Tennessee Basketball makes big jump in rankings after beating Florida 64-44
Tennessee Basketball came in at No. 4 in both the Associated Press Top 25 and the Coaches Poll on Monday afternoon, moving up four spots after splitting home games last week with a 78-73 loss to Kentucky and the 64-44 win over Florida.
Tennessee (18-4, 5-4 SEC) hosts Missouri (17-4, 6-2) on Wednesday in a 7 p.m. Eastern Time start (TV: SEC Network) at Food City Center. The Vols then go on the road for four of the next five: at Oklahoma (Saturday), at Kentucky (February 11), Vanderbilt (February 15), at Texas A&M (February 22) and at LSU (February 25).
Missouri moved up to No. 15 in the AP Top 25 and No. 16 in the Coaches Poll on Monday. The Tigers have won six of its last seven and is coming off an 88-61 win at Mississippi State on Saturday. The Tigers also won at Florida, 83-82 on January 14, and also have wins over LSU, Vanderbilt, Arkansas and Ole Miss since the start of SEC play.
Tennessee was shorthanded in win over Florida
The Vols bounced back from the 73-43 loss at Florida on January 7 to beat the Gators by 20 at home on Saturday, despite having just seven scholarship players available.
Senior point guard Zakai Zeigler was ruled out Saturday morning and it was announced after pragame warmups that senior forward Igor Milicic Jr. would miss the game due to an illness.
“I know that if Zakai could have gone, he would have,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said on Saturday. “Igor came in (Saturday), he did everything he could to get enough fluid in him. He fully wanted to try (to play) and he couldn’t.”
Top 10
- 1Breaking
Leonard Hamilton
FSU coach to step down following season
- 2New
Top 25 shakeup
AP Poll sees massive changes
- 3Hot
NFL Mock Draft
QBs falling in ESPN 2-round mock
- 4
John Calipari
'He was the right guy for the job'
- 5
Jeremiah Smith reacts
Chip Kelly news hits hard
Get the On3 Top 10 to your inbox every morning
By clicking "Subscribe to Newsletter", I agree to On3's Privacy Notice, Terms, and use of my personal information described therein.
Zeigler, who was hurt late in the first half Tuesday night against Kentucky, said Sunday that he’ll be back for Wednesday’s game against Missouri.
“I’m good,” Zeigler said during an appearance on The Locker Room. “I’ll be back next game. Simple as that.”
Tennessee ranked No. 4 in NET, KenPom.com
Tennessee is still ranked No. 4 in the NET, with a 5-4 record in Quad 1 games and, 3-0 records in Quad 2 and Quad 3 and a 7-0 record in Quad 4.
Auburn is No. 1 in the NET, Duke is No. 2 and Houston is No. 3.
The Vols moved up two spots in the KenPom.com ratings after the win over Florida, going from No. 6 overall to No. 4. They went back up to No. 1 in adjusted defensive efficiency, giving up 85.5 points per 100 possessions, and are No. 37 in adjusted offensive efficiency, scoring 116.2 points per 100 possessions.
Tennessee’s next three games, and seven of the remaining nine games left on the regular-season schedule, are Quad 1 games. Vanderbilt at home on February 15 is a Quad 2 game and the home game against South Carolina on March 8 is a Quad 3 game.
The five Quad 1 wins for the Vols are Louisville, Baylor, Illinois, Texas and Florida.
