Tennessee basketball moved up two-spots to No. 6 in the March 17 AP Poll following its strong showing at the SEC Tournament in Nashville. The Vols jumped Alabama and Michigan State in the rankings after the two teams lost in their respective conference tournament semifinals.
The Vols went 2-1 on the week, knocking off Texas in the quarterfinals and Auburn in the semifinals before falling to Florida in the championship game. Zakai Zeigler and Jordan Gainey each earned spots on the five-player All-Tournament team after strong showings.
Zeigler averaged 20.7 points, six assists, 3.7 rebounds and two steals in the three games in Nashville. Gainey averaged 16 points in the three games including 24 point explosion in the Vols’ loss against Florida.
Tennessee is one of seven SEC teams in this week’s rankings coming in behind No. 3 Florida as well as No. 4 Auburn and ahead of No. 7 Alabama, No. 18 Kentucky, No. 19 Texas A&M and No. 23 Missouri.
More From RTI: See Tennessee Basketball’s Odds To Win The NCAA Tournament
The SEC landed a record 14 teams in the NCAA Tournament including Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Arkansas, Georgia, Vanderbilt, Oklahoma and Texas in addition to the seven SEC teams ranked in the top 25. Auburn and Florida both landed as one seeds in the NCAA Tournament while Alabama and Tennessee are two seeds.
Tennessee begins play at the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night when they face 15-seed Wofford at Rupp Arena in Lexington. The Terriers (19-15, 10-8 SoCon) are in the NCAA Tournament after making a run as a six-seed in the SoCon Tournament to earn the conference’s automatic bid in the Big Dance.
If the Vols get past Wofford they’ll face either seven-seed UCLA or 10-seed Utah State in the Round of 32. Other top seeds in the Midwest Region include one-seed Houston, three-seed Kentucky, four-seed Purde, five-seed Clemson and six-seed Illinois.
Tipoff between Tennessee and Wofford is at 6:50 p.m. ET on Thursday night in Lexington. TNT is broadcasting the game.
