Scouting Tennessee
Tennessee enters the game with an overall record of 16-10 and an 8-7 mark in the SEC after securing a crucial 59-49 win over Mississippi State Wednesday night in Knoxville, Tenn. The victory snapped a four-game losing streak. Prior to the four-game slide, the Vols had won six straight games.

Senior forward Ron Slay leads Tennessee in scoring and rebounding with 21.6 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. Slay’s 21.6 points per game also leads the SEC by 3.3 points per contest. Sophomore forward Brandon Crump is second on the team in both categories with 10.6 points and 5.5 rebounds per contest.

In recent years, Tennessee has had success at Vanderbilt, winning three of the past four games played in Nashville. Prior to this success, the Commodores claimed 11 of the 12 contests played in Music City dating back to the 1987-88 season. In Nashville, Vanderbilt leads 42-29 in the all-time series between the two schools.

Three...Dot...Data
Matt Freije has been VU’s leading scorer in the past four games...At Kentucky, VU started the lineup of Freije, Russell Lakey, Mario Moore, Corey Smith and Brian Thornton for the first time this season...Moore’s five rebounds at Kentucky led the team and is a seasonhigh... Sophomore Martin Schnedlitz set or tied seven season highs and two career highs at Kentucky...VU’s two lowest point totals for a half this season have both come in the second half against Kentucky...VU’s two made free throws is a season low and the nine free-throw attempts is the third-lowest mark...Points in the paint: VU 24, UK 56...Points off
turnovers: VU 10, UK 36...Second-chance points: VU 2, UK 20.

Tennessee Triple Play
At Tennessee Jan. 18, Matt Freije and Corey Smith tied for gamehigh honors with 18 points apiece, while Brian Thornton added 16 points and eight rebounds. It was one of only two games this season in which the Commodores have had three players score at least 16 points in the same game.

Freije scored all 18 of his points in the second half as he shot 7-of-10 after the intermission. Smith was 4-of-6 from three-point range, which are both career-best marks. He also played a career-high 38 minutes. Thornton also had a second-half surge, scoring 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting in the second period.

Hundley In/Holwerda Out
Junior guard Scott Hundley earned his first start of the season March 1 at South Carolina, replacing sophomore guard Jason Holwerda. In doing so, Holwerda’s run of being the only Commodore to start every game came to an end at 24 games.

For Hundley, it was his eighth career start and the first since starting Jan. 5, 2002, at home against Georgia. He made use of the start as he scored six points, grabbed four rebounds and dished out three assists in 27 minutes.

Lakey Ties Career Assists Mark vs. Arkansas
Junior guard Russell Lakey tied his career-high with eight assists against Arkansas. He also had eight assists Nov. 26 against Georgia Southern. When added to the six assists he posted against Florida, the 14 combined assists is the best two-game total in Lakey’s career.

Vanderbilt Playing Nation’s 13th Toughest Schedule
As of Monday, CollegeRPI.com has Vanderbilt’s schedule ranked as the 13th toughest in the nation. That ranks VU fourth in the SEC behind Georgia (1), Arkansas (2) and Alabama (11).

This season VU has played 11 games versus ranked foes, including Connecticut (12), Indiana (6), Notre Dame (6), Alabama (4), Kentucky (16), Florida (5), Georgia (15), Mississippi State (23), Georgia (20), Florida (7) and Kentucky (2).

Complete Notes