AUSTIN, Texas – The top-ranked Tennessee men’s basketball team is geared up for it second consecutive SEC road game, traveling west to face the Longhorns of Texas Saturday. Tipoff is slated for 6 p.m. ET.
Fans can catch Saturday’s game between the Volunteers (14-1, 1-1 SEC) and Longhorns (11-4, 0-2 SEC) on ESPN. Tom Hart (play-by-play) and Dane Bradshaw (analyst) will have the call. Fans can also listen live on their local Vol Network affiliate to hear Bob Kesling and Steve Hamer describing the action.
In its most recent action, Tennessee dropped its first game of the 2024-25 campaign, falling at eighth-ranked Florida, 73-43, Tuesday night in its SEC road opener. Fifth-year guard Chaz Lanier and senior guard Zakai Zeigler scored 10 points apiece to lead UT at a sold-out, over-capacity Stephen C. O’Connell Center.
THE MATCHUP
• Tennessee is 5-4 all-time against Texas, including 4-2 over the last six matchups. This is the fourth straight season the sides have met—the last matchup before that was 11/24/07—and the first SEC affair ever between the two.
• Rick Barnes, the head coach at Texas for 17 years (1998-2015), is 4-3 in games between Texas and Tennessee. He went 2-2 with the Longhorns and is 2-1 with the Vols.
• 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 have become head coaches.
• New SEC school Texas was picked seventh in the preseason poll after going 21-13 (9-9 B12) last year and losing to Tennessee in the NCAA Tournament Round of 32.
• Freshman guard Tre Johnson, the SEC’s third-leading scorer behind Chaz Lanier and Johni Broome, paces Texas at 18.4 ppg.
NEWS & NOTES
• The Volunteers are 14-3 all-time at No. 1 in the AP Poll, including 13-2 in Rick Barnes‘ tenure (6-1 in 2024-25, 7-1 in 2018-19). In addition, Tennessee is 28-5 all- time as an AP top-three team, including 24-3 under Barnes.
• 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, posting a 2-2 record.
• Barnes is one of 19 coaches all- time—just six are active—to lead two DI schools to win 200-plus games at two DI schools. He…
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