The Tennessee men’s basketball team announced a summer European tour that will include three exhibition games Thursday morning.
The Vols head to Italy on July 31 before returning back to Knoxville on Aug. 9. Rick Barnes’ ninth Tennessee team will play three games over the 10-day trip, facing off against the Lithuanian U21 National Team on consecutive days, Aug. 4-5, before facing Italian club team A.S. Stella Azzura on Aug. 7.
The matchups against the Lithuanian U21 National Team are being played in Florence while the Vols will battle A.S. Stella Azzura in Rome. All three games are being streamed on FloSports, which can accessed through a one-month subscription.
A.S. Stella Azzura is in Italian’s No. 2 professional league, Series A2, and currently boasts an 8-5 record this season.
The Tennessee basketball team begins its trip in the Lake Como area of Italy before traveling to Florence and then Rome to end the trip.
Off the court, Tennessee will tour Lake Como and the Florence Cathedral (Duomo) while also checking out the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, the Colosseum and Vatican City.
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The trip to Italy marks Tennessee’s seventh ever foreign tour and the second foreign tour of the Barnes’ era. The Vols previously went to France/Spain the summer before the 2017-18 season.
After a strong offseason of roster building, Tennessee is poised for another strong season under Barnes’ guidance.
Tennessee returns seniors Santiago Vescovi and Josiah-Jordan James as well as talented underclassmen Zakai Zeigler, Jonas Aidoo, Tobe Awaka and Jahmai Mashack from last year’s Sweet 16 team. The Vols added to their roster this offseason too, adding talented transfers Jordan Gainey, Chris Ledlum and Dalton Knecht.
Both Knecht and Ledlum rank as four-star transfers and were two heavily sought after players in the transfer portal this cycle.
The Vols began summer practices earlier this week as they look to mesh the old faces with the new ahead of the Italy trip and, more importantly, the season.
