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Tennessee faces high-scoring Long Beach State in opener

Mar 15, 2007 - 4:15 AM Long Beach St (24-7) at Tennessee (22-10) 2:45 pm EDT

COLUMBUS, Ohio (Ticker) -- Chris Lofton and Tennessee are hoping an up-and-down season ends on a high note in the NCAA tournament.

The fifth-seeded Volunteers (22-10), an at-large selection out of the Southeastern Conference, will face off against 12th-seeded Long Beach State on Friday in the first round.

Tennessee has shown an ability to beat the top teams in the country (Florida), but also has lost to lesser opponents such as South Carolina.

The Vols are appearing in their 15th NCAA Tournament overall, second straight and sixth in the last 10 years. Tennessee has a 9-15 all-time record in the NCAA Tournament.

Led by the deep-threat duo of Lofton and JaJuan Smith, the Volunteers' 286 3-pointers this year are the most in school history.

The SEC Player of the Year, Lofton leads the Vols with 93 shots from the arc while Smith adds 78. Lofton and Smith combine to form the highest-scoring tandem in the SEC at 20.6 and 15.0 points per game, respectively.

Tennessee dropped a 76-67 overtime decision to Louisiana State in the SEC tournament quarterfinals.

Long Beach State (24-7) won its first Big West Tournament Championship since 1995 with a 94-83 win over Cal Poly.

This season's trip to the Big Dance will be the eighth in school history, and the first since 1995 for the 49ers, who are 7-8 all-time in NCAA play.

Senior guard Aaron Nixon averages 18.6 points for Long Beach State. Nixon was named the Big West Player of the Year and the conference tournament MVP. He is joined in the backcourt by fellow first-team All-Big West selection Kejuan Johnson.

The 49ers rank in the top 10 nationally, scoring 80.3 points per game.

The winner will face either fourth-seeded Virginia or 13th-seeded Albany in Sunday's second round.