Tennessee Tidbits
? UT is shooting 51.3 percent from the field when playing at Thompson-Boling Arena. When playing on the road, the Vols are shooting just 34.1 percent from the field. UT is averaging 86.7 points at home but just 64.3 points on the road.
? The Vols have outshot their opponents at the free throw line 323-186. UT has made more free throws (242) than its opponents have attempted (186).
? Over the last eight games the Vols have opened the second half by outscoring their opponents 99-51 before the first media time out.
? Tennessee is 10-0 when leading with five minutes left in a game.
? Ten Vols are averaging nine minutes or more per game this season.
? All but one of Tennessee?s games have been decided by at least 10 points this season. The only game decided by less than 10 points was the Vols? 74-66 win at UMass (1/3/04).
? McFadgon?s 31 points against Georgia (1/7/04) tied his career-high set in the season opener against Wofford. It is the most points by a Vol since Ron Slay?s 38 against New Mexico (1/4/03).
? McFadgon saw his streak of 27 consecutive free throws made come to an end against UNC Asheville (12/30/03). On the season he is shooting 93.7 percent (59-of-63) from the line.
? C.J. Watson has flirted with a triple-double in two of his last three games. He had nine points, eight rebounds and nine assists against Georgia (1/7/04) and then 11 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists against Vanderbilt (1/14/04).
| Team Statistical Comparisons |
| Tennessee | Stat Category | South Carolina |
| 81.1 | Points | 71.2 |
| 68.9 | Opponent Points | 55.8 |
| +12.2 | Scoring Margin | +15.4 |
| .470 | Field Goal % | .421 |
| .405 | Opponent Field Goal % | .350 |
| .360 | Three-Point % | .307 |
| .316 | Opponent Three-Point % | .239 |
| .749 | Free Throw % | .650 |
| 41.5 | Rebounds | 40.1 |
| 33.3 | Opponent Rebounds | 39.4 |
| +8.2 | Rebounding Margin | +0.6 |
| 18.4 | Assists | 16.2 |
| 14.9 | Turnovers | 13.0 |
| 4.7 | Blocks | 6.2 |
| 7.3 | Steals | 10.3 |
| 10-2, 2-1 | Record | 15-2, 2-1 |
| Individual Statistical Leaders |
| Tennessee | Stat Category | South Carolina |
| McFadgon, 19.1 | Points | Powell, 14.3 |
| Crump, 7.1 | Rebounds | Powell, 7.1 |
| Watson, 6.5 | Assists | Boynton, 4.0 |
| Crump, .626 | Field Goal % | Powell, .505 |
| Watson, .432 | Three-Point % | Boynton, .414 |
| McFadgon, .937 | Free Throw % | Kinsey, .727 |
The Series
Tennessee leads the all-time series, 21-19 ? Last year the two teams split their meetings with the home team winning each game ? Tennessee won in Knoxville 60-56 on Jan. 29 while USC won in Columbia 77-63 on Feb. 19 ... South Carolina leads the series 10-7 when it is played in Columbia ? When the series is played in Knoxville, the Vols own a 14-8 advantage ? The Vols have won eight of the last 12 meetings between the schools ? The two teams have met two times in the Southeastern Conference Tournament with each team winning one time ? Tennessee and South Carolina met for the first time on Jan 15, 1927 in Columbia ? The two teams played off-and-on between the 1927 and 1972 seasons but did not play each other from 1972 until 1988 when the series was renewed.
Last Meeting
Tony Kitchings scored 15 of his 21 points in the second half as South Carolina ended Tennessee?s six-game winning streak with a 77-63 win in Columbia Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2003. The Vols missed their first six shots of the game as they fell behind early, 9-0. Tennessee came back to tie the game 10-10 though. The Gamecocks used a 26-4 run midway through the game to take control of the contest and then held on during a late Vol rally. UT cut the lead to 71-59 with 1:16 left on a Ron Slay three-pointer but could get no closer as USC held on. Slay led all scorers with 23 points and nine rebounds but was just 10-of-24 from the field. Brandon Crump added 10 points while C.J. Watson had seven points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Carlos Powell came off the bench to give the Gamecocks 17 points while Chris Warren had 14 and Rolando Howell added 12 points.
