Tennessee basketball dropped out of the Feb. 9 AP Poll following its loss against Kentucky. The Vols remain unranked in the USA Today Coaches Poll for a fourth straight week. Tennessee was ranked No. 25 in last week’s AP Poll and received the fourth most votes of any team not in this week’s poll.
Rick Barnes’ 11th Tennessee team is coming off a 1-1 week that saw them knock off Ole Miss at home before falling at Kentucky on Saturday night. The game had two very different vibes as Tennessee used a massive second half to run away from the Rebels and a bad second half saw the Vols blow a 14-point halftime lead at Kentucky.
The Vols led just 26-25 at halftime against Ole Miss before Nate Ament scored 26 second half points on his own and Tennessee routed the Rebels 84-66. Against Kentucky, Tennessee built a 47-33 halftime lead thanks to a combined 33 points from Ament and Ja’Kobi Gillespie. But the Vols’ offense collapsed int he second half as Kentucky completed the season sweep with a 74-71 victory.
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There are four SEC teams in this week’s AP Poll including No. 14 Florida, No. 19 Vanderbilt, No. 21 Arkansas and No. 25 Kentucky. Alabama, Georgia and Auburn also received votes.
The Vols enter the second week in February boasting a 16-7 (6-4 SEC) record. Tennessee had won four straight games before Saturday night and was feasibly still in the SEC Championship race, but that path is extremely narrow now.
The schedule presents a major opportunity for Tennessee to bounce back this week. The Vols travel to Mississippi State Wednesday night to face a struggling Bulldogs team before returning home to face LSU on Saturday night.
Tipoff between Tennessee and Mississippi State at Humphrey Coliseum is at 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday night. ESPN2 is broadcasting the game.
One Response
I am a VFL but after the last game against KY a tail of two half’s. I absolutely do not understand how that happens. Unless we get that fix we will not go very far in the tournament. If we can’t keep up the intensity for the entire game we will not beat the teams that can.