Tennessee Basketball stays at No. 1 in updated rankings
Tennessee Basketball stayed at No. 1 on Monday in both the new Associated Press Top 25 and the Coaches Poll. The Vols received 50 of 62 first-place votes in the AP Top 25 and 22 of 31 first-place votes in the Coaches Poll.
Auburn is still ranked No. 2 in both, receiving 12 first-place votes in the AP Top 25 and nine first-place votes in the Coaches Poll. The Vols made the move to No. 1 last week, before a 75-62 win over Miami in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden and the 66-64 win at Illinois on Saturday.
Tennessee (10-0) is back home to face Western Carolina (3-6) on Tuesday at Food City Center, a 7 p.m. Eastern Time start on SEC Network+.
The Vols are ranked No. 1 for the third time in program history. They spent a week at the top of the polls in February 2008 and a month there in February 2019, during the program-record 19-game win streak.
No. 1 Tennessee vs. Western Carolina: How To Watch
Start Time: Tuesday, 7 p.m. Eastern Time
Streaming: SEC Network+
Radio: WNML-FM 99.1 in Knoxville. The Vol Network radio broadcast can be heard on local affiliates across the state of Tennessee.
KenPom Prediction: Tennessee 87, Western Carolina 53 (99.9% chance to win)
Where the Vols have been ranked this season
Tennessee debuted at No. 1 in the first NET ranking of the season and stayed there for a second week, but have since dropped to No. 2 behind Auburn. The Vols are 3-0 in Quad 1 games, 3-0 in Quad 3 games and 2-0 in Quad 4.
KenPom.com also has Tennessee at No. 2 overall behind Auburn. The Vols are KenPom’s No. 1 defense, with an adjusted efficiency score of 88.6, and the offense is ranked No. 16 in adjusted efficiency.
Top 10
- 1Breaking
Clemson lands transfer
Dabo strategy change
- 2
Dave Clawson
WF coach steps down
- 3
AP Poll Shakeup
Chaotic Saturday shakes up Top 25
- 4Trending
Mike Norvell
$4.5M of salary going back to FSU
- 5
Commish shreds portal
Marshall bowl opt-out spotlights issue
Get the On3 Top 10 to your inbox every morning
Tennessee was ranked No. 12 in both the preseason AP Top 25 and Coaches Poll.
The Vols moved up to No. 11 in the AP Poll in Week 2, stayed there in Week 3 and went to No. 7 in Week 4, before jumping up to No. 3 two weeks.
They moved up to No. 9 in the second Coaches Poll, stayed there for two weeks, then went to No. 6 before the jump to No. 3.
No. 1 Tennessee returns home for final three non-conference games
Tennessee hosts Western Carolina on Tuesday, the start of four straight home games, including the start of SEC play January 4 against Arkansas at Food City Center.
Tuesday’s game is a 7 p.m. Eastern Time start on SEC Network+. The Vols then host Middle Tennessee State on December 23, a 7 p.m. ET start on SEC Network, and close the non-conference schedule against Norfolk State on December 31, a 3 p.m. ET start on SEC Network+.
The Arkansas game on Saturday, January 4 is a 1 p.m. ET start on ESPN and marks the return of former Tennessee center Jonas Aidoo, who transferred to Arkansas during the spring to play for new Razorback head coach John Calipari.
