Courtesy / UT Athletics
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee men’s basketball team is in the top 10 of both the Associated Press Top 25 Poll and the USA TODAY Coaches Poll for the ninth consecutive week.
Tennessee (17-6, 7-3 SEC) sits at eighth in the AP Poll and ninth in the Coaches Poll, as announced Monday afternoon.
The Volunteers have now been featured in 53 straight AP Polls, the third-longest streak in America behind just Houston (79) and Kansas (58). That figure is also 16 weeks longer than the previous program record of 37. Tennessee has received a top-10 position in 26 of those 53 weeks, just shy of half.
The nine-week AP top 10 streak is tied for the fifth-longest in Tennessee history, matching a mark from the 1967-68 campaign. Of the six times the Volunteers have posted a streak of at least nine weeks, half have come under ninth-year head coach Rick Barnes‘ tenure, all since the 2018-19 season. Barnes has also now steered Tennessee to 51 top-10 rankings, good for 35.2 percent of its all-time total.
The Volunteers are coming off a 1-1 showing last week. They started with an 88-68 home win Wednesday against LSU behind 27 points, seven rebounds, a career-high six assists, three blocks and two steals from fifth-year guard Dalton Knecht. Three days later, despite 22 points from Knecht, they fell at Texas A&M, 85-69.
Tennessee earned 1,033 points in the AP balloting this week. It received 524 in the Coaches Poll, only five fewer than eighth-place Duke.
The Volunteers are yet again the top-ranked team in the SEC, which has five teams in the top 25 for the second week in a row. The others are No. 11 South Carolina, No. 13/12 Auburn, No. 15 Alabama and No. 22/20 Kentucky. Meanwhile, Florida and Texas A&M are both in the “receiving votes” section of each poll, while Ole Miss garnered points in the AP Poll.
Tennessee continues play Wednesday at 9 p.m. against Arkansas at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Ark., live on ESPN2.
To keep up with the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team on social media, follow @Vol_Hoops on Instagram and X/Twitter, as well as /tennesseebasketball on Facebook.
