After eight Tennessee players entered the transfer portal following the 2025-2026 season, three of them found their way to SEC programs for the upcoming year. Forward Jaylen Carey ended up at Missouri, guard Amari Evans went to Texas, and forward Cade Phillips landed at Texas A&M.
All three will be on Tennessee Basketball’s schedule this season, but only one will be returning to the hostile confines of Thompson Boling Arena.
Tennessee will host Carey and the Tigers on either Jan. 12 or Jan. 13 as the fourth game of the SEC season. The Vols will then hit the road to take on Missouri in Columbia on Feb. 6 as the 10th game of the conference slate.
In between those two games, Tennessee will travel to College Station, TX, to play Phillips and the Aggies on either Jan. 26 or Jan. 27.
The third-to-last game of the regular season will see Rick Barnes travel to familiar territory as Evans and the Longhorns host the Vols on Feb. 27 in Austin, TX.
More From RTI: Tennessee Basketball’s SEC Schedule Officially Set
Those won’t be the only times that Tennessee is slated to square off against a former player next season, though. The Vols will face Bishop Boswell and the Maryland Terrapins during the Players Era Tournament in Las Vegas on Tuesday, Nov. 24, at 3:00 p.m. ET.
There’s also a chance that Tennessee could play J.P. Estrella and the Michigan Wolverines in the same tournament if both teams win their allotted games.
So, there you have it. Five definitive dates for Tennessee Basketball to play its former players next season, with the possibility of a sixth with Michigan in the tournament. There’s also always a possibility for SEC Tournament and NCAA Tournament matchups, too.
While Boswell, Carey, Evans, and Phillips will see their former team at some point next season, they won’t see many of their former teammates still wearing orange. Tennessee brought in eight new pieces from the transfer portal this offseason, while only retaining forward DeWayne Brown and guard Troy Henderson. Tennessee’s transfer portal class ranks first in the nation by ESPN and has six listings among 247’s Top 100 transfer portal players.
They also won’t be seeing their former assistant coach Justin Gainey, who accepted the head coaching position at NC State following the NCAA Tournament.
Check out Tennessee Basketball’s full SEC slate below:
Jan. 2 — vs. Vanderbilt
Jan. 5/6 — at Auburn
Jan. 9 — at LSU
Jan. 12/13 — vs. Missouri
Jan. 16 — vs. Arkansas
Jan. 23 — at Kentucky
Jan. 26/27 — at Texas A&M
Jan. 30 — vs. Florida
Feb. 2/3 — vs. Georgia
Feb. 6 — at Missouri
Feb. 9/10 — at Oklahoma
Feb. 13 — Kentucky
Feb. 16/17 — at Ole Miss
Feb. 20 — Alabama
Feb. 23 — South Carolina
Feb. 27 — at Texas
March 2/3 — Mississippi State
March 6 — at Vanderbilt
