KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee basketball program returns to the hardwood on Wednesday night went it hosts Tusculum in its lone exhibition contest of the preseason. Tip is set for 7 p.m. ET.

Wednesday’s game can streamed online through SEC Network+/WatchESPN. Visit espn.com/watch or download the WatchESPN app to view the game on a computer or mobile device. Roger Hoover (play-by-play), Vincent Yarbrough (analyst) and Maddy Glab (reporter) will have the call.

Fans in Knoxville can hear Bob Kesling‘s call of the game on WNML while this week’s edition of Vol Calls will air on WIVK. Vol Network affiliates throughout the state will have the option to carry one of the two programs, but both are available to stream online through UTSports.com and the UT Gameday app.

Tennessee, ranked 6th in the preseason AP Poll, is coming off a 26-9 season in which it earned a share of the SEC regular season crown. The Vols return 14 players—including all five starters—from a squad that appeared in the title game of the SEC Tournament before advancing to its first NCAA Tournament since the 2013-14 season.

The 109th season of Tennessee Basketball officially begins next Tuesday, Nov. 6, when Lenoir-Rhyne visits Knoxville (7 p.m., SEC Network).

ABOUT TUSCULUM

• Tusculum University is a private institution and NCAA Division II member located approximately 75 miles east of Knoxville in Greeneville, Tennessee. The Pioneers compete in the South Atlantic Conference.
• Tusculum head coach J.T. Burton, who served as the director of player development on the Vols’ staff for one season under Donnie Tyndall in 2014-15, is in his first season with the Pioneers.
• Burton boasts more than 20 years of coaching experience. He has amassed 150 victories, five 20-win campaigns, three national postseason appearances and two trips to the national quarterfinals.
• Burton coached two seasons at Motlow State Community College in Lynchburg, Tennessee, where he led the Bucks to an impressive 55-13 record. In 2016, he coached Motlow State to a 25-7 record and finished runner-up in both the Tennessee Community College Athletic Association and the NJCAA Region XII Tournament. In 2017, he guided the Bucks to a 30-6 campaign while sweeping the Region XII regular season and tournament titles, and advanced to the NJCAA Elite Eight.

VOLS EARN HIGHEST-EVER PRESEASON AP RANKING

• With a roster that returns nearly every major contributor from last season, including all five starters, UT received its highest ranking ever in the Associated Press preseason poll, coming in at No. 6.
• Tennessee has been listed in the top 10 of every major preseason poll. ESPN’s Basketball Power Index (BPI) and analyst Dick Vitale tabbed the Vols as the No. 3 team in the country, while CBS and Andy Katz of the NCAA each ranked the Vols as the fourth best team in the nation.
• UT has been ranked in the preseason AP poll 14 times, with the previous high of No. 7 coming during the 2007-08 campaign. That year, the Big Orange eventually made their way to No. 1 for the first time ever and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen.
• This is the sixth time Tennessee has started the season ranked in the top 10 of the preseason AP poll (see chart below). It also marks the first time UT enters the season ranked since 2010-11, when the Vols landed at No. 23 heading into the season-opener.

SEASON            AP PRESEASON RANK        POSTSEASON RESULT
1975-76                             9th                                NCAA First Round
1998-99                             9th                                NCAA Second Round
2000-01                             9th                                NCAA First Round
2007-08                             7th                                NCAA Sweet Sixteen
2009-10                            10th                               NCAA Elite Eight
2018-19                            6th                                         TBD

LEAGUE MEDIA PICKS VOLS SECOND; WILLIAMS IS PRESEASON POY PICK

• In mid-October, a panel of league media picked Tennessee to finish second in the SEC regular-season race, behind Kentucky.
• The media predicted forward Grant Williams to repeat as SEC Player of the Year (and to be a first-team All-SEC performer), while wing Admiral Schofield was tabbed as a preseason All-SEC second-teamer.

SEVEN EARN VOLSCHOLAR STATUS

• Seven members of Tennessee’s roster are wearing the VOLScholar patch on their jersey this semester: Kyle Alexander, Jordan Bowden, Jacob Fleschman, Zach Kent, Yves Pons, Grant Williams and Brad Woodson
• To be eligible to wear the patch, Tennessee student-athletes must achieve a 3.0 GPA in either of the two previous semesters, or they must own a cumulative 3.0 GPA.

TENNESSEE HAS NEVER WON BACK-TO-BACK SEC TITLES

• While Tennessee’s 10 SEC championships are tied for second-most among league schools, the Volunteers have never captured consecutive conference crowns.
• Tennessee won a share of the regular-season SEC championship last year with a 13-5 record in league play.
• In addition to Tennessee’s 10 SEC titles (three of which came via winning the conference tournament in 1936, 1941 and 1943), the Vols also won the SEC Tournament in 1979.
• A league title this season also would give head coach Rick Barnes his first back-to-back league titles. He enters the 2018-19 campaign with three Big 12 and one SEC championship under his belt.

ANNIVERSARIES

• The 2018-19 season marks the 40th anniversary of Tennessee’s 1979 SEC Tournament championship. The Volunteers went 12-6 in league play before defeating Auburn and Kentucky (in overtime) in Birmingham to secure the SEC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. That team, coached by Don DeVoe, was the last Tennessee squad to win the conference tournament.
• This season also marks the 10th and 20th anniversary of UT’s SEC Eastern Division titles in 2008-09 and 1998-99, respectively. The league abandoned divisional play following the 2010-11 season.
• Ten years ago (on Dec. 3, 2008) Tyler Smith recorded the only triple-double in program history, totaling 12 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
• Twenty years ago (on Dec. 6, 1998), the Vols set a single-game school record with 15 blocks during a 56-53 home win over 20th-ranked Pitt.
• Sixty years ago, during the 1958-59 campaign, All-American center Gene Tormohlen set the Tennessee single-season record for rebounding average when he pulled down 17.7 rebounds per game (372 in 21 games). He also set the program record for consecutive double-doubles that year, posting 14 straight from Dec. 27, 1958 through Feb. 21, 1959).

VOL FANS EAGER TO PACK THOMPSON-BOLING ARENA

• So far this season, two Tennessee home games have sold out already before the end of October. Single game tickets went on sale on Oct. 9, and since then, the Vols’ home games against West Virginia (Jan. 26) and Kentucky (March 2) have sold out.
• Tickets are extremely limited for Tennessee’s Feb. 9 home game against Florida, with other games also expected to be sellouts.
• Last season, three of the Vols’ home games were sellouts: North Carolina (Dec. 17), Kentucky (Jan. 6) and Georgia (March 3).

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