Where Tennessee basketball is ranked in the updated Associated Press Top 25
After dropping one spot last week, Tennessee moved up three places in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 and is now No. 5 in the updated ranking. The Vols beat Mississippi State and South Carolina by a combined 77 points while going 2-0 last week.
Houston is back at No. 1, replacing Purdue, which dropped to No. 3 after its loss at Rutgers on Monday. Kansas is No. 2 and Alabama is No. 4.
Tennessee (13-2, 3-0 SEC) hosts Vanderbilt (8-7, 1-1) on Tuesday, a 9 p.m. Eastern Time start at Thompson-Boling Arena. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network.
The Vols got 21 points and 10 rebounds from Olivier Nkamhoua on Saturday at South Carolina, as the senior forward went a perfect 10-for-10 from the field in the 85-42 win over the Gamecocks.
It was South Carolina’s biggest loss in SEC play and in the 20-year history of Colonial Life Arena. It was Tennessee’s third largest margin of victory on the road and the biggest since 1965.
Vols shot 60.3 percent from the field, 51.3 percent from 3-point line in last two games
Tennessee shot 51.5 percent from the field (35 of 68) and 45.5 percent from the 3-point line (10 of 22) in the win. It came just days after the Vols shot 69.2 percent from the field (36 of 52) and 57.1 percent (12 of 21) from the 3-point line in the 87-53 win over Mississippi State on Tuesday at Thompson-Boling Arena.
“I think it’s just guys starting to understand what we’re trying to do offensively,” Tennessee assistant coach Rod Clark said before practice on Monday, discussing the recent increase in offensive efficiency, “getting more comfortable, seeing the ball go in a lot more early. Just kind of getting into a rhythm. I think the goal is every year to start getting into a rhythm when league play comes around, you want to start playing your best basketball.
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“I just think that everything is going our way right now as far as the offensive end because we put time in and we’re just getting better.”
Up Next: Tennessee vs. South Carolina, Tuesday, 9 p.m. ET, SEC Network
At South Carolina on Saturday, sophomore center Jonas Aidoo scored a career-high 15 points, going 6-for-9 from the field and 2-for-3 from the 3-point line, and Santiago Vescovi and Josiah-Jordan James added 12 points each.
Clark said Tennessee finding its rhythm by playing inside out as been something that has come naturally after head coach Rick Barnes has spent all season emphasizing the need for it.
“We’ve been wanting to establish ourselves inside with our big guys,” Clark said. “And that has helped us get more shots on the perimeter, versus early in the year we had some games where, early in the game, we kind of took some open threes, which weren’t terrible shots, but establishing ourself in the post is always a better thing for us offensively.”
