NEWS & NOTES
• Texas A&M is one of 14 schools Rick Barnes has defeated with three different teams. The others are Appalachian State, Mercer, Miami (four), Missouri, North Carolina, UNC Asheville (four), NC State, Seton Hall, South Carolina, Wake Forest, West Virginia, Western Carolina and Wofford.
• With 847 wins, Rick Barnes co-leads active DI coaches and is co-ninth all-time (min. 10 years in DI).
• Felix Okpara's next start will be the 100th of his career, including his 61st in a row (since 3/10/24) and 55th as a Volunteer.
• After scoring in double figures once in Tennessee's first 14 games, DeWayne Brown II has done so in each of the last two outings. He totaled 20 points on 76.9 percent (10-of-13) shooting last week.
• In the last six games, Amari Evans is averaging 8.3 ppg, 3.2 rpg and 2.0 spg in 16.3 mpg, while shooting 74.1 percent (20-of27) from the floor. In UT's first 10 contests, two of which he did not play in, Evans totaled five points and three steals in 6.3 mpg, shooting 10.0 percent (1-of-10).
• Tennessee is 9-0 this season when scoring more points off turnovers and 2-5 when its opponent leads in that category.
• The Volunteers are looking to start (at least) 2-0 in SEC home games for the fifth straight year.
• Through three SEC games, UT is shooting 39.5 percent (17-of-43) from 3-point range. No other team in the league is above even 37.0 percent thus far. Ja'Kobi Gillespie owns a 42.9 percent (9- of-21) ledger in conference action.
• Tennessee, Alabama and Houston are the only schools to make the last three Sweet 16s. Tennessee, Alabama and Duke are the only three in the last two Elite Eights.
• UT finished a program-best fifth in the AP Poll, Coaches Poll and KenPom in 2023-24 and 2024-25.
• The Volunteers' 212 wins the last nine years (2017-26) rank co-seventh in DI, alongside Auburn (212) and Liberty (212). Only Houston (258), Gonzaga (256), Duke (235), Kansas (223), Purdue (221) and Saint Mary's (216) own more. Arizona (210) rounds out the top 10.