#6 Tennessee (25-8 | 14-4 SEC) vs. Texas (21-12 | 9-9 B12)
NCAA Tournament
Saturday, March 23rd, 2024 | 7:00pm CT / 8:00pm ET
Charlotte, NC | Spectrum Center | TV: CBS
Charlotte, NC – Coming off a dominant rout of Saint Peter’s in the Round of 64 Thursday night, the sixth-ranked and No. 2 seed Tennessee men’s basketball team will take on No. 7 seed Texas in the NCAA Tournament’s second round Saturday night at Spectrum Center in Charlotte. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00pm CT.
Fans can catch Saturday’s game between the Vols (25-8) and Longhorns (21-12) on CBS. Brian Anderson (play-by-play), Jim Jackson (play-by-play), and Allie LaForce (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.
Thursday saw Tennessee defeat the Peacocks of Saint Peter’s, 83-49, earning a first-round NCAA Tournament victory for the third consecutive season. The Vols led wire-to-wire at Spectrum Center and got a game-best 23 points from fifth-year guard Dalton Knecht, who entered the top five on the program’s single-season scoring list.
The triumph also served as the 200th for head coach Rick Barnes in his Tennessee tenure, making him the 19th coach ever to hit that number at two Division I schools.
The Matchup
Tennessee is 4-4 all-time against Texas, including 3-2 over the last five matchups. This is the third straight season the sides have met and the first postseason affair ever between the two.
Rick Barnes, who served as the head coach at Texas for 17 years (1998-2015), is 3-3 in games between Texas and Tennessee. He went 2-2 with the Longhorns and is 1-1 with the Volunteers.
Texas head coach Rodney Terry worked for Rick Barnes as an assistant from 2002-11, while assistant coach Frank Haith did so from 2001-04, and fellow assistant Chris Ogden did so from 2008- 16 (seven years at Texas, one at Tennessee). All three are among the 13 former Barnes assistants who became head coaches.
Texas, which tied for seventh in the Big 12, is making its fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and has its third 20- win season in a row.
Graduate student guard Max Abmas, a Second Team All-Big 12 selection, leads Texas with 17.0 ppg and 4.2 apg.
News and Notes
Tennessee won the SEC regular season crown for the 11th time, notching its sixth outright title.
UT is 26-26 all-time in 25 NCAA Tournament trips, including 7-10 in its second games, 7-5 under Rick Barnes, 6-3 as a No. 2 seed, 1-2 against No. 7 seeds, 7-7 in North Carolina and 3-4 in Charlotte. More can be found on Pages 8-9.
The UT Vols’ 34-point win over Saint Peter’s was their second-largest ever in the NCAA Tournament and the biggest by any SEC team since 3/21/19 when Kentucky beat Abilene Christian by 35, 79-44.
With the victory over Saint Peter’s, Rick Barnes, a finalist for the Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year Award, became the 19th coach all-time (eighth active) with 200 wins at two DI schools (list on Page 24). He has done so at Tennessee (200) and Texas (402).
Barnes is one of seven coaches (four active) to lead two DI schools to an AP No. 1 ranking. He guided Texas to its first and only spots atop the poll from Jan. 11- 24, 2010, and did so at Tennessee from Jan. 21-Feb. 17, 2019.
This is the third time the Vols have won an NCAA Tournament game in at least three straight years.
Zakai Zeigler’s 11-point, 10-assist showing in the Round of 64 victory made him the 13th SEC player—15th instance—with a PTS/AST double-double in the NCAA Tournament and the first Vol. It was the fourth double-digit assist showing by a UT player.
Santiago Vescovi (209) is two steals shy of the program’s all- time record (211) held by Vincent Yarbrough (1998-2002).
Dalton Knecht is one point from becoming the fourth Vol (fifth instance) with 700 in a season. Zakai Zeigler needs three assists to be the fourth at UT with 200 in a campaign. Jonas Aidoo is two offensive boards away from being the fourth Vol (fifth instance) with 100 in a year, while he his nine blocks in the NCAA Tournament tie the UT career record.
Tennessee has 25 wins for the fifth time in the last seven years under Rick Barnes, including the third in a row. It hit that mark three times total before his arrival in 2015.
Variety Of Victories
The UT Volunteers have 25 wins thus far, their eighth time ever hitting that mark. Five of those campaigns have come in the last seven years under Rick Barnes.
Tennessee had 24 regular season triumphs, tying the 1999-2000 season for the third-most in program history. It won 28 in 2007-08 and 27 in 2018-19. Two of UT’s top four marks all-time are under Barnes.
The Vols finished with eight true road wins this season, matching 2017-18 and 1999-2000 for the program’s second-highest total ever. Only the 2007- 08 team logged more, totaling nine.
UT’s 14 SEC victories put them in a five-way tie for their fourth-most ever. It claimed 16 such decisions in 1976-77, as well as 15 in both 2018-19 and 1966-67.
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 tally 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 Connecticut, North Carolina, 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).
Tennessee (36), Alabama (34) and Arkansas (34) are the only SEC teams to play over 30 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 co-leads all SEC programs in postseason wins (16) while placing a close second in total victories (169) and winning percentage. 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 two SEC schools with an overall winning percentage of over .700, alongside Auburn (.726).
In SEC play over the same seven-year period, Tennessee (86-39; .688) is second in the league, behind Kentucky (87-38; .696), in both victories and winning percentage. Only Auburn (81-45; .643) and Alabama (78-48; .619) have even 70-plus wins.
Over just the last three seasons (2021-24), UT owns a 77-27 (.740) overall record. That is good for the most victories and the second-best winning percentage of any SEC team in that span. Auburn is 76-26; .745) during that time.
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 61.1 percent assist rate that ranks No. 13 nationally, per KenPom, through 3/21/24.
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
UT is 128-46 (.736) while ranked in the AP top 20 under Barnes, 97-33 (.746) while in the top 15, 77-24 (.762) while in the top 10, 35-11 (.761) while in the top five, 17-2 (.895) while in the top three and 7-1 (.875) while at No. 1.
The Vols are 27-21 (.563) in top-25 matchups under Barnes, including 21-14 (.600) with both teams in the top 20, 12-8 (.600) with both in the top 15 and 7-5 (.583) with both in the top 10.
Tennessee has played 200 games as a ranked team in the AP Poll in Rick Barnes‘ tenure, posting a stellar 149-51 (.745) record. Over 66.5 percent of the Volunteers’ games since Barnes arrived in 2015- 16 have come with the team ranked in the AP Poll.AP Poll.
