Tennessee, NC State schedule neutral site game in San Antonio

The Tennessee Volunteers just added a 2023 NCAA Tournament team to their 2024 schedule. According to college hoops insider Jon Rothstein, the Volunteers will face the NC State Wolfpack in mid-December for a neutral site contest in San Antonio, Texas. Here was that news:

“Tennessee will play NC State on Dec. 16th in a neutral site game in San Antonio, multiple sources told College Hoops Today. There is no timetable on an official announcement.”

So, it’s still a report, but a fairly reliable one in Jon Rothstein. It’ll be another terrific Tennessee team in all likelihood this winter going up against an NC State team that finally broke through and made it back to the NCAA Tournament under head coach Kevin Keatts. Should be a fun one.

Both of these clubs really hammered the transfer portal this offseason to replenish their rosters. For Tennessee, the reinforcements came on the wing and mostly by way of former mid-major stars. Chris Ledlum is a Harvard defect and wide-reared forward with an endless motor who may remind UT fans of a certain undersized legend named Grant. Then there’s voluminous scorer Dalton Knecht (20 points a game in ’23) from Northern Colorado. To top it off, three-point gunner Jordan Gainey comes over from USC Upstate.

On the other hand, NC State focused their portal recruiting on the backcourt, where they lost their three-headed monster — Terquavion Smith, Casey Morsell and Jarkel Joiner — all to graduation or the draft. To replace them, it’s steady Arizona State guard DJ Horne, promising and rising junior Jayden Taylor from Butler and a third high-major guy in veteran Utah guard Mike O’Connell, who will likely spot some minutes at point guard. Their only mid-major addition was Kam Woods, a shot-happy star for North Carolina A&T last season.

The clubs actually return opposite types of players, with Tennessee getting back its excellent backcourt trio — whereas NC State lost theirs but does get back their anchor down low in big DJ Burns, who we don’t call big just for playing center. Tennessee fans know well that Burns was quite literally the biggest player in the country as a true freshman back in 2019 when he actually played for the Volunteers, narrowly out-sizing Zion Williamson.

So, in this one, look for Burns to try and exact revenge on his former school by overpowering a smaller Tennessee front-line while the Vols hope they have a significant enough advantage in the backcourt to take the dub in the desert.