Looking at South Carolina
South Carolina improved to 15-2 on the season and 2-1 in SEC action with a 53-51 overtime win at Auburn Wednesday night ... Only Pittsburgh at 17-0 has won more games this year than South Carolina?s 15 victories ... The Gamecocks are 0-1 in SEC home games (lost 62-65 to Florida) but own road victories at Georgia (84-63) and at Auburn ... Entering the week, USC owned the nation?s second-best field goal percentage defense by holding opponents to just 35.6 percent shooting and ranked seventh nationally by holding opponents to just 56.2 points per game ... Only two teams (Gardner Webb and Temple) have scored 70 or more points against USC ... Six times the Gamecocks have held their opponents to 50 or fewer points in a game ... Carlos Powell, a 6-foot-7 junior forward, leads a balanced scoring attack with 14.3 points and 7.1 rebounds per game ... Six players are averaging seven or more points per game for Carolina ... Tarence Kinsey, a 6-foot-6 sophomore forward, is the only other Gamecock in double figure scoring with 10.8 points per game ... South Carolina leads the SEC in blocked shots with 6.24 per game, nearly three-quarters of a block more per game than second place Mississippi State ... Head coach Dave Odom is 49-33 in his third season at USC and 327-207 in his 17th year as a head coach.
South Carolina Connections
Tennessee freshman center Major Wingate and USC junior forward Carlos Powell were high school teammates during the 2000-01 season at Wilson High School in Florence, S.C. ... Wingate, a native of Florence, S.C., attended Wilson HS through his junior year ... USC?s Powell attended Wilson HS for his junior and senior campaigns ... The duo were also AAU teammates ... Jemere Hendrix attended Clemson University for part of the 2001-02 season ... As a freshman for the Tigers he played three minutes in a 59-81 loss to South Carolina in Clemson, S.C. on Dec. 8, 2001 ... Hendrix was 0-for-1 from the field and gathered one rebound against the Gamecocks.
Last Time Out
Tennessee rebounded from its first SEC loss of the season to upset the nationally-ranked Vanderbilt Commodores 76-66 Wednesday, Jan. 14, at Thompson-Boling Arena ... The Vols led the 23rd-ranked Commodores by as many as 13 points in the second half but Vandy cut the lead to three points on a Scott Hundley free throw with just under three minutes left ... The Vols responded quickly with a 3-pointer by Scooter McFadgon and then Jemere Hendrix sealed the win with a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired to give UT a 71-62 lead ... UT outrebounded the taller Commodores 44-30 ... The Vols overcame 17 turnovers in the game ... Vandy shot just 19 percent (4-of-21) from 3-point range ... McFadgon and Brandon Crump had 20 points each to lead all scorers ... C.J. Watson nearly turned in a triple-double with a career-high 13 rebounds, 11 points and seven assists ... Scott Hundley and Mario Moore each had 11 points for the Commodores ... Preseason SEC Player of the Year Matt Freije, who came into the game averaging 18.3 points per game, scored just eight points on 2-of-12 shooting.
| VOLS MURDERS ROW |
| Date | Opponent | Opp.
Record |
| Jan. 10 | at #15 Florida
L, 95-57 | 11-2 |
| Jan. 14 | #23 VANDERBILT
W, 76-66 | 12-2 |
| Jan. 17 | at South Carolina | 15-2 |
| Jan. 20 | #5 KENTUCKY | 11-1 |
| Jan. 25 | #8 LOUISVILLE | 11-1 |
| Jan. 28 | at #20 Mississippi State | 13-1 |
| Jan. 31 | #14 Florida | 11-2 |
| Feb. 4 | at LSU | 12-1 |
| Feb. 7 | #12 Georgia Tech | 12-2 |
Murderers Row
Tennessee is in a stretch of playing nine games against opponents that have won 89 percent (97-12) of their games this season ... The tough stretch began at Florida (1/10/04) and will continue through a Feb. 7 meeting with Georgia Tech ... During the nine-game stretch, none of UT?s opponents have more than two losses on the season ... Six of the nine games will be against teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 25, including two that are ranked in the Top 10 ... The only two opponents in that stretch that are not ranked are on the road and are receiving votes in the poll ... Following is the schedule with the opponents? rank and record at the time of the game.
Tennessee vs. Ranked Teams
Tennessee is 1-1 against teams ranked among the Associated Press Top 25 this year ... UT has a win over 23rd-ranked Vanderbilt and a loss at No. 14 Florida this season ... The Vols have won four of their last six games against ranked teams ... Last year Tennessee was 3-5 against teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 ... The Vols are 17-26 all-time against teams ranked in the Top 5 and 39-113 against teams ranked in the Top 10.
