Live Updates: No. 5 Tennessee basketball vs. Texas A&M
No. 5 Tennessee is back home to host Texas A&M on Saturday night in front of a capacity checkerboard crowd at Thompson-Boling Arena. The game is set for an 8 p.m. Eastern Time start on ESPN.
The Vols (20-6, 10-3 SEC) are coming off a 72-67 win at Missouri on Tuesday, rallying from down seven points in the second half behind 18 points and 10 rebounds from Tobe Awaka, 17 points from Dalton Knecht and 14 more from Jonas Aidoo.
Texas A&M (15-11, 6-7) beat Tennessee 85-69 two weeks ago at Reed Arena in College Station, but have dropped three straight games since then. The Aggies lost 74-73 at Vanderbilt, 100-75 at Alabama and 78-71 at home against Arkansas on Tuesday.
How to Watch: No. 5 Tennessee vs. Texas A&M
Start Time: Saturday, 8 p.m. Eastern Time
Location: Thompson-Boling Arena (21,678)
TV: ESPN
Streaming: WatchESPN.com
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 77, Texas A&M 66 (Vols 85% chance to win)
The Line: Tennessee -10.5
A Closer Look: Texas A&M Aggies
The last time these two teams met, Texas A&M was on fire out of the gate, hitting eight 3-pointers over the first eight minutes and ended the night 11-for-28 from the 3-point line.
The Aggies got a game-high 27 points from Tyrece Radford and another 25 from Wade Taylor IV as the two combined to go 7-for-18 from the 3-point line. Solomon Washington added 11 points and Andersson Garcia had 17 rebounds.
Tennessee got 22 points from Dalton Knecht and 15 from Zakai Zeigler, but never got closer than 12 points in the second half, after trailing by 14 at halftime.
The Vols since then have won 92-63 at Arkansas, 88-53 at home against Vanderbilt and 72-67 on the road at Missouri on Tuesday.
Vols to ‘checker’ Thompson-Boling Arena
Tennessee basketball on Wednesday announced plans for a “Checker Game” Saturday night’s game against Texas A&M. Fans can find their designated color by visiting utsports.com/checker.
The Texas A&M game has been sold out since January. Tennessee has already set a new single-season program record for sellout crowds at home games. Games against Illinois, Ole Miss, Alabama, LSU and Vanderbilt had capacity crowds of 21,678 or more — the announced crowd for the Ole Miss game on January 6 was 21,932 — and the Auburn and Kentucky games are also sold out.
The Vols host Auburn next Wednesday and Kentucky comes to Knoxville on March 9 for the regular-season finale on Senior Day at Thompson-Boling Arena.
