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Lofton, Tennessee look to build on last season's success

Nov 9, 2007 - 3:37 PM Temple (0-0) at No. 7 Tennessee(0-0) 7:30 pm EST

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee (Ticker) -- Tennessee has some momentum after last season, and the fans are coming out in record numbers to watch.

The Volunteers kick off their 2007-08 regular season by hosting Temple on Friday.

Tennessee's No. 7 ranking is the school's highest preseason ranking, and the team's expected success has caused a stir at the box office. The Volunteers announced on October 23 that they had sold out all 16,000 of their season tickets, the most in school history.

Vols' senior guard Chris Lofton is one of the top players in the nation. Last season, he averaged 20.8 points and was named Southeastern Conference Player of the Year.

Lofton is nearing the school and conference records for career 3-point field goals, entering the season with 313 - 33 shy of Allan Houston's school record and 53 behind Pat Bradley's SEC mark.

The Owls are coming off a disappointing 12-18 campaign under coach Fran Dunphy, who took over for school legend John Chaney prior to the 2006-07 season.

Temple features a one-two scoring punch with junior guard Dionte Christmas and senior guard Mark Tyndale. Christmas led the Atlantic 10 Conference in scoring with 20.0 points while Tyndale finished a close second at 19.4.

It marked the first time that one A-10 team accounted for the top two scorers in the conference.

Tennessee and Temple have played historic games before, including the last meeting between the schools in 1973. The Vols' offense was averaging 89.5 points entering the meeting but ended up winning, 11-6, in the lowest scoring game in NCAA history.

Temple held the ball for 11 1/2 consecutive minutes in the first half and 14 minutes in the second half.