Looking Back: Tennessee basketball facing Kanas for seventh time since 2009

No. 3 Kansas and No. 22 Tennessee meet tonight for the Battle 4 Atlantis championship. It’s the seventh meeting between the two programs dating back to 2009 and the fourth matchup during the Rick Barnes era in Knoxville. 

The Vols (4-1) and Jayhawks (6-0) are scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time start on ESPN, live from Imperial Arena on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. 

Tennessee advanced with wins over Butler and USC over the last two days, while Kansas beat North Carolina State and Wisconsin in the eight-team bracket. 

Atlantis is the third neutral-site game between Tennessee and Kansas, after previous meetings in New York and Orlando. The two teams have played two home-and-homes, with two games at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville and two games at Allen Fieldhouse in Kansas.

“I have been for four years,” senior forward Olivier Nkamhoua said on Thursday. “My first two years we split with Kansas. We went there, they beat us. They came to us and we beat them. It is kind of a tiebreaker for a lot of our guys.

“We know they are coming back in as the reigning national champions. We know they have great players on their team. We know they have experience. It is going to be a great matchup. It is very exciting to play the No. 3 team in the country.”

Here’s a look back at how the previous six Tennessee-Kansas games and how they played out:

January 30, 2021 — Knoxville — No. 18 Tennessee 80, No. 15 Kansas 61

Yves Pons scored 17 points and grabbed five rebounds, John Fulkerson had 11 points and six boards and Jaden Springer had 13 points, four rebounds and three assists. Victor Bailey scored 11 points and had four assists off the bench. Meanwhile, Kansas finished 6-for-24 from the 3-point line and found itself down 14 points at halftime in front of a limited capacity at Thompson-Boling Arena during the COVID season. David McCormack had 17 points to lead the Jayhawks. Marcus Garrett had 15 and Jalen Wilson had 10 points and nine rebounds off the bench.

January 25, 2020 — Lawrence  — No. 3 Kansas 74, Tennessee 68

Yves Pons had a breakout game, scoring 24 points to go with seven rebounds and three blocks in 37 minutes. John Fulkerson had a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds and Jordan Bowden scored 19 points, going 6-for-13 from the field. But it wasn’t enough. Kansas got 22 points and seven assists from point guard Devon Dotson, center Udoka Azubuike had 18 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks and Ochai Agbaji scored 16 points as the Jayhawks held off the Tennessee upset bid at Allen Fieldhouse. 

Nov. 23, 2018 — New York — No. 2 Kansas 87, No. 5 Tennessee 81 (OT)

No. 2 Kansas had answers late in the NIT Season Tip-Off championship game while the fifth-ranked Vols couldn’t pass the test in an 87-81 loss. Admiral Schofield scored a team-high 21 points, including nine in overtime after Grant Williams fouled out with 1:24 left. Williams finished with 18 points, eight rebounds, six assists and two steals. Kyle Alexander had 10 points and seven rebounds and Jordan Bone added 16 points, six rebounds and five assists. Dedric Lawson led Kansas with 26 points. Devon Dotson scored 17 points and LaGerald Vick added 15.

Nov. 28, 2014 — Orlando — No. 11 Kansas 82, Tennessee 67

Josh Richardson scored 16 points, Kevin Punter had 14 and Detrick Mostella scored 13 off the bench against the Kansas in the 2014 Orlando Classic. Kansas countered with 24 points and 13 rebounds from Perry Ellis. Cliff Alexander had 16 points off the bench, Wayne Selden scored 12 points and Frank Mason III had 11 points to go with seven assists.

Jan. 10, 2010 — Knoxville — No. 16 Tennessee 76, No. 1 Kansas 68

Tennessee got 17 points from Scotty Hopson, 16 from Bobby Maze and 14 from Renaldo Woolridge while starts Wayne Chism and JP Prince played through foul trouble. Skyler McBee hit a three to beat the shot clock and extend Tennessee’s lead to six in the final minute. A Tennessee team with six scholarship players available beat a Kansas team with eight future NBA players in Sherron Collins, Xavier Henry, Marcus Morris, Markieff Morris, Cole Aldrich, Tyshawn Taylor, Thomas Robinson and Jeff Withey. Kansas finished 33-3 overall and went 15-1 in Big 12 play.

Jan. 3, 2009 — Lawrence — Kansas 92, No. 14 Tennessee 85

The first meeting between Kansas and Tennessee took place at Allen Fieldhouse and wasn’t all that memorable for the Vols. Tyler Smith scored 21 points to lead five scorers in double-figures, but Tennessee couldn’t scored enough in the 92-85 loss. Kansas shot 51.5 percent from the field and 43.8 percent from the 3-point line, led by 26 points from Sherron Collins and 22 from Cole Aldrich. Tyshawn Taylor and Brady Morningstar added 10 each for the Jayhawks, who jumped out to a 25-9 lead in the first eight minutes and led wire-to-wire. Wayne Chism had 17 points and eight rebounds for the 14th-ranked Vols while Bobby Maze added 14 points, four assists and three steals before fouling out. Scottie Hopson had 11 points and Cam Tatum scored 10 in 24 minutes off the bench.