Tennessee entertains No. 19 Arkansas

Jan 13, 2015 - 3:48 PM Knoxville, TN (SportsNetwork.com) - Hoping to improve on a seven-game win streak, the 19th-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks will hit the road to take on the Tennessee Volunteers in an SEC clash at Thompson-Boling Arena on Tuesday.

Arkansas has taken seven consecutive decisions to improve to 13-2 on the season, which includes a 2-0 mark in conference play. The Razorbacks have won consecutive SEC games against Georgia (79-75) and Vanderbilt (82-70).

Tennessee won't be an easy out in Knoxville. The Volunteers may be coming off a 56-38 loss to Alabama, but the team owns a 7-1 record at Thompson-Boling Arena this season. Overall, the Vols are 9-5 on the 2014-15 campaign.

Tennessee owns an 18-14 all-time series lead over Arkansas. The two SEC programs met just once on the floor last season, which saw Tennessee come away with an 81-74 victory in Knoxville.

Both Arkansas and Vanderbilt played well offensively on Saturday, as the Razorbacks netted 47 percent of their field goal tries in the contest, while the Commodores hit on 52 percent of their attempts. But an incredibly strong performance from Bobby Portis made a huge difference in the win for Arkansas. Portis scored 32 points in the win, and grabbed 11 rebounds for the double- double to pace the team. Michael Qualls added 20 points, and Jacorey Williams chipped in with 10 points in the winning effort. Rashad Madden helped out too with a team-best six assists.

Arkansas has not only dominated its opponents this season en route to the 13-2 record, but the team has been aggressively strong statistically in the SEC standings. The Razorbacks are first in the conference in scoring offense (83.9 ppg), and second in both field goal percentage (47.1 percent) and 3-point field goal percentage (38.9 percent). Portis leads Arkansas and the SEC in individual scoring at 18.1 ppg, and is fifth in the conference and first on his team in rebounding with 7.8 boards per outing. Madden also checks in at first on Arkansas and is second in the SEC with 5.3 apg. Qualls adds in 15.8 ppg for the Razorbacks to round out the double-digit team scorers.

Meanwhile for Tennessee, the team's last outing was about as dismal as could be. The Volunteers shot just 20.8 percent from the floor in the second half against Alabama, which included an 0-of-8 mark from 3-point distance in the frame. Overall, the Vols shot 31.1 percent from the field and 2-of-17 from beyond the arc, which added up to just 14 second-half points in the loss. Josh Richardson was the lone bright spot for Tennessee, netting 17 points on 6- of-13 shooting. Armani Moore grabbed nine rebounds to lead the team, and finished second in scoring with eight points.

Richardson has stayed relatively consistent all season long, and leads Tennessee and checks in at fourth in the SEC in scoring at 16.1 ppg. Kevin Punter is the only other Volunteers player, however, to own a double-digit scoring mark with 10.2 ppg. Tennessee enters the Tuesday clash netting 63.9 ppg, which is second to last in the conference behind only Mississippi State. The Volunteers are holding opponents to just 62.4 ppg this season on 41.1 percent shooting.