Tennessee basketball officially released its non conference schedule for the 2025-26 season Friday morning. The Vols play six power five opponents and seven buy games in the 13-game non conference slate.
“Each year, we work to create a non-conference schedule that best sets our team up for success and prepares us for SEC competition,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said in a statement. “We feel we have once again done just that. In addition to four tough games we’ll get on planes for, we look forward to playing nine here in the Volunteer State, including eight on our home court, in front of our incredible fans.”
The Vols play three, likely four, neutral site games against power five teams. They’ll face Rutgers, Houston and likely another power five opponent in the Players Era Tournament in Las Vegas during Thanksgiving week. The Vols could play non power five teams Gonzaga, San Diego State or UNLV in their third game in the Players Era Tournament. Tennessee will also face Illinois in Nashville in December.
Tennessee’s lone non conference challenge on the road is a matchup at Syracuse in the ACC-SEC Challenge. Its lone home non conference matchup against a power five opponent comes against Louisville in Knoxville.
Rick Barnes’ 11th Tennessee team has home buy games schedules against Mercer, Northern Kentucky, North Florida, Rice, Tennessee State, Gardner Webb and South Carolina State. The game against Mercer on Nov. 3 is Tennessee’s season opener.
The order of the schedule is unique with Tennessee playing all six games premium matchups in a row from Nov. 24 through Dec 16. The Vols do have a 10-day break between the Illinois and Louisville game which is presumably finals week at Tennessee.
It’ll be a slow start to the season for Tennessee with the Vols playing five buy games to begin the season before the Rutgers game in Las Vegas starts the six-game power five stretch. After the Louisville game in Knoxville, Tennessee plays Gardner-Webb and South Carolina State before beginning SEC play.
Check out the complete non conference schedule here.
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Nov. 3: vs. Mercer
Nov. 8: vs. Northern Kentucky
Nov. 12: vs. North Florida
Nov. 17: vs. Rice
Nov. 20: vs. Tennessee State
Nov. 24: Rutgers (Vegas)
Nov. 25: Houston (Vegas)
Nov. 26/27: TBD (Vegas)
Dec. 2: at Syracuse
Dec. 6: Illinois (Nashville)
Dec. 16: vs. Louisville
Dec. 21: vs. Gardner-Webb
Dec. 30: vs. South Carolina State
