#17 Tennessee (4-3) vs. George Mason (7-1)
Tuesday, December 5th, 2023 | 5:30pm CT/6:30pm ET
Knoxville, TN | Food City Center
Knoxville, TN – The 17th-ranked Tennessee Vols basketball team returns to Food City Center for a midweek matchup against George Mason on Tuesday night. Tipoff is set for 5:30pm CT.
Fans can catch Tuesday’s game between the Vols (4-3) and Patriots (7-1) on SEC Network+. Andy Brock, (play-by-play) and Steve Hamer (analyst) will have the call.
In its lone action last week, Tennessee fell on the road at then-17th-ranked North Carolina, 100-92, in its third consecutive top-20 showdown.
Fifth-year guard Dalton Knecht scored a career-high 37 points—the co-most ever by a non-conference visitor at the Dean E. Smith Center and the top total by any player against the Tar Heels since December 2016.
The Matchup
The lone prior meeting between the Volunteers and Patriots came on 3/17/04 in the opening round of the NIT, with George Mason claiming a 58-55 home win behind a co-game-high 16 points from now-head coach Tony Skinn.
George Mason is 7-1 on the season, good for the best record in the A10 after being picked No. 10 in the league’s preseason poll, and has climbed from a KenPom ranking of 164 to begin the year all the way up to 96.
The Patriots are coming off a 20- 13 (11-7) campaign last year, their most wins since 2016-17, under the direction of then-head coach Kim English, a Tennessee assistant under Rick Barnes from 2019-21.
George Mason lost six of its top seven scorers from last season and is now led by sophomore guard/forward Keyshawn Hall in both points (15.1) and rebounds (9.4) per game.
Tennessee is 28-15 all-time against the current 15 members of the Atlantic 10, while Rick Barnes is 13-9 against that group.
Familiar Foe
Rick Barnes‘ first college head coaching job came at George Mason in 1987-88 and he guided the Patriots to a 20-10 (9-5 CAA) record, posting a .667 winning percentage that is the co-eighth- best in program history.
Barnes also served as an assistant coach at George Mason for five years, from 1980-85. During that time, he helped the team to a 77-60 record, including a 39-18 mark over his final two years. The team’s 21-7 ledger in 1983-84 was its first 20-win season and still stands as the eighth-most wins in a campaign in school history.
This is the first time Barnes will coach against George Mason in his career. He is 3-1 all-time when facing a school he was previously the head coach at, as he went 2-0 against Providence while at Texas and is 1-1 versus Texas during his Tennessee tenure.
A victory over George Mason would give Rick Barnes wins over 198 different DI teams in his 37-year head coaching career. The 197th school on that list was Texas, which he also coached at.
News and Notes
This is Tennessee’s first home game since 11/14/23, a full three weeks ago. Since their last game at Food City Center, the Volunteers played four contests away from home, all against Power Six opponents, including three versus top-20 teams.
Dalton Knecht’s 37 points, which came on 13-of-17 shooting, at #17/16 North Carolina (11/29/23) marked the second-highest total by any player against the Tar Heels in the last 15 seasons.
The SEC owns 20 Quad 1/2 wins this season, through 12/3/24, the most of any league in the nation.
Poll Presence
Tennessee has played 174 games as a ranked team in the AP Poll under Rick Barnes, posting a stellar 128-46 (.736) record. Over 63.5 percent of the Volunteers’ games since Barnes arrived in 2015-16 have come with the team ranked in the AP Poll.
Furthermore, UT owns a 107-41 (.723) record while ranked in the top 20 during Barnes’ tenure, a 78-28 (.736) mark while in the top 15, a 60-19 (.759) ledger while in the top 10, a 25-7 (.781) tally while in the top five, a 17-2 (.895) record while in the top three and a 7-1 (.875) mark while ranked No. 1.
The UT Vols are 21-20 (.512) in top-25 matchups under Barnes, including 16-13 (.552) with both teams in the top 20, 9-7 (.562) with both in the top 15 and 6-5 (.545) with both in the top 10.
Racking Up Ranked Wins
Over the past four seasons (2020-24), Tennessee leads all SEC teams in AP top-25 wins (15) and is tied for with Arkansas for first among SEC schools in AP top-10 victories (seven).
