Tennessee moves up to No. 1 overall in KenPom.com ratings

Tennessee is the new No. 1 team in the KenPom.com ratings. Houston, the previous No. 1, struggled to beat unranked Cincinnati in Houston on Saturday, helping the Vols jump past them in the ratings. Tennessee’s 29.49 adjusted efficiency margin is just head of Houston’s 29.30.

The Vols have had the No. 1 defense in KenPom’s adjusted efficiency rating for the last nine weeks. They’re No. 41 in adjusted offensive efficiency.

Tennessee (17-3) hosts No. 10 Texas (17-3) on Saturday (6 p.m. Eastern Time; TV: ESPN) at Thompson-Boling Arena in the Big 12-SEC Challenge on Saturday.

The Vols moved up to No. 4 in the Associated Press Top 25 on Monday, moving up five spots after multiple highly ranked teams were upset last week. 

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi bumped Tennessee up to a No. 1 seed in his NCAA Tournament projection earlier this week, moving the Vols up to the fourth spot on the top seed line after Kansas lost Monday at Baylor.

The Vols have never been a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. They were a No. 2 seed in 2008 and 2019, advancing to the Sweet Sixteen both years.

Vols have college basketball’s No. 1 defense for ninth week in a row

Georgia, in its 70-41 loss at Tennessee on Wednesday, became the 10th opponent held to 50 points or less by the Vols and the 15th held under 60 points. The Bulldogs needed a layup with two seconds left to break 40 points. 

Tennessee’s biggest margin of victory this season was the 54-point win over Alcorn State. The Vols have won by 40 or more points three times and 30 or more points eight times. The slimmest margin of victory was three points against Maryland in December, just ahead of four at Ole Miss to start SEC play. The Vols beat USC by seven in overtime in the Battle 4 Atlantis in November and beat Vanderbilt by nine at home earlier this month. 

The other 13 wins have been decided by 10 points or more. 

Tennessee remained at No. 2 overall in the KenPom.com ratings after the win over Georgia, closing the gap to 0.68 points behind No. 1 Houston. 

The Vols have been ranked No. 1 in adjusted defensive efficiency (82.7) — points allowed per 100 possessions — for the last eight weeks in the KenPom numbers. Rutgers, at 86.4, is the next closest. 

Tennessee is ranked No. 1 in effective field-goal percentage, a statistic that adjusts for the fact that a 3-point field goal is worth more than a 2-point field goal, and No. 1 in 3-point percentage allowed (21.6). The Vols are No. 5 in steal percentage (14.3), No. 6 in 2-point percentage allowed (42.8), No. 7 in turnover percentage (25.2) and No. 22 in block percentage (14.0).

Zakai Zeigler is second in the SEC in steals, with 46, and Santiago Vescovi is fourth with 40. Zeigler ranks 22nd nationally in steal percentage, ahead of Vescovi at No. 32. Sophomore wing Jahmai Mashack is ahead of both, though, and is ranked fourth nationally with a 5.5 steal percentage. Mashack has 30 steals despite averaging just 16.4 minutes per game. 

Jonas Aidoo is tied for seventh in the SEC with 24 blocks. He’s ranked 24th nationally in block percentage, at 14.3. 

Vols ranked No. 2 overall in NET with seven wins in Quad 1, Quad 2 games

Tennessee entered the weekend No. 2 in the NET, the metric used by the NCAA Tournament selection committee to seed the 68-team field. They have a 3-1 record in Quad 1 games, a 5-2 record in Quad 2 and a combined 8-0 record in Quad 3 and Quad 4 games.

After the loss to Kentucky on January 14 at Thompson-Boling Arena, Tennessee bounced back with wins at Mississippi State and LSU last week despite battling injury and illness, then dominated Georgia at home.

Senior guards Santiago Vescovi (shoulder) and Tyreke Key (illness) didn’t play against Mississippi State. Zakai Zeigler scored a career-high 24 points and freshman wing Julian Phillips had 18 points and 11 rebounds to help rally Tennessee from down nine points in the first half.

Senior center Uros Plavsic didn’t play at LSU due to illness, while both Vescovi and Key returned. Vescovi scored six points and Key had 10 points and a season-high seven rebounds. Senior Josiah-Jordan James scored a season-high 22 points.