NEWS & NOTES
• Tennessee has won its last three season openers, all at home, by a combined 98 points. It won by 28 in 2021-22, by 32 in 2022-23 and by 38 in 2023-24, good for an average of 32.7 points per game.
• The Volunteers are 34-3 (.919) all-time in home openers at Food City Center, dating back to 1987- 88. They are 31-1 (.969) over their last 32 such games, including 8-1 (.889) under Rick Barnes. The average attendance in the 36 non- COVID-season home openers is 16,785, with eight over 20,000.
• Tennessee placed third in the SEC preseason media poll, its third year in a row in the top three and seventh straight in the top five. The Volunteers also came in at No. 12 nationally in both the AP Poll and Coaches Poll, their fifth consecutive year in the preseason top-20 of each.
• The Volunteers added four transfers: two fifth-year guards, a senior forward and a junior forward. They own a combined 3,356 collegiate points across 372 outings, with three of them all- conference selections in 2023-24.
• Tennessee, aided by a 13-2 stretch, is coming off a year in which it won its 11th SEC regular season crown, including its sixth outright title. The Volunteers then, as a No. 2 seed, went on to earn their second Elite Eight berth.
• The Volunteers finished fifth in both major national polls in 2023- 24. The AP mark tied their best closing spot ever (2021-22, 2007- 08) and the Coaches Poll broke the program record (seventh in 2007-08). Tennessee also placed fifth in KenPom, surpassing the prior year (sixth in 2022-23) for its best mark ever.
• UT went 27-9 last year, marking the the third time in the last six years (2018-24) under Rick Barnes it won 27-plus games. It hit that tally twice before his arrival.
• The 171 wins for Tennessee over the last seven years (2017-24) rank co-eighth nationally and mark the highest total in a seven- year stretch in program history. Only Kansas (191), Duke (185), Purdue (182) and Virginia (176) have more among schools in a Power Six league that entire time.
