For the first time ever, Tennessee and Washington are set to face-off on the basketball court.
The Vols (2-0) will take on the No. 20 Washington Huskies (2-0) on Saturday afternoon, but the game won’t be played on either team’s home court. In fact, the game won’t even be in the United States.
Tennessee and Washington are participating in the James Naismith Classic, which is taking place up in Toronto, Ontario in Canada. The Vols and Huskies will be playing in the home of the NBA’s Toronto Raptors in the first big non-conference match-up of the season for UT.
Unfortunately for U.S. residents, Saturday’s game will be difficult to watch.
Saturday’s Tennessee-Washington match-up will be streamed exclusively on ESPN+ and won’t be on a traditional cable network in the US. A subscription to ESPN+ is $4.99 monthly or $50 for an annual subscription. More information on what an ESPN+ subscription gives you can be found here.
That notwithstanding, Saturday’s game should be entertaining if you can watch it.
The Vols have beaten UNC Asheville and Murray State to start the season, with the latter taking a second half comeback for Tennessee to emerge victorious. Tennessee trailed Murray State 44-35 at halftime, but the Vols’ defense clamped down in the second half, holding the Racers to just 19 points in the final half of play. Senior Jordan Bowden sparked the offense in the second half, scoring 19 of his career-high 26 points in the second half and leading the Vols to an 82-63 victory.
Washington, meanwhile, already has a high-profile win under their belt. The Huskies beat No. 16 Baylor 67-64 to start the season, and they followed that up with a 56-46 win over Mount St. Mary’s on Tuesday of this past week.
The Huskies added two five-stars to their roster in the 2019 recruiting cycle, and they have a name on their roster that will be familiar to Vol fans. Five-star freshmen Isaiah Stewart (6-9, 250) and Jaden McDaniels (6-9, 200) have already had a huge impact on Washington’s season, with Stewart averaging 15.5 points and six rebounds and McDaniels averaging 11.5 points and eight rebounds through the first two games of the season.
Washington also added former Kentucky five-star Quade Green to their roster over the offseason. Green only played in nine games for the Wildcats last season, but he played against the Vols as a freshman in the 2017-18 season. In two games for the Huskies, Green is averaging 3.5 points, six assists, and 3.5 rebounds in 33 minutes a game.
If you couldn’t make it up to Canada to watch the game live, here’s how you can watch the Tennessee vs. Washington game today:
Tip-Off: 5:00 Eastern, November 16th, Scotiabank Arena (Toronto, ON)
TV: ESPN+ (Doug Sherman and Sean Farnham)
Streaming Online: ESPN+, ESPN app
Radio: Vol Network
Line: Tennessee (-1)
