How to Watch, Listen: Tennessee-UNC Greensboro
The Tennessee Volunteers (6-2) will take on the UNC Greensboro Spartans in Thompson-Boling Arena on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET. The Vols enter the game having come off their worst offensive performance of the year against Texas Tech in which they shot 19-71 from the field and 6-40 from beyond the arc.
Despite the poor performance, the Vols were able to hold Texas Tech to 44 points in regulation and sent it to overtime, but Tennessee was eventually beat 57-52, meaning the Vols had as many missed shots as they had scored points.
UNC Greensboro presents a much easier challenge than Texas Tech, but the Vols need to use this game and next game against USC Upstate to make sure they have all of their ducks in a row before playing Memphis on December 18.
For more information on how to watch Vols-Spartans on Saturday afternoon, see below.
How to Watch
-SEC Network and online or on any mobile device through WatchESPN.
-WatchESPN can be accessed through the ESPN App, or online at espn.com/watch. Roy Philpott (play-by-play) and Mark Wise (analysis) will have the call.
How to Listen
-Local Vol Network affiliate to hear Bob Kesling and Bert Bertelkamp calling the action. The broadcast is also available on channel 135 on Sirius, channel 191 on SiriusXM and channel 962 on the SiriusXM app.
Series with UNC Greensboro
-Tennessee won both of its previous meetings with UNC Greensboro. The Vols scored 92 points in each game (1998 and 2011), which both took place at Thompson-Boling Arena.
- Tennessee's margin of victory in this brief, two-game series is 30.5 points.
- The Vols own a 96-17 all-time record against current members of the Southern Conference.
- North Carolina native Rick Barnes has faced UNC Greensboro only once during his 35-year head coaching career. In just his second game as a head coach, Barnes guided his 1987-88 George Mason squad to a 107-79 home win over the Spartans on Dec. 3, 1987. He has since coached 1,120 more games leading into this matchup.
- Barnes owns a 22-1 career head coaching record against current members of the Southern Conference.
UNC Greensboro Info
- UNC Greensboro enters Saturday's contest against Tennessee coming off of an 11-day break between games. The Spartans last played on Nov. 30—a 74-61 win over Elon.
- The Spartans are in their first season under the direction of head coach Mike Jones. Jones came to UNCG following a 10-year stint at Radford and has also been a member of coaching staffs at VCU (2009-11), Georgia (2003-09) and West Virginia (2002-03). He replaces Wes Miller, who took the head coaching job at Cincinnati in April after 10 years as the head coach at UNCG.
- Saturday's game is UNC Greensboro's first and only game of the season against a major conference opponent. The Spartans last played a high major team in the 2021 NCAA Tournament, falling to No. 4 seed Florida State in the first round, 64-54.
- Over the course of the past five seasons, UNC Greensboro is the SoCon's winningest program with 132 total wins since the start of the 2016-17 season. Entering the 2021-22 season, UNCG has won at least 20 games in five straight seasons.
- A transfer from Cal State-Bakersfield, graduate guard De'Monte Buckingham leads the Spartans in scoring (13.3 ppg) and rebounding (8.3 rpg). Buckingham has scored in double figures six times this season and 65 times during his career. He has also scored 20 or more points three times this season and 12 times in his career.
- In five homes games this season, UNC Greensboro is allowing 54.8 points per game. In four games away from home, the Spartans are allowing 73.8 points per contest.
- UNCG was picked sixth in the SoCon Preseason Coaches Poll.
Last Meeting With UNCG
-Tennessee opened the Cuonzo Martin era with an impressive 92-63 triumph over UNC Greensboro on Nov. 11, 2011, at Thompson-Boling Arena.
-A crowd of 17,483 saw the Vols shoot .646 from the field and .625 (15 of 24) from 3-point range. UT never trailed and held a 49-30 lead at the half.
-Point guard Trae Golden started his sophomore season in style, setting career-highs for points (29), rebounds (6), assists (9), field goals made and attempted (10-14) and 3-pointers made and attempted (5-9) in just 27 minutes of action. The performance earned him SEC Player of the Week honors.
-Golden did not miss a 2-point field-goal attempt (5-5), he shot 4-of-5 at the free-throw line and he also recorded two steals and a blocked shot.
-Jeronne Maymon and Jordan McRae also set career-highs for scoring, totaling 15 and 14 points, respectively, while senior forward Renaldo Woolridge tied a career-high with eight rebounds and also tallied 11 points.
-McRae was 4-of-5 from 3-point range after shooting 1-for-9 from beyond the arc the previous entire season.
-Junior guard Skylar McBee drained both of his 3-point attempts to finish with six points off the bench.
-Tennessee finished with 21 assists on 31 made field goals.
-Guard Korey Van Dussen had 12 points to lead three Spartans who scored in double figures.
Photo Credit: UT Athletics
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