Offense vs. Defense; Something?s Got To Give
Saturday?s game will feature one of the highest scoring teams in the Southeastern Conference against one of the top scoring defenses in the league ... Tennessee ranks second in the SEC by averaging 81.1 points per game ... South Carolina leads the league and is second in the nation by allowing just 55.8 points per game ... The Gamecocks have allowed its opponents to score 70 or more points just two times in their 17 games this season ... UT has scored fewer than 70 points just two times in 12 games on the campaign ... The Vols? 36.0 percent 3-point shooting ranks third in the conference while USC is allowing opponents to shoot just 23.9 percent from behind the arc.
Vols Well Represented in SEC Statistics
Tennessee players lead three of the 12 individual stat categories in the latest Southeastern Conference statistics ... Scooter McFadgon leads two categories, including scoring (19.1 ppg) and free throw percentage (93.7 percent) while he is fourth in 3-point field goal percentage (39.7 percent) ... C.J. Watson sits atop the assists (6.50 apg) list and assist/turnover ratio (2.60 assists-to-turnovers) ... Brandon Crump is third in the league in field goal percentage by making 62.6 percent of his shots ... As a team, the Vols lead the SEC in free throw percentage (74.9 percent) and are second in scoring offense (81.1 ppg), rebounding offense (41.5 rpg) and rebounding margin (+8.2).
New Guys Contributing
Without any seniors on the Tennessee roster this season, the Vols have been counting on some significant contributions from four new players in the lineup.
? Scooter McFadgon, a junior transfer from Memphis, is leading the Vols and the Southeastern Conference with 19.1 points per game ... Two times he has scored 31 points in a game this year.
? Jemere Hendrix, a sophomore transfer from Clemson, has started all 12 games and ranks second on the team with 6.8 rebounds per game ... Three times he has recorded double digit rebounds.
? Dane Bradshaw, a freshman guard, has given the Vols a huge boost off the bench with 4.5 points per game to go with 23 assists.
? Major Wingate, a 6-foot-10 freshman, has averaged 12.8 minutes per game off the bench ... He is third on the team with eight blocks.
Tennessee Making A Living At The Free Throw Line
Head coach Buzz Peterson has said that, ?... our goal is to make more free throws than they shoot.? ... So far, the Vols have dominated the free throw line ... Tennessee has made 242 (242-of-323) free throws this season compared to just 186 attempts (128-of-186) for UT?s opponents ... UT leads the SEC by making 74.9 percent of its free throws ... Six times the Vols have made more free throws than their opponents attempted ... Four times this season UT has limited its opponents to less than 10 free throw attempts.
Hitting The Boards
Tennessee ranks second in the Southeastern Conference with 41.5 rebounds per game ... The Vols have surpassed the 50-rebound mark two times with 50 boards at Nebraska (12/13/03) and 57 against The Citadel (12/17/03) ... UT is outrebounding its opponents by 8.2 rebounds per game which ranks second in the SEC ... The Vols held a 29-7 halftime rebounding advantage against The Citadel before finishing the game with 57 rebounds to the Bulldogs? 26 ... UT is averaging 14.17 offensive rebounds per game.
Watson Leads SEC in Assists
While several other point guards around the nation have been bogarting the headlines and highlights, Tennessee sophomore C.J. Watson has quietly established himself as one of the top playmakers in the college game ... Nicknamed ?The Quiet Storm,? he leads the Southeastern Conference with 6.50 assists per game this season ... He has an SEC-best assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.60 (78 assists against 30 turnovers in 394 minutes) ... According to the Jan. 5 NCAA statistics, Watson?s 6.4 assists ranked 12th in the nation ... Five times this season he has had a game with eight or more assists ... As a true freshman last season he led the SEC in minutes played (35.8 mpg) while leading the league with 5.44 assists per game against conference opponents ... His 160 assists as a rookie ranked seventh on UT?s single-season charts and were the second-most ever by a Tennessee freshman.
Watson Can Score
Although he usually looks to pass first, Watson has also found opportunities to score ... While leading the SEC with 6.50 assists per game, he ranks third on the team with 11.5 points per game ... He has also established himself as a deep threat by leading the team in 3-point percentage (.432) and ranking second in 3-pointers made (19) ... Over his last five games he is shooting 52.9 percent (9-of-17) from 3-point range.
