Where Tennessee basketball is ranked in this week's AP Top 25
Tennessee basketball dropped one spot in Monday’s Associated Press Top 25 and is now ranked No. 12 after splitting games last week, losing 68-63 at Texas A&M on Tuesday then returning home to beat South Carolina 85-45 on Saturday.
The Vols (21-8, 10-6 SEC) host Arkansas (19-10, 8-8) on Tuesday, a 9 p.m. Eastern Time start on ESPN2 on Senior Night at Thompson-Boling Arena. The regular-season schedule closes at Auburn (19-10, 9-7) on Saturday, a 2 p.m. ET start on ESPN.
Josiah-Jordan James returned against South Carolina on Saturday after missing four games with a sprained left ankle. He cored 18 points on 7-for-11 shooting in 21 minutes off the bench. Freshman Julian Phillips missed his fourth straight game with a hip flexor injury and graduate-transfer Tyreke Key missed the game with an ankle injury.
Vols enter final week of regular-season fourth in SEC standings
Tennessee beat Auburn 46-43 at Thompson-Boling Arena on February 4. James had 15 points and 14 rebounds in the win while Johni Broome scored 11 points and K.D. Johnson added 10 for Auburn.
The Vols have not faced Arkansas this season. They lost 58-48 at Arkansas last season, then beat the Hogs 78-74 at Thompson-Boling Arena two weeks later.
Tennessee is ranked No. 3 in the NET with a 6-5 record in Quad 1 games, 3-3 in Quad 2 games and a combined 12-0 record in Quad 3 and Quad 4 games. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has Tennessee as a No. 3 seed, and the No. 10 overall seed, in his latest NCAA Tournament projection.
The Vols are back up to No. 4 in the KenPom.com ratings, up two spots from last week. They’re ranked No. 1 in adjusted defensive efficiency (86.9) and No. 62 in adjusted offensive efficiency (112.4).
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Up Next: No. 12 Tennessee vs. Arkansas, Tuesday, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN2
Tennessee enters the final week of the regular season in fourth place in the SEC standings, a game back of third-place Kentucky (20-9, 11-5), two games back of Texas A&M (21-8, 13-3) and five games back of Alabama (25-4, 15-1).
Missouri, Auburn and Vanderbilt all have matching 9-7 records, a game ahead of Arkansas (8-8) and two games ahead of Florida (7-9) and Mississippi State (7-9). The bottom four are currently Georgia (6-10), Ole Miss (3-13), South Carolina (3-13) and LSU (2-14).
The SEC Tournament will be played March 8-13 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. The top four teams in the regular-season standings receive a double-bye into the quarterfinal round.
The Vols started the preseason ranked No. 11 in both the Associated Press Top 25 and the USA Today Coaches Poll. They dropped as low as No. 22, on November 14 and November 21, after the loss to Colorado in Nashville, and climbed as high as No. 2 on January 30, after the home win over Texas in the Big 12-SEC Challenge.
