Tennessee basketball doesn’t yet know its full SEC schedule for the 2025-26 season. But the Vols do know who they will play and where the games will be played.
As is always the case, Tennessee will play ever team in the SEC at least once while playing three teams twice. The Vols will face rivals Kentucky and Vanderbilt twice as they do every season while also facing rival Alabama twice. Tennessee faced Florida twice last season but get the Crimson Tide instead of the defending champions twice this coming season.
The rest of Tennessee’s opponents are the same from last season with the locations flipped. Rick Barnes’ 11th Tennessee team will host Alabama, Auburn, Kentucky, LSU, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Texas, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center.
Tennessee will head on the road to face Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Missouri, South Carolina and Vanderbilt.
While the dates, times and broadcast details for the games are not yet set, Tennessee opens SEC play on Jan. 3 and concludes SEC play on March 7.
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Tennessee has yet to release its full non conference schedule we do know a handful of matchups at this point. The Vols host Louisville in a non conference matchup while traveling to Syracuse in the ACC/SEC Challenge. Tennessee will also face off against Illinois in Nashville while playing three power five opponents in the Players Era Tournament in Las Vegas.
Tennessee basketball underwent a major roster overhaul this offseason, losing four of its starters from last season and five of its top six rotational players. The Vols do return key front court pieces Felix Okpara and Cade Phillips as well as JP Estrella who missed last season due to injury. Rick Barnes and his staff also went out and landed Vanderbilt power forward Jaylen Carey out of the transfer portal.
In the backcourt, Tennessee returns reserve guard Bishop Boswell but made major additions to its roster through the transfer portal and recruiting ranks. The Vols landed Maryland point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Louisiana Tech shooting guard Amaree Abram.
Out of the prep ranks, Tennessee added five-star wing Nate Ament, four-star wing Amari Evans, four-star center DeWayne Brown, French wing Clarence Massamba and three-star point guard Troy Henderson to its roster.
Tennessee projects as a top 25 team again next season and has the potential of a top 10 team if things come together well.
