KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The fourth-ranked Tennessee men’s basketball team faces No. 11 Auburn in a matchup of two of the top four teams in the SEC at Food City Center Wednesday night. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. ET.
Fans can catch Wednesday’s game between the Vols (21-6, 11-3 SEC) and Tigers (21-6, 10-4 SEC) on ESPN2. Tom Hart (play-by-play) and Jimmy Dykes (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 dominated the final 25 minutes Saturday night at Food City Center to defeat Texas A&M, 86-51, and give head coach Rick Barnes the 800th victory of his illustrious career.
The Vols got a game-best 24 points, including 15 in the second half, from fifth-year guard Dalton Knecht in front of a sold-out, over-capacity crowd of 22,322.
THE MATCHUP
• This is the fourth time in the last eight meetings both Tennessee and Auburn are ranked, with the Volunteers going 2-1 in the prior three, including winning the past two. Prior to 3/17/19, both sides were ranked in just two of the first 85 clashes of the AP Poll era (1948-2024), each claiming one.
• Additionally, this is the 10th straight matchup with at least one team ranked. Before 1/2/18, only 27 of the first 83 AP Poll era contests featured a ranked team.
• Tennessee is 2-7 in its last nine games against Auburn after going 11-1 in the prior 12 affairs.
• Following a 21-13 (10-8) campaign in 2022-23 that included a second straight NCAA Tournament Round of 32 appearance, Auburn placed sixth in the SEC preseason poll.
• Junior forward/center Johni Broome is the Tigers’ leader in points (16.1), rebounds (8.6) and blocks (2.4) per game.
• Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl helmed UT for six seasons, 2005- 11, going 145-61 with three Sweet 16s, including an Elite Eight, and one SEC regular season title.
NEWS & NOTES
• Auburn associate head coach Steven Pearl played for his father at UT from 2007-11, while assistant coach Ira Bowman played for Rick Barnes at Providence for two years (1991-93).
• Auburn is the first of four straight ranked teams—all are top-20—on UT’s schedule to end the regular season. The Vols have faced four straight AP- ranked foes just once in program history, from Jan. 20- 31, 2004. UT, then unranked, lost to the first three before beating the fourth. UT has never played four straight top-20 teams.
• UT is a…
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