Tennessee basketball announced three game designations— including Checker FCC, dark mode and orange out— for its 2025-26 season on Friday morning.
The Vols will hold their annual Checker Food City Center game on Jan. 31 when they host Auburn. Tennessee’s dark mode game comes two weeks later when they host LSU on Feb. 14. The Vols will then hold their orange out game against Alabama on Feb. 28.
Tennessee has won three straight “checker” games including some of its biggest wins in recent seasons. The Vols checkered the arena for their win over eventual national champion Florida last season. They also did it for a win over Texas A&M in 2024 and a win over top-ranked Alabama in 2023.
Both the orange out and dark mode games are new for Tennessee basketball and are just in its second year. The Vols did an orange out for their win over Alabama last season when Jahmai Mashack beat the buzzer with a 30 footer to win.
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Tennessee defeated Syracuse in a dark mode game last season as the Vols’ debut their new black uniforms. The Vols are 2-1 in their black uniforms all time. They also beat Oklahoma on the road last season while wearing them before losing to Syracuse on the road in them earlier this season.
All three matchups are critical SEC contests for Tennessee. Auburn marks first-year head coach Stephen Pearl’s return to his alma mater as the Tigers’ head coach. Alabama is Alabama and looks like the SEC’s top team through the first six weeks of the season. LSU entered the season with low expectations but has played better than expected to this point.
Rick Barnes’ 11th Tennessee team is currently 7-3 but is in the midst of a three-game losing streak. The Vols knocked off Houston in Las Vegas before losing games against Kansas, Syracuse and Illinois consecutively. Tennessee is back in action on Tuesday, Dec. 16 against No. 11 Louisville before playing two buy games to end the non conference slate.
