COLLEGE BASKETBALL

• Vols hope for return to win column in clash with Cougars

  
  

  Knoxville, TN (Sports Network) - Having recently returned from a trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Paradise Jam, the ninth-ranked Tennessee Volunteers play host to the College of Charleston Cougars tonight at Thompson- Boling Arena in Knoxville.

  The Cougars are 1-2 on the young season, having sandwiched a pair of losses (Coastal Carolina and East Tennessee State) around their lone triumph (Winthrop). The ETSU game was the last one Charleston played, as it fell to the Bucs in a 77-71 final on Wednesday. Both of the team's setbacks have come on the road, which of course doesn't bode well for the CofC as it looks ahead to tonight's clash in what is sure to be as inhospitable a locale as it will play this season.

  Bruce Pearl's Tennessee club opened the 2009-10 campaign with four straight wins, but then the team ran into sixth-ranked Purdue in the championship game of the Paradise Jam on Monday, and the result of that clash was a 73-72 loss. The Vols are 2-0 at home this season, although foes like Austin Peay and UNC Asheville didn't exactly offer much in the way of a serious challenge. Pearl's troops won't likely be tested again until hitting the road for a bout with Memphis on New Year's Eve, which comes about a week and a half prior to the team facing off against No. 1 Kansas.

  The College of Charleston won the only previous meeting between these two teams, taking a 55-49 decision in the first round of the 1996 NIT.

  Despite their sub-.500 record at the moment, the Cougars have one of the top offensive performers in the Southern Conference on the roster as junior guard Andrew Goudelock is averaging 20.0 ppg on the strength of his .462 field goal percentage. Goudelock has led the team in scoring in each of the first three games, and is coming off a 23-point performance in Charleston's six-point loss to ETSU on Wednesday. Jeremy Simmons is the team's only other double-digit scorer at the moment, adding 16.0 ppg from his spot in the frontcourt, while also serving as the Cougars' leading rebounder with 8.5 rpg. As a team, the CofC is shooting 42.3 percent from the floor and just 30.4 percent from three- point range, while holding the opposition to just 41.6 percent overall and it has allowed a total of only five three-pointers in three games. Clearing the glass has been the team's downfall thus far, doing so for just 33.7 rpg while the opposition grabs 45.7 rpg. Simmons had 18 points and eight boards in the recent loss to ETSU, and Casaan Breeden chipped in 15 points.

  Tennessee is averaging 88.2 ppg while allowing just 59.0 ppg, and the Vols are shooting 50.5 percent from the floor, which includes a 45.5 showing from beyond the arc. In contrast, foes are hitting their field goals just 36.3 percent of the time while dropping a mere 25.0 percent of their three-point tries. Turnovers have also played a huge role in UT's early-season success as it is coming up with more than 20 per game, that number significantly impacted by the 35 giveaways East Carolina was guilty of last Friday. The Vols come into tonight's game with four double-digit scorers in tow, led by Scotty Hopson and his 15.8 ppg. Hopson leads the SEC in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.4) and sits second in both three-pointers made (2.8 per game) and three- point percentage (.583). Wayne Chism (13.2 ppg, 6.6 rpg), Tyler Smith (12.0 ppg, 5.8 rpg) and Cameron Tatum (11.6 ppg) have all performed well thus far, with Tatum doing so despite coming off the bench in all five games. Chism was high man in the loss to Purdue, netting 24 points on 8-of-13 FG efficiency, while Bobby Maze chipped in 13 points and Smith finished with 10. The Vols shot 43.4 percent for the game, but 16 turnovers proved costly.

  11/27 10:47:20 ET