What we know so far about Tennessee basketball's 2023-24 schedule

It was announced earlier this week that Tennessee basketball will face Syracuse to open the Maui Invitational on November 20, the first of three games in three days for the Vols in Maui.

Purdue and Gonzaga are on the same side of the Maui bracket as Tennessee and Syracuse, with the winners and losers from the two games matching up November 21. The other half of the bracket includes Kansas-Chaminade and UCLA-Marquette.

Syracuse is another big-name non-conference opponent the Vols will face this season.

Tennessee basketball on July 17 announced its complete non-conference schedule for the upcoming season, highlighted by road games at Wisconsin and North Carolina, a home date with Illinois and a neutral-site game against North Carolina State in San Antonio, along with the trip to the Maui Invitational.

The Vols open the 2023-24 home schedule with an exhibition game against Lenoir-Rhyne on October 31 and will host Tennessee Tech on November 6 in the regular-season opener. They go to Wisconsin on November 10 and host Wofford on November 14, before playing three games in the Maui Invitation November 20-22.

The Vols go to North Carolina on November 29, the first game back after returning from Maui. They host George Mason on December 5, Illinois on December 9 and Georgia Southern on December 12. 

The neutral-site game against North Carolina State is set for December 16 and a home date with Tarleton State is the final game before the Christmas break, scheduled for December 21. Tennessee hosts Norfolk State on January 2 in the final non-conference game on the schedule.

SEC opponents announced, schedule not set

The SEC schedule has not yet been set, but opponents have been announced. 

Tennessee will have home-and-homes with Kentucky, South Carolina and Vanderbilt. The Vols will host Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Missouri, South Carolina, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt. They’ll play road games at Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt.

The game at Wisconsin is the second in a home-and-home series that started at Thompson-Boling Arena in December 2019. The Vols were scheduled to play at Wisconsin in December 2020 before the COVID pandemic altered the 2020-21 basketball season.

Wisconsin won 68-48 at Thompson-Boling Arena on December 28, 2019. Wisconsin finished 20-15 last season, going 9-11 in Big Ten play before making a run to the NIT championship game, where the Badgers lost to North Texas.

Tennessee announced in December that a home-and-home with Illinois had been scheduled, starting in Knoxville this season. The Vols make the return trip to Illinois on December 14, 2024.

Tennessee playing North Carolina for fourth time since 2017

The North Carolina game on November 29 is the first edition of the ACC-SEC Challenge, which takes place of the SEC-Big 12 Challenge and the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.

Five of the eight teams in the Maui Invitational are ranked in the top ten of ESPN’s Way Too Early Top 25 for the 2023-24 season. Kansas is ranked No. 1, ahead of Purdue at No. 3. Tennessee is No. 6, Gonzaga is No. 8 and Marquette is No. 10.

Tennessee last faced UNC in November 2021, beating the Tar Heels 89-72 in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament in Connecticut. The two teams played a home-and-home in 2017 and 2018, with North Carolina winning 73-71 in Chapel Hill and 78-73 in Knoxville.

Before the regular-season schedule gets here, Tennessee will play three exhibition games in early August during a 10-day tour and in October will scrimmage at Michigan State, after the Spartans scrimmaged behind closed doors in Knoxville last October.