#5 Tennessee (11-4 | 1-1 SEC) at Georgia (12-3 | 2-0 SEC)
Saturday, January 13th, 2024 | 11:00am CT/12:00pm ET
Athens, GA | Stegeman Coliseum | TV: ESPN2
Athens, GA – The fifth-ranked Tennessee men’s basketball team caps a two-game road trip as it faces Georgia in Athens on Saturday afternoon. Tipoff is slated for 11:00am CT at Stegeman Coliseum.
Fans can catch Saturday’s game between the Volunteers (11-4, 1-1 SEC) and Bulldogs (12-3, 2-0 SEC) on ESPN2. Kevin Fitzgerald (play-by-play) and Dane Bradshaw (analyst) will have the call.
Fans can also listen live on their local Vol Network affiliate to hear Bob Kesling and Steve Hamer describing the action.
Tennessee stormed back from a 15-point deficit to thrice tie the score down the stretch Wednesday night at Mississippi State, but fell just short, 77-72.
The Vols got 26-plus points from both fifth-year guard Dalton Knecht and junior guard Zakai Zeigler in the team’s conference road opener.
The Matchup
Tennessee is 5-1 in its last six contests versus Georgia after going 2-9 in the prior 11 meetings with setbacks in each of the five before the current six-game span. The Volunteers were ranked in all five of their wins in this stretch and unranked in the lone loss.
The UT Vols posted a 75-68 road win in their last trip to Athens, GA, snapping a six-game skid there that went from 1/18/12 to 1/15/20.
UT is looking to win back-to-back games at Stegeman Coliseum for the first time since 1/10/09 (86- 77) and 2/16/08 (74-71), which was also the last time it made consecutive trips there while ranked.
The Bulldogs are on a 10-game winning that, per KenPom, is the fourth-longest in the country and the longest by a Power Six team.
Georgia placed No. 12 in the SEC preseason poll after going 16-16 (6-12) in 2022-23.
Graduate student guard Noah Thomasson is averaging a team- best 12.7 ppg for the Bulldogs, who have seven players between 6.5 and 13.0 ppg.
News and Notes
Tennessee Vice Chancellor/ Director of Athletics Dr. Danny White is the younger brother of Georgia head coach Mike White. Both played college basketball, Danny at Towson and Notre Dame, Mike at Ole Miss. The Volunteers fell to Florida, where Mike then worked, two days before Danny was hired on 1/21/21, but are 4-1 against him since then.
Rick Barnes and Mike White both joined the SEC in 2015- 16. Barnes is 9-2 against White, posting an 8-2 ledger during the former’s time at Florida (2015-22) and winning the lone matchup between their current schools.
Georgia freshman guard Blue Cain is a native of Knoxville, Tenn., and went to Knoxville Catholic his first three years of high school.
With 330 assists at Tennessee, Zakai Zeigler is two behind UT radio analyst Bert Bertelkamp (332) for No. 15 in program history.
In Tennessee’s last game, Rick Barnes became the 13th person (min. 10 years in DI) to serve as a head coach for 1,200 games, including the third active coach.
In the SEC road opener at Mississippi State (1/10/24), Dalton Knecht (28) and Zakai Zeigler (26) became the first Tennessee duo to post 25-plus points in a game in over eight years. The last instance came on 11/24/15, when Armani Moore (29) and Kevin Punter Jr. (26) did so against Army West Point.
Zakai Zeigler is shooting 18-of-42 (42.9 percent) from 3-point range over the last five games and has four-plus makes in four of them. Before that stretch, he was at 104- of-326 (31.9 percent) from deep in his career, including 9-of-37 (24.3 percent) this season, with four makes in just two of his 75 appearances.
Quality Company
Tennessee, Arizona, Kansas and Purdue are the only four teams to earn an AP top-five ranking in each of the past three seasons (2021-24).
In addition, Tennessee, Baylor, Houston, and Kansas are the only four schools ranked in the AP top six each of the past four years (2020-24).
Tennessee is one of only six teams to reach the AP Top Six in four of the last six seasons (2018-24), joining Baylor, Duke, Gonzaga, Kansas (all six), and Kentucky. Those are six of the only nine programs to enter the AP top five at least four of the past six years, alongside Michigan, Michigan State, and Virginia.
The Volunteers are one of only 11 teams to earn an AP top-two ranking in greater than one of the past six seasons. The others are Arizona, Baylor (three), Duke (four), Gonzaga (five), Kansas (four), Kentucky, Michigan, Purdue, UCLA and Virginia.
Racking Up Ranked Victories
Over the past four seasons (2020-24), Tennessee leads all SEC teams in AP top-25 wins with 17, good for co-seventh nationally. It is also tied for with Arkansas for first among SEC schools in AP top-10 victories with seven, placing co-sixth nationally. UT’s five AP top-five wins in that span pace the SEC and are tied for the most of any team in America.
The seven AP top-10 triumphs during that time are: #1 Alabama (2/15/23), #3 Kansas (11/25/22), #3 Auburn (2/26/22), #4 Kentucky (2/15/22), #5 Kentucky (3/12/22), #6 Arizona (12/22/21) and #10 Texas (1/28/23).
Over the last four seasons (2020-24), Tennessee has played a league-high 31 games against AP Top 25 opponents, going 17-14 (.548). The Vols are the only SEC team, regardless of number of games, with a winning record against ranked foes during that span, while Alabama is second at 13-15 (.464).
Tennessee (31), Arkansas (29), Alabama (28) and Missouri (26) are the only SEC teams to play over 25 ranked foes 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 teams in postseason wins (15), while placing a close second in in total victories (155) and winning percentage (.718). In that span, the Vols have claimed 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 three SEC schools with an overall winning percentage over .700, alongside Auburn (.726) and Kentucky (.708). No other SEC team is at even .660.
Over the last three seasons only (2021-24), UT owns a 63-23 (.733) overall record. That is good for the most victories and the best winning percentage of any SEC team in that span.
INAM: “It’s Not About Me”
The Volunteers have posted 20-plus assists six times this season, including in five of the past seven contests. They have 25-plus twice this season, with a high of 27 against George Mason (12/5/23).
Tennessee ranks No. 12 in the country this year, per KenPom, with a 66.2 percent assist rate.
Last season, Tennessee placed second nationally, per KenPom, with a 66.2 percent assist rate. It also logged a 64.9 percent mark in SEC play.
Poll Presence
Tennessee has played 181 games as a ranked team in the AP Poll under Rick Barnes, posting a stellar 135-46 (.746) record. Over 64.0 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 114-41 (.735) record while ranked in the AP top 20 during Barnes’ tenure, an 83-28 (.748) mark while in the top 15, a 63-19 (.768) ledger while in the top 10, a 27-7 (.794) 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 Vols are 23-20 (.535) in top-25 matchups under Barnes, including 17-13 (.567) 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.
Nationally Known
On 1/10/24, Dalton Knecht was named to both the Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 Watch List and the Lute Olson Award Midseason Watch List.
Santiago Vescovi claimed Blue Ribbon Preseason Fourth Team All-America honors. He was one of four SEC players on the list, joining Mississippi State’s Tolu Smith (Second), Texas A&M’s Wade Taylor IV (Second) and Auburn’s Johni Broome (Third).
Vescovi, for the second straight year, also made both the Naismith Trophy Preseason Watch List and the Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 Watch List.
