SEC announces Tennessee Basketball's conference opponents for 2024-25 season
Tennessee Basketball’s 2024-25 Southeastern Conference schedule won’t look all that different, at least not at home. The new-look SEC, with the addition of Texas and Oklahoma to the league, announced conference schedules on Monday afternoon, but the Vols won’t host either the Longhorns or the Sooners.
Tennessee will play home-and-homes with Kentucky, Florida and Vanderbilt. The Vols will also host Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi State, Missouri and South Carolina at Food City Center next season.
They’ll play road games at Texas, Oklahoma, Auburn, LSU, Ole Miss and Texas A&M, along with Kentucky, Florida and Vanderbilt.
Tennessee is coming off a 27-9 season that included a 14-4 SEC record and the program’s first conference regular-season championship since 2008. The Vols clinched the title in a 66-59 win at South Carolina on March 6.
After losing the next two games — Senior Day at home against Kentucky and then against Mississippi State in the quarterfinal round of the SEC Tournament — Tennessee went on a run to the Elite Eight for just the second time in program history.
The Vols, playing as a No. 2 seed in the Midwest Region, beat No. 15 Saint Peter’s 83-49 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Charlotte and held off No. 7 Texas 62-58 in the second round.
Tennessee beat No. 3 Creighton 82-75 in the Sweet 16 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit to reach the Elite Eight for the first time since 2010. There, the Vols lost 72-66 to No. 1 Purdue, coming up one win short of its first ever trip to the Final Four.
Tennessee Basketball’s history against Texas and Oklahoma
Tennessee’s game against Texas next season will be the fourth between the two teams in as many years. The Vols lost 52-51 at Texas in January 2022, in the Big 12-SEC Challenge, then beat the Longhorns 82-71 in January 2023 in Knoxville before meeting in the NCAA Tournament in March.
Tennessee lost to Texas in Newark, N.J., in 2007, and beat the Longhorns both in in Austin and in Knoxville in 2005 and 2006, respectively. Texas beat Tennessee 95-70 in the Maui Invitational in 2004.
The two teams first met in 1952, a 66-59 Tennessee win at home, then again Little Rock, Ark., in 1960, a 77-73 Texas win.
Tennessee and Oklahoma have played just once in men’s basketball, a 55-49 win for the Vols in December 1968.
Four Vols transferred while three new transfers have been added
It’s been an offseason of change for Tennessee’s roster, losing three fifth-year seniors and four more players to the NCAA Transfer Portal, while also adding three transfers so far.
Dalton Knecht, Santiago Vescovi and Josiah-Jordan James are out of eligibility. Junior center Jonas Aidoo, sophomore forward Tobe Awaka and redshirt freshmen Freddie Dilione and DJ Jefferson transferred out of the program. Aidoo went to Arkansas, Awaka landed at Arizona, Dilione signed with Penn State and Jefferson went to Longwood.
Rick Barnes and his staff to date have added Hofstra wing Darlinstone Dubar, Ohio State center Felix Okpara and Charlotte forward Igor Milicic Jr. The Vols have three open scholarships remaining, with North Florida transfer guard Chaz Lanier as the biggest name remaining on the board.
