Postgame Notes: UT 79, MSU 67

Feb. 1, 2015

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Number of Interest

Here are a few numbers of interest:

» Is the first time that the Lady Vols have been 9-0 in conference play since the 2010-11 season.

» Cierra Burdick earned a career-high 25 points vs. Kentucky.

» Bashaara Graves became the 40th Lady Vol to join the 1,000 club at Tennessee. She now has 1,001 career points.

» The senior trio once again led the scoring effort with 43 combined points. Isabelle Harrison, Cierra Burdick and Ariel Massengale combined for 42 points vs. Kentucky.

POSTGAME NOTES

THE SERIES

This marked the 36th meeting between the two programs. Mississippi St. has yet to win a game against the Lady Vols.
UT remains perfect against the Bulldogs with a 36-0 record.
Tennessee is now 16-0 vs. Mississippi St. in Knoxville.
This was the sixth time that UT and MSU have met as ranked teams and first since March 8, 2003.
UT has won 16 straight games vs. SEC opponents.
The Lady Vols have won 17 straight games in Thompson-Boling Arena, dating back to last season. They are 13-0 this season at TBA.
When leading at the half, the Lady Vols are 15-0.
The Lady Vols are now 9-0 in the SEC. The last time that occurred was during the 2010-11 season when they went 16-0 in conference play.

VS. RANKED TEAMS

FOR STARTERS

Today's starters: Bashaara Graves, Cierra Burdick, Isabelle Harrison, Andraya Carter, Jordan Reynolds.
Graves and Reynolds are the only two that have started every game this season.
This is the 11th straight game that the Lady Vols have used this line-up. They are now 11-1 with the group.
The jump ball was controlled by Tennessee for the 16th time this season.
The first points were scored by Isabelle Harrison with a lay-up.

OFF THE BENCH

GRAVES JOINS 1,000 POINT CLUB

With 17 points, Bashaara Graves became the 40th Lady Vol to join the 1,000 point club, just one game after teammate Isabelle Harrison did so.
Graves entered the game needing 16 points to join the club and hit her 16th and 17th points with 15.8 seconds remaining to end the game at 1,001 points.
Along with 17 points, Graves dished out five assists, four rebounds, a block and steal.

CLOSER TO 1,000

Massengale was just 17 points away from joining Isabelle Harrison in the 1,000 point club entering the game.
Massengale is within reach of the milestone needing just eight more points to become the 41st Lady Vol to hit 1,000 points and third player this season.
With a career-high 24 points, Cierra Burdick is 95 points shy of 1,000 points, which she may reach by the end of this season.

C-BIRD WITH CAREER NIGHT

Cierra Burdick earned a career-high 24 points. She was 5-for-6 from the line. Playing unselfishly, she added a season-high six assists.
Defensively, Burdick tied her career-high steals with three steals.
Burdick tallied eight rebounds.

OFFENSIVELY SPEAKING

The Lady Vols finished the game shooting 56.9 percent from the field, which is the best offensive effort of the season topping the 55.6 percent vs. LSU.
Ariel Massengale dished out four assists to bring her career total to 479. She is eyeing the 500/1000 club. She needs just 21 more assists and nine points to be just the third player to do so.
Bashaara Graves (22-for-22) and Jaime Nared (11-for-11) are perfect in free throw shooting during SEC play.
Four different Lady Vols dished out at least two assists. Graves tied her career-high assists with five. Burdick tied her season-high of six.
Isabelle Harrison earned her sixth double-double of the season and 30th of her career with 11 points and 10 rebounds. This is her first back-to-back double-double effort of the season.

SENIOR TRIO LEADS THE LADY VOLS

Isabelle Harrison, Cierra Burdick and Ariel Massengale earned 43 total points vs. the Bulldogs.
They combined for 23 of the 35 rebounds for the Lady Vols.
Against Kentucky, Harrison, Burdick and Massengale combined for 42 points.
The three have a 102-26 record at Tennessee during their careers.

DEFENSE LIMITS BULLDOGS

Adding three blocked shots to her career, Isabelle Harrison's career blocks moved up to 126. Since moving into ninth place earlier this season, Harrison is within reach of moving into No. 8 to tie Teresa Geter (135).
The Lady Vols blocked four Bulldog shots and forced 10 turnovers.
Andraya Carter took her fourth charge of the season with 7:19 to play.
Cierra Burdick was responsible for three steals and Harrison recorded two. As a team, the Lady Vols accounted seven.

AT THE HALF

The Lady Vols led the Bulldogs 36-31.
Tennessee shot 53.8 percent (14-26) in the first half while Mississippi St. shot 45.2 percent (14-31).
The Lady Vols and Bulldogs shared the rebounding race with 15 apiece. They also shared 22 points apiece in the paint.
Cierra Burdick led the Lady Vols with eight points, four assists and two steals.

UP NEXT

UT will take a week off before getting back in action at Florida on Sunday, Feb. 8 at 2 p.m. ET on ESPNU. The Lady Vols will remain on the road for midweek action at Ole Miss on Feb. 12 at 7 p.m. on SEC Network+.

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