2005–06 Tennessee Volunteers basketball team

The 2005–06 Tennessee Volunteers basketball team represented the University of Tennessee as a member of the Southeastern Conference during the 2005–06 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Led by first-year head coach Bruce Pearl, the Volunteers played their home games at Thompson–Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tennessee finished on top of the SEC East division standings, but were knocked out of the SEC Tournament in the quarterfinal round. After receiving an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament as the No. 2 seed in the East region, Tennessee slid past Winthrop in the opening round^[2] before losing to No. 7 seed Wichita State in the second round.^[3] The team finished the season with a 22–8 record (12–4 SEC).

2005–06 Tennessee Volunteers basketball
SEC East regular season champions
NCAA tournament, second round
Conference	Southeastern Conference
Division	East
Ranking
Coaches	No. 20
AP	No. 18
Record	22–8 (12–4 SEC)
Head coach	Bruce Pearl (1st season)
Assistant coaches	Tony Jones Steve Forbes Jason Shay
Home arena	Thompson–Boling Arena
Seasons ← 2004–05 2006–07 →

2005–06 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
East
No. 18 Tennessee	12	–	4		.750			22	–	8		.733
No. 11 Florida †	10	–	6		.625			33	–	6		.846
Kentucky	9	–	7		.563			22	–	13		.629
Vanderbilt	7	–	9		.438			17	–	13		.567
South Carolina	6	–	10		.375			23	–	15		.605
Georgia	5	–	11		.313			15	–	15		.500
West
No. 19 LSU	14	–	2		.875			27	–	9		.750
Alabama	10	–	6		.625			18	–	13		.581
Arkansas	10	–	6		.625			22	–	10		.688
Mississippi State	5	–	11		.313			15	–	15		.500
Auburn	4	–	12		.250			12	–	16		.429
Ole Miss	4	–	12		.250			14	–	16		.467
† 2006 SEC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll[1]

Roster

2005–06 Tennessee Volunteers men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Hometown C 1 Major Wingate 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 250 lb (113 kg) Jr Florence, South Carolina G 2 JaJuan Smith 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 195 lb (88 kg) So Cleveland, Tennessee G 5 Chris Lofton 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 200 lb (91 kg) So Maysville, Kentucky F 22 Andre Patterson 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 217 lb (98 kg) Sr Los Angeles, California G 23 Dane Bradshaw 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Jr Memphis, Tennessee G 32 C. J. Watson 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Sr Las Vegas, Nevada	Head coach Bruce Pearl Assistant coach(es) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-conference regular season
Nov 18, 2005*		East Tennessee State	W 106–83	1–0	Thompson-Boling Arena  Knoxville, Tennessee
Nov 22, 2005*		Louisiana-Lafayette	W 83–76	2–0	Thompson-Boling Arena  Knoxville, Tennessee
Nov 25, 2005*		Eastern Kentucky	W 92–58	3–0	Thompson-Boling Arena  Knoxville, Tennessee
Nov 30, 2005*		vs. Murray State	W 64–53	4–0	Gaylord Entertainment Center  Nashville, Tennessee
Dec 6, 2005*		Appalachian State	W 89–81	5–0	Thompson-Boling Arena  Knoxville, Tennessee
Dec 17, 2005*		at No. 6 Texas	W 95–78	6–0	Frank Erwin Center  Austin, Texas
Dec 22, 2005*	No. 23	vs. Oklahoma State	L 73–89	6–1	Ford Center  Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Dec 27, 2005*		Alabama A&M	W 93–68	7–1	Thompson-Boling Arena  Knoxville, Tennessee
Dec 29, 2005*		Lipscomb	W 69–58	8–1	Thompson-Boling Arena  Knoxville, Tennessee
Jan 4, 2006*		South Alabama	W 87–69	9–1	Thompson-Boling Arena  Knoxville, Tennessee
SEC regular season
Jan 8, 2006		at South Carolina	W 76–69	10–1 (1–0)	Colonial Life Arena  Columbia, South Carolina
Jan 11, 2006		Georgia	W 89–76	11–1 (2–0)	Thompson-Boling Arena  Knoxville, Tennessee
Jan 14, 2006		at LSU	L 74–88	11–2 (2–1)	Maravich Assembly Center  Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Jan 18, 2006*		at No. 4 Memphis	L 79–88	11–3	FedExForum  Memphis, Tennessee
Jan 21, 2006		No. 2 Florida	W 80–76	12–3 (3–1)	Thompson-Boling Arena  Knoxville, Tennessee
Jan 25, 2006	No. 19	at Mississippi State	W 88–65	13–3 (4–1)	Humphrey Coliseum  Starkville, Mississippi
Jan 28, 2006	No. 19	South Carolina	W 81–65	14–3 (5–1)	Thompson-Boling Arena  Knoxville, Tennessee
Mar 4, 2006	No. 11	at Vanderbilt	W 68–59	21–6 (12–4)	Memorial Gymnasium  Nashville, Tennessee
SEC tournament
Mar 10, 2006*	No. 14	vs. South Carolina Quarterfinals	L 71–79	21–7	Bridgestone Arena  Nashville, Tennessee
NCAA tournament
Mar 16, 2006*	(2 E) No. 18	vs. (15 E) Winthrop First Round	W 63–61	22–7	Greensboro Coliseum  Greensboro, North Carolina
Mar 18, 2006*	(2 E) No. 18	vs. (7 E) Wichita State Second Round	L 73–80	22–8	Greensboro Coliseum  Greensboro, North Carolina
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time[4].

Rankings

Main article: 2005–06 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

References

1. sports-reference.com 2005-06 Southeastern Conference Season Summary
2. "Lofton's late jumper helps Vols avoid upset". ESPN. March 16, 2006. Archived from the original on July 31, 2022. Retrieved July 30, 2022.
3. "Shockers send Vols packing, advance to Sweet 16". ESPN. March 18, 2006. Archived from the original on July 31, 2022. Retrieved July 30, 2022.
4. Tennessee Season Statistics