Tennessee basketball has built a strong non conference schedule for the 2026-27 season to go along with what looks like one of the most talented teams of Rick Barnes’ tenure in Knoxville.
That challenging schedule will begin before Tennessee officially plays its first game of the season. The Vols are working on adding preseason exhibition games against both Duke and Illinois, Rick Barnes said on the RTI Low Down last week.
“What we’re also working on right now, we’re hoping we can finalize it, we get one more exhibition game,” Barnes said. “I wish we had five. I really do. I wish we had five of them. We’re talking about going back to Duke to return that game with Duke. We’re in a conversation with Illinois for them to come here and we’ll go back there a year from now.”
Tennessee hosted Duke in a preseason exhibition game last season, falling to the Blue Devils 83-76 in Knoxville. Now, the Vols are looking to head east to Durham for a return matchup against Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Illinois has been an incredibly common opponent for Tennessee in recent years but a potential exhibition game is a new development.
The Vols have played Illinois in the regular season each of the last three years. Tennessee knocked off the Fighting Illini 86-79 in Knoxville during the 2023-24 season and 66-64 in Champaign during the 2024-25 season.
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Illinois got a bit of revenge last season, knocking off Tennessee 75-62 in Nashville on its way to making its first Final Four since 2005. Tennessee is scheduled to face Illinois in Chicago during the 2027-28 season, but with a one-year gap in the schedule, an exhibition game could take place.
Both Duke and Illinois project to have standout teams again next season, coming in the top 10 of most way-too-early top 25 rankings ahead of next season.
In the regular season, the Vols will host Michigan State, travel to Purdue and face NC State in Nashville. Tennessee will also play either three or four games in the Player Era Festival in Las Vegas and will host an ACC team in the ACC-SEC Challenge.
“I learned a long time ago that you can’t win big games if you don’t put yourself in big games,” Barnes said. “You want to win them all but that’s pretty hard to do, obviously, but you do get a lot of exposure in those type games.”
While Tennessee is “hoping” to finalize preseason games against Duke and Illinois, it’s not certain that they will take place. Last year, the Vols thought they had a preseason game scheduled against Michigan but it ended up not happening. Instead, Tennessee played Ohio State in a closed door scrimmage.
