Bruise keeps McFadgon out

News of the good variety has been in short supply for the Tennessee men's basketball team lately.

That's why Friday's announcement didn't come as much of a shock.

Scooter McFadgon, Tennessee's leading scorer and a senior co-captain, didn't travel with the Vols (11-13, 4-7 SEC) for today's 5 p.m. game at Mississippi (12-13, 3-9).

An injury referred to all week as a thigh bruise kept McFadgon home to continue receiving treatment.

"Scooter has been a key part of our team this year and he will be missed (today) when we play an important conference game," UT coach Buzz Peterson said in a release.

"When he is in the game other teams have to focus on him defensively because he is such a scoring threat. It will be important for the rest of our players to step up their game against Ole Miss."

McFadgon is leading the Vols with his 14.1 points per game, but has struggled to find his shot the past month. In UT's past seven games, McFadgon hit 24 of 80 shots from the field (30 percent), 7 of 30 from 3-point range (23.3 percent).

The SEC is billing today as "EastWest Challenge" day as all the teams from the East division play teams from the West.

For Tennessee and Mississippi, it's more like "East-West Survival" day.

UT heads south having lost six of its past seven games. The Rebels have dropped seven of their past eight.

"This has been a tough stretch for us," Ole Miss coach Rod Barnes said. "We'll have our work cut out for us against Tennessee.

"We're both coming off losses to Florida, who just put a beating on us, honestly."

The Gators handed Ole Miss a 90-53 thumping on Wednesday.

For UT, a much-needed mid-week vacation followed its 84-73 loss to Florida last Saturday.

"I'm sure they're going to be pretty fired up after that loss to Florida," Peterson said. "They're a lot better team at home.

"They pressure the ball well. They get in the passing lanes. They compete hard."

The Rebels are 8-5 at home, including a three-point loss to Kentucky, an eight-point loss to Alabama and a one-point loss to Arkansas.

"We're in need of some confidence right now," Barnes said. "We have to find more ways to score the basketball.

"Our two leading scorers are not playing very well right now and this is not a good time for that to happen. It's good to come home to our home court."

Tennessee hopes a week off has re-energized its hopes of a strong stretch run.

"We just want to get as many wins as we can, play as hard as we can and leave it on the floor," UT freshman guard Chris Lofton said. "I'm just looking forward to a fresh start. We'll start from scratch at 0-0 and get momentum going into SEC Tournament.

"It (Mississippi) could be really important for us. That could be a starting point for us."

Senior Brandon Crump appears to be closer to 100 percent after recently returning from a four-game absence with an ankle injury.

Peterson said Crump was moving around and leaping much better this week compared to last.

Now Crump wants to make an impact similar to the one he made with 16 points in the loss to Florida.

"These are some winnable games," he said of the Vols' five remaining regular-season contests. "The hardest ones are Kentucky and Arkansas on the road. We just have to get some wins."

Peterson also said he'll continue to tinker with bigger and smaller lineups to find the right mix.

Crump and Major Wingate, Tennessee's two 6-foot-10 post players, worked in the same lineup quite a bit this week.

"I'm looking for what fits best to beat the next opponent," Peterson said. "I like that size (of Crump and Wingate) to help our rebounding.

"But does that mix well matched up with them (Mississippi)? Probably not. We'll just see what works best."

Scouting Report: The Rebels don't have a player in their starting lineup taller than 6-foot-7.

Junior college transfer Londrick Nolen (6-6 forward), originally out of Raleigh-Egypt High School in Memphis, is leading Ole Miss with 11.5 points and 4.9 rebounds per game.

Tommie Eddie (6-7 forward) adds 11.0 points

NABC honor: McFadgon and Crump have been named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches All-District 7 second team.

The first team included Francisco Garcia (Louisville), Chuck Hayes (Kentucky), Rodney Carney (Memphis), Taquan Dean (Louisville) and Willie Jenkins (Tennessee Tech).

Crump and McFadgon were joined on the second team by Anthony Winchester (Western Kentucky), Tim Smith (ETSU) and Kelenna Azubuike (Kentucky).