Since losing to Kentucky in mid-January, Tennessee Basketball has been on a four-game win streak with victories at Alabama, at Georgia, against Auburn, and against Ole Miss. The Vols will have their shot at revenge on Saturday night with a rivalry matchup against the Wildcats in Lexington.
Before Saturday’s slate of games, though, Joe Lunardi released his latest bracketology report for ESPN on Friday. Lunardi has had Tennessee on the rise during its ongoing win streak, but his projection on Friday was unchanged following the Ole Miss win.
Tennessee comes in as the 5-seed projection in the East Region. The Vols’ hypothetical first-round matchup is against 12-seed Tulsa, with a projected second-round matchup against either 4-seed Michigan State or 13-seed Troy. The games are set to take place in Philadelphia, PA.
The Vols were at the 7-seed slot following their loss to Kentucky, but moved up to the 6-seed after wins over Alabama and Georgia. Tennessee then moved up one spot after beating Auburn. If the Vols can pull off a huge win over the Wildcats in Rupp Arena on Saturday night, they’ll be in a good position to keep moving up in future updates.
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Other notable teams in Lunardi’s projected East Region include 1-seed Duke, 2-seed Illinois, 3-seed Kansas, 10-seed Georgia, and 11-seed Texas. The Vols have already beaten those two SEC teams this year, but Tennessee also has regular-season losses against both Duke and Kansas. The Vols also lost to Duke back in October, but it was a preseason exhibition game.
Tennessee Basketball will put its four-game win streak on the line on Saturday night at Kentucky. The Wildcats are only 0.5 games behind Texas A&M in the SEC standings, while Tennessee is one game back. The result of Saturday’s contest could prove impactful to the conference race as February basketball heats up.
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for live, on-site coverage of the game at 8:30 p.m. ET from Rupp Arena.
Check out Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology report for ESPN here.
