Tennessee Basketball: Where the Vols are ranked in the AP Top 25
Tennessee basketball moved up to No. 13, jumping up nine spots, in Monday’s updated Associated Press Top 25. The Vols won three games in three days last week — beating Butler, Southern Cal and Kansas — to win the Battle 4 Atlantis championship on Paradise Island in the Bahamas.
The Vols (5-1), who dropped to No. 22 in the second AP Top 25 of the season after the 78-66 loss to Colorado on November 13, return home to host McNeese State (2-4) on Wednesday, a 7:15 p.m. Eastern Time start on SEC Network.
Tennessee started the season at No. 11 in the first Associated Press Top 25.
Santiago Vescovi named Battle 4 Atlantis MVP
Santiago Vescovi was named Battle 4 Atlantis MVP after scoring 40 points over the three games, with 13 rebounds, 10 assists and five steals.
Tennessee won the tournament — its first in-season, holiday tournament title since winning the 2010 NIT Season Tip-Off — without senior wing Josiah-Jordan James (knee soreness). James is the team’s leading scorer (13.7 points per game) and rebounder (6.0) through the first six games of the season.
“I think the main takeaway from the whole week was stay together through tough times,” Vescovi said Friday night after Tennessee’s 64-50 win over Kansas. “That’s what you have to do. If you start spreading out, it’s going to go bad. I think if we stay together, and that’s what we did the whole week, we know we’re missing Josiah, he’s a really big part of this team.
“I still think he pretty much led the team from the bench. His voice was incredible. He was just like another coach from the bench too. I’ve got to give him a lot of credit, too, for not just staying out, for staying active with all the guys. The main thing is just staying together.”
Up Next: Tennessee vs. McNeese State, Wednesday, 7:15 p.m. ET, SEC Network
Vescovi led Tennessee with 20 points in the win over Kansas, with 14 more from Zakai Zeigler. Tyreke Key scored 10. Five-star freshman Julian Phillips had a breakout performance Thursday against USC, with 25 points and eight rebounds in the 73-66 overtime win.
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Vescovi scored 13 points, Phillips had 11 and Zeigler scored 10 in the 71-45 win over Butler to open the tournament on Wednesday.
“We know how championships are, in terms of you get three games straight, the other team does too. We’re all on the same page. I thought the whole team did a good job. People from the bench came with a lot of energy — Zakai (Zeigler), Jahmai (Mashack), Jonas (Aidoo) — a lot of people that took place in this championship.”
Tennessee allowed just 54.6 points per game during the three-game run through the tournament bracket and moved to No. 1 in KenPom.com‘s ranking of adjusted defensive efficiency.
“It has been three days of hard-nosed defensive basketball against some physicality, different matchups,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said after beating Kansas. “These guys came up here with this in mind. I am really happy for them. They’ve worked hard. They worked hard getting ready for this.”
