Tennessee (8-0) climbed two spots in each the Associated Press Top 25 Poll and the USA TODAY Coaches Poll to No. 1 total. It is simply the second staff to carry the highest place in both ballot this yr, alongside Kansas.
This is the sixth time in program historical past, throughout three totally different seasons, Tennessee is first within the AP Poll. The Volunteers held the highest spot as soon as in 2007-08 (Feb. 25), in addition to 4 instances in 2018-19 (Jan. 21, Jan. 28, Feb. 4 and Feb. 11). This is the earliest this system has ever ascended atop the ballot and the primary time it has carried out so throughout non-conference play.
Five of Tennessee’s six all-time AP No. 1 rankings are beneath the course of head coach Rick Barnes, who’s now in his tenth yr on Rocky Top. Over the final seven years (2018-25), the Volunteers are considered one of simply seven packages to assert the No. 1 place within the AP Poll in a number of seasons, alongside Baylor, Duke, Gonzaga, Houston and Purdue.
This is the sixty fifth straight week the Volunteers are within the AP Poll, a span stretching throughout 4 campaigns that dates to the 2021-22 preseason ballot. The mark is 28 weeks longer than this system’s earlier file and is the third-longest energetic tally in America, behind simply Houston (91) and Kansas (70). No different faculty is even 50-plus, whereas the closest SEC staff is Kentucky (27), ninth nationally and 38 weeks shy of Tennessee.
The Volunteers are within the AP high 15 for the thirty ninth time within the final 42 releases, courting to Nov. 28, 2022. Tennessee now has 61 AP top-10 nods in Barnes’ tenure, together with 29 within the high 5, the latter mark 12 higher than this system’s whole complete earlier than his rent. The Volunteers additionally now have thrice as many AP top-two rankings (six) beneath Barnes as that they had earlier than his 2015 arrival (two).
Barnes has led Tennessee to an AP top-five rating in every of the previous 4 seasons, a mark solely Kansas can match. He has additionally guided the Volunteers to an AP top-six rating in every of the final 5 years, a ledger solely Alabama, Houston and Kansas can equal.
Tennessee gained its solely outing final week, handing over a dominant 96-70 triumph Tuesday over Syracuse within the SEC/ACC Challenge at Food City Center behind a game-best 26 factors from fifth-year guard Chaz Lanier. The Volunteers had been considered one of simply two groups in final week’s AP high eight that didn’t lose final week, together with the one one within the high 5.
In its eight outings up to now, Tennessee has led for 303 minutes and 50 seconds of attainable 320 minutes, whereas trailing for simply six minutes and three seconds. It has led by not less than 26 factors in each sport, successful all of them by 15-plus, and has not confronted a deficit bigger than three.
The Volunteers earned 1,544 of 1,550 factors within the AP Poll balloting, a 193-point ascension from final week, and picked up 58 of 62 first-place votes. In the Coaches Poll, Tennessee registered 770 of a attainable 775 factors, a 51-point enhance from final week, and acquired 26 of 31 first-place votes.
Tennessee is amongst 9 SEC groups within the high 25 of not less than one ballot. It is joined by second-ranked Auburn, fifth-ranked Kentucky, No. 7/8 Alabama, No. 9/7 Florida, No. 13/17 Oklahoma, No. 17/18 Texas A&M and No. 19/15 Ole Miss in every ballot, whereas Mississippi State is No. 25 within the AP Poll and atop the receiving votes part of the Coaches Poll. Arkansas, Georgia, Missouri and Texas garnered factors from each voting our bodies, whereas LSU did so from the coaches.
Additionally, the Volunteers, who’re amongst eight remaining undefeated groups, as soon as once more place first within the NCAA NET rankings and second in KenPom’s rankings.
Tennessee is again in motion Tuesday within the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden in New York, the place it faces Miami at 6:30 p.m., stay on ESPN.
To sustain with the University of Tennessee males’s basketball staff on social media, observe @Vol_Hoops on Instagram and X/Twitter, in addition to /tennesseebasketball on Facebook.
