games, winning the gold medal with a 104-80 win over the Global Games Select Team in the championship game ... At the FIBA Junior World Championship, Team USA fell out of medal contention with a loss to Australia in the quarterfinals but still finished the tournament with a 7-1 record ... Watson averaged 6.0 points, 2.0 assists and 1.9 rebounds while playing 21.3 minutes per game in Greece.
Big Men On Campus
Brandon Crump and Boomer Herndon both spent a session at Pete Newell's Big Man Camp in Las Vegas over the summer ... For Crump it is the second consecutive year that he has attended the camp ... The twosome were among about 60 college players and a dozen NBA players attending the camp in early August ... One of the instructors Herndon worked with the most was 7-foot-4 Ralph Sampson.
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 ... Three players and one staff member are natives of the Bluff City ... Dane Bradshaw (White Station HS), Scooter McFadgon (Raleigh-Egypt HS) and Fred Smithwick (Christian Brothers HS) all attended high school in Memphis ... Former Vol guard and current administrative coordinator Clarence Swearengen is also a native of Memphis.
Playing The Name Game
While Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C., may be able to boast one of the all-time great names in college basketball with World B. Free counted among its alumni, Tennessee may currently have the highest number of interesting names in the nation ... The Vol roster lists a Boomer (Herndon), Major (Wingate), Scooter (McFadgon) and a Pee-Wee (Gash) ... If that wasn't enough for you, they are coached by a Buzz (Peterson).
Where Are They Now?
* Allan Houston - New York Knicks of the NBA
* Marcus Haislip - Milwaukee Bucks of the NBA
* Kevin O'Neill - Head coach Toronto Raptors of the NBA
* Vincent Yarbrough - Olympiakos in Greece
* Isiah Victor - Great Lakes Storm of the CBA
* Ron Slay - Galatasaray of Istanbul in Turkey's premier league
* Jon Higgins - WBC Kraftwerk in Wels, Austria
* C.J. Black - Furstenfeld Panthers in the Austrian league
* Damon Johnson - Caceres Destino Turistico in Spain
* Rashard Lee - Elitzur Ashkelon in the Isreal's premier league
* Ian Lockhart - Teramo Basket in Italy
* Charles Hathaway - China