The seven top-10 triumphs during that time are: No. 1 Alabama (2/15/23), No. 3 Kansas (11/25/22), No. 3 Auburn (2/26/22), No. 4 Kentucky (2/15/22), No. 5 Kentucky (3/12/22), No. 6 Arizona (12/22/21) and No. 10 Texas (1/28/23).
Tennessee (29), Arkansas (27), and Alabama (25) are the only SEC teams to play over two-dozen ranked opponents since the start of the 2020-21 campaign.
Winning Ways
Over the last seven seasons, dating back to the start of the 2017-18 campaign, Tennessee leads all SEC programs in total victories (148, tied with Auburn) and postseason wins (15), while placing a close second in winning percentage (.712). During that span, the Vols have captured a pair of SEC championships, winning the regular season in 2018 and the tournament in 2022.
In that same seven-year stretch, the Vols are one of only two SEC teams with an overall winning percentage above .700, alongside Auburn (.715).
In regular season SEC play over the same six-year period, the Vols own a league-best .706 winning percentage and stand alongside Kentucky as the only programs to log at least 70 league victories.
Over the last three seasons only, 2021-24, UT owns a 56-22 (.718) record. No SEC team has a better winning percentage during that span, while only Texas A&M (58) has more victories.
4×1,000
Tennessee (four), St. John’s (six), TCU (five), St. Bonaventure (four) and Villanova (four) are the only five DI teams with at least four 1,000-point scorers, while just 17 other programs have even three.
Santiago Vescovi (1,371), the lone Volunteer to enter 2023-24 in quadruple figures, hit that figure on 12/17/22 at Arizona in his 90th contest.
Dalton Knecht (1,101) reached the 1K mark on 11/10/23 at Wisconsin in his 69th career outing and his second as a Volunteer. He scored 959 points in 67 games over two seasons at North Colorado.
Josiah-Jordan James (1,044) reached the milestone on 11/14/23 versus Wofford in his 111th appearance.
Jordan Gainey (1,010) entered quadruple digits on 11/29/23 at North Carolina in his 71st collegiate outing and his seventh at Tennessee. He scored 929 points across 64 games in two years at USC Upstate.
The Preseason Pick
Tennessee placed first in the SEC preseason poll, as voted on by a select panel of both SEC and national media members.
This is the fifth time the Volunteers have been picked to win the league since polling began in 1989-90, with each nod coming since the turn of the century in advance of the 2000-01 season. UT’s five first- place selections during that time are more than the combined total of every other program in the league except for Kentucky, as Florida (twice) and Alabama (once) are the only schools that have taken the pole position besides the Vols and Wildcats.
The Volunteers have now been picked first in two of the last four seasons, as their prior such recognitions came in 2020-21, 2008-09, 2007-08, and 2000-01.
The complete SEC preseason poll can be found below:
1. Tennessee
2. Texas A&M
3. Arkansas
4. Kentucky
5. Alabama
6. Auburn
7. Mississippi State
8. Florida
9. Missouri
10. Ole Miss
11. Vanderbilt
12. Georgia
13. LSU
14. South Carolina
SEC Preseason Plaudits
Santiago Vescovi and Zakai Zeigler were both Preseason First Team All-SEC picks by the league’s head coaches, the lone such teammate duo in the conference. Josiah-Jordan James collected Preseason Second Team All-SEC plaudits, making Tennessee the lone school with three honorees.
The complete Preseason All-SEC teams, as selected by the coaches, can be found below:
First Team: Trevon Brazile (AR), Johni Broome (AU), Riley Kugel (UF), Antonio Reeves (UK), Tolu Smith (MS), Santiago Vescovi (UT), Zakai Zeigler (UT), Wade Taylor IV (A&M)
Second Team: Grant Nelson (AL), Mark Sears (AL), Davonte Davis (AR), Justin Edwards (UK), Matthew Murrell (OM), Josiah-Jordan James (UT), Tyrece Radford (A&M), Tyrin Lawrence (VU)
Talented Trio
Three Volunteers were tabbed to Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame “Starting Five” Preseason Watch Lists.
Santiago Vescovi is among 20 individuals on the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Preseason Watch List.
Dalton Knecht is one of the 20 selections for the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Watch List.
