#4 Tennessee (24-6 | 14-3 SEC) vs. #15 Kentucky (22-8 | 12-5 SEC)
Saturday, March 9th, 2024 | 3:00pm CT / 4:00pm ET
Knoxville, TN | Food City Center | TV: CBS
Knoxville, TN – After winning the SEC regular season title outright for the first time since the 2007-08 season with its win at South Carolina Wednesday night, the fourth-ranked Tennessee men’s basketball team is set to battle 15th-ranked Kentucky on Senior Day at Food City Center Saturday. Tipoff is slated for 3:00pm CT.
Fans can catch Saturday’s game between the Vols (24-6, 14-3 SEC) and Wildcats (22-8, 12-5 SEC) on CBS. Ian Eagle (play-by-play), Grant Hill (play-by-play) and Bill Raftery (analyst) will have the call.
Fans can also listen live on their local Vol Network affiliate to hear Bob Kesling and Bert Bertelkamp describing the action.
Tennessee defeated No. 17/16 South Carolina, 66-59, on its home court Wednesday night to lock up the 11th SEC regular season championship in program history, including its sixth outright.
Fifth-year guard Dalton Knecht led all scorers with 26 points for fourth-ranked Tennessee (24-6, 14-3 SEC), which never trailed at a sold-out Colonial Life Arena on the way to, for the first time ever, defeating its third straight AP top-25 foe in as many outings, including its second in a row on the road, also a program first.
The triumph also marked ninth-year head coach Rick Barnes’s 100th in SEC play. Barnes has guided the Volunteers to an SEC regular season crown in two of the last seven seasons, tied for the most of any team in that time.
With Tennessee baseball set to take on Illinois on Saturday at 12:00pm CT at Lindsey Nelson Stadium, additional parking guidance can be found below.
Early arrival is encouraged for fans with a parking pass or using the Ag Campus for free parking and shuttles. Additionally, travel down Todd Helton Dr./Chamique Holdsclaw Dr. is discouraged due to baseball traffic and shuttle bus drop-off/pick-up. Anyone coming to both Baseball and then staying for Basketball should use their Men’s Basketball parking permit and then walk to Lindsey Nelson Stadium and to Food City Center after that.
The Matchup
Tennessee is 11-9 against Kentucky under Rick Barnes with at least one victory in eight of his nine years and two thrice. It won a top- 10 showdown on 2/3/24 behind a career-best 26 points from both Josiah-Jordan James and Zakai Zeigler, who added 13 assists.
Under Barnes, UT is 7-2 in AP top- 25 matchups against Kentucky, including 4-1 with each top-15.
In the 22 years before Barnes’ arrival (1993-2015), UT went 9-35 against Kentucky, including 7-28 when it was ranked, including 4-24 when top-15 (2-21 in top 10).
After going 22-12 (12-6) and making the NCAA Tournament, Round of 32, Kentucky placed fourth in the SEC preseason poll.
Fifth-year guard Antonio Reeves paces the Wildcats with 20.0 ppg, the third-best mark in the SEC.
News & Notes
For the 11th time in program history, Tennessee is the SEC regular season champion. This is the Volunteers’ sixth outright title.
Rick Barnes‘ last win was his 100th in SEC play and his next one will be his 200th overall at UT.
UT is in both the first (vs. Illinois) and last (vs. Kentucky) CBS broadcast of the regular season.
Dalton Knecht’s 24.6 ppg average in SEC play is the second-highest mark of any player in league action (min. two GP), behind only Zach Edey (25.4 in Big Ten). They are on pace to be the first Power Six players at 24.0 in league play since Markus Howard (28.7) and Luka Garza (26.2) in 2019-20. The only SEC players to do that in the last 22 years (2002-24) are Devan Downey (26.2) in 2009-10 and Jodie Meeks (24.9) in 2008-09.
Knecht and Mason Jones (2019- 20) are the only SEC players in the last 14 seasons (2010-24) with six 30-point games and/or four 35-point games in a year. Knecht is the first since Jones—and only Vol ever—to win four SEC Player of the Week honors in a year.
Kentucky is the fourth straight-ranked team, and all are in the top-20 on UT’s slate. The Vols have faced four straight AP-ranked foes just once (January 20th-31st, 2004) and never played four top-20 teams in a row.
In the last 20 years (2004-24), only twice has an SEC team played four straight top-25 teams in a regular season: Vanderbilt from 1/7-17/23 and South Carolina from 1/16-27/18. In the past 56 years (1968-2024), the Vanderbilt team is one of four from the SEC to play four AP top-20 teams in a row in the regular season.
UT has beat AP top-25 teams in three straight outings for the first time. It has also won back-to-back games, both on the road versus an AP top-25 foe, for the first time.
UT is the second team in the last 24 years (2000-24) to play Kansas, Kentucky, and North Carolina—the three winningest DI programs—a total of four times in the regular season while facing each at least once, joining Florida in 2014-15. It is the only team in that time to play all three away from home in the regular season.
Conference Clincher With Major Milestones
The Volunteers sealed the outright SEC regular season crown a 66-59 victory at #17/16 South Carolina on 3/6/24 in the second-to-last game of the conference slate.
Fifth-year guard Dalton Knecht hit his first four 3-pointers and scored a game-high 26 points. The Tennessee defense held the Gamecocks to their second-lowest point total of the year and their lowest mark at home in over 13 months.