Watson Flirting With Triple-Doubles
Sophomore point guard C.J. Watson has flirted with history two times in SEC action this season ... In the SEC opener against Georgia (1/7/04) the Las Vegas native nearly became the first Tennessee player in history to record a triple-double ... He finished the game with nine points, eight rebounds and nine assists ... Against Vanderbilt (1/14/04) he came close with a career-high 13 rebounds, 11 points and seven assists... This year isn?t the first time he has come close to a triple-double ... In just his second collegiate game he recorded nine points, seven rebounds and eight assists against VMI (11/25/02).
Jumping Jemere Gets The Rebounds
Saying that he would rather have 20 rebounds than score 20 points in a game because ?anyone can score 20 points but not many can get 20 rebounds? Jemere Hendrix has been a presence on the boards this season ... A transfer from Clemson, the 6-foot-8 Hendrix ranks second on the Vols and ranks 14th in the SEC with 6.8 boards per game ... 40.7 percent (33-of-81) of his rebounds have come at the offensive end of the floor ... He is averaging 2.75 offensive rebounds per game ... Two times this season he has recorded a career-high 11 rebounds ... Defensively he has given the Vols another boost ... He held Preseason SEC Player of the Year Matt Freije to just eight points on 2-of-12 shooting and two rebounds.
Scooter Scores Big
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 hasn?t had a scoring letdown since the season opener ... In the SEC opener he matched his career scoring mark with a 31-point effort against Georgia (1/7/04) ... The Memphis transfer leads in the SEC with 19.1 points per game ... He has scored 20 or more points five times and 30 or more points two times ... While carrying a reputation as an outstanding outside shooter, he has scored 59 of his points at the free throw line ... He leads the SEC with his 93.7 percent free throw percentage.
Bradshaw Giving UT A Backcourt Boost
Last year point guard C.J. Watson led the Southeastern Conference by playing 35.8 minutes per game ... This year Watson has received relief from freshman Dane Bradshaw ... The Memphis native is averaging 14.7 minutes per game off the bench and is contributing 4.5 points and 2.8 rebounds per game ... A player who has a outstanding feel for the game, Bradshaw has dished out 23 assists.
Crump Making His Presence Felt
With each year at Tennessee, Brandon Crump has steadily improved his play ... The Houston, Texas, native owns one of the best shooting percentages in the Southeastern Conference, currently ranking third in the league with a 62.6 field goal percentage ... According to the Jan. 5 NCAA statistics, Crump?s 64.6 field goal percentage ranked 12th in the nation ... He ranks 10th in the SEC in scoring (16.0 ppg) and 10th in rebounding with 7.1 boards per game ... The 6-foot-10 forward has scored 20 or more points in five of his last nine games after not reaching the 20-point mark in his first two seasons at Tennessee ... He has three double-doubles on the season and six in his career ... He has steadily improved his averages from 7.1 points and 4.2 rebounds as a freshman to 11.0 points to 5.9 rebounds as a sophomore to 16.0 points and 7.1 rebounds as a junior this year ... Against Nebraska (12/13/03) he recorded a career-high 25 points.
Winchester Gunning For Bigger Role
Since playing in front of more than 40 friends and family attending Tennessee?s game at Massachusetts Jan. 4, John Winchester has been on fire ... The sophomore from Stamford, Mass., is shooting 63.6 percent (7-of-11) from 3-point range in his last four games ... During that stretch he is averaging 8.5 points in 27.5 minutes per game ... On the season he has improved his scoring from 1.5 points per game as a freshman to 6.8 this year ... His role on the court has increased as he has been a key part in Tennessee?s backcourt by starting six games and averaging 20.6 minutes per game on the season.
| TENNESSEE CAREER STATS vs.. SOUTH CAROLINA |
| ? | G-GS | FG-A | 3FG-A | FT-A | Reb | Avg | A | To | Blk | Stl | Pts | Avg |
| Asumnu | 2-0 | 3-7 | 0-0 | 2-5 | 2-3-5 | 2.5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 4.0 |
| Crump | 4-4 | 12-22 | 0-0 | 10-15 | 5-12-17 | 4.3 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 34 | 8.5 |
| Herndon | 2-0 | 1-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 3-0-3 | 1.5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1.0 |
| Smithwick | 1-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0-0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Watson | 2-2 | 3-10 | 0-2 | 10-13 | 1-14-15 | 7.5 | 12 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 8.0 |
| Winchester | 2-1 | 3-8 | 2-5 | 0-0 | 1-1-2 | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 4.0 |
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