Tennessee basketball will be one of eight teams participating in the 2023 Maui Invitational, the program announced Tuesday.
It’s the Vols’ fourth ever time in the storied Maui Invitational and the second time in the Rick Barnes era. Tennessee finished in seventh place in 2016 losing close games against Wisconsin and Oregon before beating Chaminade.
The 40th Maui Invitational field is loaded and includes Gonzaga, Kansas, Marquette, Purdue, Syracuse, UCLA and Chaminade — the host school.
Kansas — coming off winning its second national championship of the Bill Self era — and Gonzaga are two of the nation’s top programs while Purdue and UCLA have had success in recent years.
In the Barnes’ era, Tennessee is 1-2 against Gonzaga, 1-2 against Kansas, 1-1 against Purdue and 1-0 against Chaminade.
Before Tennessee heads to Hawaii for the 2023 Maui Invitational they have a full season ahead of them. The Vols head to the Bahamas in November to play in the Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis for the second time in the Barnes’ era.
The 2022 Battle 4 Atlantis field includes Butler, BYU, Dayton, Kansas, North Carolina State, USC and Wisconsin. Tennessee finished third in the 2017 Battle 4 Atlantis, defeating Purdue and North Carolina State around a loss to Villanova.
Tennessee loses John Fulkerson and Victor Bailey Jr. off its 27-win, SEC Tournament Champion team in 2021-22. However, Kennedy Chandler, Santiago Vescovi and Josiah-Jordan James are all still liable to leave Knoxville for professional basketball.
