No. 2 Tennessee vs. No. 7 Texas: How To Watch, Lineups, Complete Preview

By Ryan Schumpert
- Mar 22, 2024

Photo By Andrew Ferguson/Tennessee Athletics

Tennessee basketball returns to the court on Saturday night where they’ll face Texas in the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament in Charlotte.

The Vols advanced to the second round by blowing out Saint Peter’s in the opening round on Thursday night while Texas’ defense suffocated Colorado State in an opening round victory.

Here’s everything to know about the NCAA Tournament matchup.

More From RTI: Scouting The Texas Longhorns Ahead Of Matchup Against Tennessee

How to Watch – No. 2 Tennessee (25-8, 14-4 SEC) vs No. 7 Texas (21-12, 9-9 Big 12)

Start Time: 8 p.m. ET/7 P.M. CT
Location: Spectrum Center
TV: CBS. PxP: Brian Anderson. CC: Jim Jackson, Sideline: Allie LaForce
Online Streaming: Watch TNT Live
Radio (Knoxville): The Vol Network/The Vol Network App

Betting Lines

Draft Kings

Tennessee -6.5 Texas
Over/under: 146.5

KenPom

Tennessee -5 Texas
Over/under: 145

What Tennessee HC Rick Barnes Said About Texas

On what he remembers about hiring Rodney Terry as an assistant coach

“One thing I’ve always done since the time I’ve been able to be head coach, I’ve always relied on my assistant coaches to help hire who we hire because I think the chemistry of the staff is certainly one of the most important things. Frank had been with me, and I’d known Frank.

He was talking about Rodney. They were friends. He just always talked and said, hey, if we ever get a chance to hire someone, a young guy that I think is really, really good is Rodney. But I do remember that Frank told me that he — Frank did ask me what would happen if Rodney took the Oklahoma job. I just said out of my relationship and my respect for Kelvin — Kelvin and I have known each other forever. I said I wouldn’t do that. That’s just the way I thought at that time. Then a year later, we had an opening, and Rodney was the only guy we really talked to about it and hired him.”

On the comfort of having two elite defensive guards before facing Texas

“Again, it’s going to be more than those two. Certainly Max can get going. We recruited Tyrese. We know what he’s capable of obviously. Dylan Disu was in our league for a little bit and recruited Dylan. We know their personnel obviously.

One, it’s going to be very — they’re going to play extremely hard, expecting to be out there just like they did last night. They did a great job of really forcing their physicality, I thought, on Colorado State, and I expect pretty much the same thing. So we’ll have to be ready and have a number of different guys that can try to guard those guys.”

What Texas HC Rodney Terry Said About Tennessee

On if he would rather not play Tennessee in the NCAA Tournament because of his relationship with Rick Barnes

“I would completely agree with that. Coach is family to me. He’s one of my biggest mentors. He’s been incredible throughout my career. We love each other.

But we also, at the end of the day, I’m super competitive, he’s super competitive. When the game starts, it will be about our players and the guys on the floor.

That’s kind of the relationship we have. We talk often and congratulate. Last time I had interaction with him was congratulating him on winning the regular season conference. It’s always really hard to do. He has a great ball club this year.”

On what makes Tennessee guard Jahmai Mashack such an effective defender

“He’s athletic. He’s a guy that can go on basically anybody on the floor. He can go on a big, switch off and go on the point guard. Plays with a great motor. He’s a tough matchup. Offensively crashes the glass really hard. You have to match his energy when he comes in the game.”

On the familiarity with the two teams since they played each of the last two seasons

“It’s basically our third year we’re playing right now. You look into the fact we were in the SEC Challenge with the Big 12 challenge, and we played back-to-back years, home and away.

Again, we’re very familiar with how Tennessee plays in terms of they’re going to be very physical. It’s a very physical team. They’re a team that’s going to rely on a lot of paint touches. They shoot a lot of threes and make threes, but they’re heavy in the paint, playing inside-out. Really good defense. They’re going to sit down. They’re going to guard you really hard. They’re going to play heavy gap and going to try to limit you to one shot and out.

Again, I think it helps. It helps with them likewise in terms of we’re very familiar with knowing what each other wants to do and the strengths and the weaknesses of both.”

On how Jonas Aidoo has grown in recent years

“He’s made a huge jump. The thing that jumps out about him is his size. He’s a big kid who runs the floor, carves out space offensively with his hard duck-ins. He’s really tough on the glass. His shot-blocking ability changes games as well.

I thought last year was hard for him to get on the floor. They had some other guys that were pretty physical players that took up the majority of the time.

But going against those guys every day, you can see how he’s improved. Olivier (Nkamhoua) played really well against us last year, and Aidoo didn’t get a chance to get on the floor a whole lot.

But watching him from where he was last year to where he’s at right now, he’s really grown from an offensive standpoint and a defensive standpoint. He makes an impact on the game on both ends of the floor.”