Tennessee basketball is holding steady at No. 20 in this week’s USA Today Coaches Poll after having a week off around Christmas. There was no new AP Poll this week due to the lack of games during Christmas week. The Vols are ranked No. 19 in the latest AP Poll.
The Vols are one of six SEC teams in this week’s Coaches Poll, coming in behind No. 11 Vanderbilt, No. 15 Alabama and No. 18 Arkansas. They came in ahead of No. 22 Florida and No. 24 Georgia.
Rick Barnes’ 11th Tennessee team is currently 9-3 with one game remaining in the non conference slate. Tennessee went 3-3 in its six games against power five competition. The Vols beat Rutgers and Houston in the Players Era Festival and also knocked off Louisville at home. Tennessee dropped three straight games in the middle of the stretch, losing to Kansas in Las Vegas, at Syracuse and against Illinois in Nashville.
Ja’Kobi Gillespie is Tennessee’s leading scorer through the first 12 games of the season with 17.6 points per game on 42% shooting from the field and 35% shooting from three-point range. He’s also averaging a team-best 5.7 assists per game.
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Nate Ament is Tennessee’s second most productive player to this point in the season, averaging 15.3 points, 6.9 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. JP Estrella (10.4 points per game, 4.5 rebounds per game) and Vanderbilt transfer Jaylen Carey (9 PPG, 6.7 RPG) have given the Vols an inside game that they haven’t had in recent years.
Tennessee is back in action on Tuesday night when they face South Carolina State at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center. It’s the Vols’ final matchup of their non conference slate and it comes against a South Carolina State team that ranks 361st out of 365 nationally according to KenPom.
After what should be a drama free non conference matchup, Tennessee opens up SEC play on Saturday, Jan. 3 at Arkansas. The Razorbacks are also off to a 9-3 start this season and have strong wins over Texas Tech and Louisville.
Tennessee opened up SEC play with a blowout win over the Razorbacks last season and are looking to repeat that this year on the road against a stronger Arkansas team.