The triumph gave Tennessee its 11th SEC regular season title: 1935-36, 1940-41, 1942-43, 1966-67, 1971-72 (shared), 1976-77 (shared), 1981-82 (shared), 1999-2000 (shared four ways), 2007-08, 2017-18 (shared) and 2023-24.
The Volunteers now own six outright regular season SEC titles: 1935-36, 1940-41, 1942-43, 1966-67, 2007- 08 and 2023-24.
This is the 13th season in which Tennessee has won at least one SEC title, as it also claimed the SEC Tournament crown after two years in which it did not win the regular season: 1978-79 and 2021-22.
The Volunteers have now earned at least one of the SEC crowns—regular season or tournament—in three of the last seven seasons (2017-18, 2021-22 and 2023-24), all under Rick Barnes, after notching two in the prior 35 campaigns (1982-2017).
Over the last seven seasons (2017-24), the only teams with two SEC regular season titles and/ or three-plus SEC championships of any kind are Alabama, Auburn, and Tennessee.
As an institution, the University of Tennessee now owns 203 SEC team championships and 207 total (four are in other leagues).
The result also gave Tennessee its third AP top-25 victory—all were over top-17 teams—in as many outings for the first time ever. The Volunteers won against #11 Auburn, at #14 Alabama, and at #17 South Carolina back-to-back-to-back in eight days. The program had only ever previously played three straight ranked foes seven times—one was over two seasons—with one of those a four-game stretch.
In addition, the decision gave the Volunteers road wins over AP top-25 teams in back-to-back games for the first time ever.
For Rick Barnes, the triumph improved his record in SEC play to 100-60 (.625), making him the 24th head coach in league history to reach triple-digit conference victories. Barnes is the third coach to win 100 SEC games at Tennessee, joining Ray Mears (182 from 1963-77) and Don DeVoe (107 from 1979-89), while John Mauer also reached that mark including his time at Florida.
Playing in his home state, Charleston, SC, native Josiah-Jordan James moved into the top 10 on the program’s all-time rebounding list and become the 10th Volunteer to amass 800 boards.
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).
UT 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 10 schools in the AP top five in at least four of the past six years, alongside Michigan, Michigan State, North Carolina, and Virginia.
The Vols are one of only 12 teams to earn an AP top- two ranking in at least two of the past six seasons. The others are Arizona, Baylor (three), Connecticut, Duke (four), Gonzaga (five), Kansas (four), Kentucky, Michigan, Purdue, UCLA and Virginia.
Racking Up Ranked Victories
In the past four years (2020-24), Tennessee leads all SEC teams with 21 AP top-25 wins, good for six more than any other SEC program (Alabama has 15). That ties Purdue for fourth in the country.
In that same four-year span, UT also leads the SEC in wins over teams in the AP top 20, top 15, top 10 and top five. Its 19 top-20 wins rank fourth nationally and 16 top-15 victories place third. Its eight top-10 triumphs sit co-sixth alongside Purdue and Texas, while its five top-five wins match Arizona, Gonzaga and Michigan State for the most in the nation.
The eight 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), #10 Texas (1/28/23) and at #10 Kentucky (2/3/24).
Over the last four seasons (2020-24), UT has played 35 games against AP top-25 opponents, the most in the league, posting a 21-14 (.600) ledger. The Vols are the only SEC team, regardless of number of games, with a winning record against ranked foes during that span. Auburn is a a distant second with a .455 (10-12) mark.
Tennessee (35), Alabama (34) and Arkansas (32) are the only SEC teams to play 30-plus 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 paces all SEC programs in total victories (168), winning percentage (.727) and postseason wins (15). In that span, the Vols have claimed three SEC titles, winning the regular season in 2018 and 2024, as well as the tournament in 2022.
In that same seven-year stretch, the Vols are one of only three SEC schools with an overall winning percentage of over .700, alongside Auburn (.722) and Kentucky (.702).
In SEC play over the same seven-year period, Tennessee (86-38; .694) is tied with Kentucky (86- 38; .694) for the league in both victories and winning percentage. Only Auburn (80-45; .640) and Alabama (77-48; .616) have even 70-plus wins.
Over just the last three seasons (2021-24), UT owns a 76-25 (.752) overall record. That is good for the most victories and the best winning percentage of any SEC team in that span. Auburn (72-26; .735) ranks second in both categories.
INAM: “It’s Not About Me”
The Volunteers have posted 20-plus assists 11 times this season. They have reached 25-plus thrice, with a high of 28 against Vanderbilt (2/17/24) Tennessee has a 60.8 percent assist rate that ranks No. 14 nationally, per KenPom, through 3/6/24.
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 197 games as a ranked team in the AP Poll in Rick Barnes‘ tenure, posting a stellar 147-49 (.746) record. Over 66.0 percent of the Volunteers’ games since Barnes arrived in 2015- 16 have come with the team ranked in the AP Poll.
UT is 127-44 (.743) while ranked in the AP top 20 under Barnes, 96-31 (.756) while in the top 15, 76-22 (.776) while in the top 10, 35-9 (.795) while in the top five, 17-2 (.895) while in the top three and 7-1 (.875) while at No. 1.
The Vols are 27-20 (.574) in top-25 matchups under Barnes, including 21-13 (.618) with both teams in the top 20, 12-7 (.632) with both in the top 15 and 7-5 (.583) with both in the top 10.
