Tennessee Basketball needs one more win to tie the program record for best start to a season

Tennessee Basketball needs just one more win to tie the record for the best start to a season in program history. The Vols, ranked No. 1 for a fourth straight week, went a perfect 13-0 in non-conference play and will look to tie the record against No. 23 Arkansas (11-2) on Saturday (1 p.m. Eastern Time, ESPN) at Food City Center.

The 1922-23 team holds the program record with a 14-0 start in a 17-game season. Tennessee’s 67-52 win over Norfolk State on Tuesday night gave the Vols the second best start, passing the 1915-16 team’s 12-0 record in a 12-game season.

Here’s a look back at the best starts for the Vols, dating all the way back to 1913:

1922-23: 14-0

Tennessee’s 1922-23 team started its 17-game season with 14 straight wins. The victims included Camp Benning, Maryville, Tusculum, Milligan, Georgetown (Ky.), Centre, Transylvania, Centenary and Emory & Henry. The only regular-season loss came at Vanderbilt, 28-25. The season ended with a 23-19 loss to Georgia in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association Tournament in Atlanta. 

1915-16: 12-0

The 1915-16 team went a perfect 12-0 in its 12-game season, beating Johnson Bible College, Chattanooga, Cumberland, Murphy College in Sevierville, Emory & Henry and Centre. The Vols also won twice in Lexington, beating Kentucky and Transylvania there, and won another game in Louisville. 

1999-2000: 11-0

The 1999-2000 season started with five straight wins in Knoxville, with Tennessee beating Elon, UNC Asheville, Long Island, South Florida and Miami (Ohio). The Vols then went on the road and won 76-50 at Pitt, returned home to beat West Virginia and MTSU at Thompson-Boling Arena, then beat Memphis at Memphis. Tennessee won two games in Puerto Rico, against American University of Puerto Rico and Southern Illinois, before the 11-game win streak was snapped in an 88-68 loss to Tulsa. Tennessee finished 21-9, losing in the second round of the NCAA Tournament against Southwest Missouri State. 

2024-25: 10-0

Before the 66-64 win at the horn at Illinois on Saturday, Tennessee had won each of its first nine games by at least 13 points. The Vols won by 22 at Louisville in November, beat Virginia by 22 and Baylor by 15 over back-to-back days in The Bahamas and beat Syracuse 96-70 in the SEC-ACC Challenge on December 3. The Vols reached No. 1 in the rankings last week, after an 8-0 start,  and beat Miami 75-62 in the Jimmy V Classic Tuesday at Madison Square Garden, before the road win at Illinois.

1997-98: 10-0

Tennessee won eight straight home games to start the 1997-98 season, then went to Memphis for a 68-66 win over the rival Tigers and to Los Angeles for a 74-70 win over Southern Cal. The 10-0 start was followed by a 1-5 stretch over the next six games, with losses to Florida, Auburn, Vanderbilt, South Carolina and Kentucky. The Vols would finish the season 20-9, eliminated in the first round of the NCAA Tournament by Illinois State in an 82-81 loss. 

1913-14: 9-0

Tennessee started the 1913-14 season with nine straight wins, lost two in a row, then ended the year with six straight wins. The streak to start included wins over South Chattanooga YMCA, Knoxville High School, Johnson Bible College, Carson Newman, two games in two day against Alabama and at Cumberland College. Both losses came at Kentucky over back-to-back days in February 1914, followed by road wins over Louisville YMCA and Louisville.