No. 17 Tennessee's game against No. 20 Illinois on Saturday is sold out
No. 17 Tennessee’s game against No. 20 Illinois on Saturday at Thompson-Boling Arena is officially sold out. The Vols announced the sellout on social media on Friday. The game is scheduled for a Noon Eastern Time start on CBS.
The Vols have now sold out four home games. Last week they announced Alabama on January 20, Texas A&M on January 24 and Kentucky on March 9 are all sold out. At the time there were only limited tickets remaining for Saturday’s game against Illinois and the Auburn game on February 28.
No. 17 Tennessee (5-3) beat George Mason 87-66 Tuesday night in Knoxville, snapping a three-game skid with losses to Purdue and Kansas in the Maui Invitational and at North Carolina the ACC-SEC Challenge game at the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill.
No. 20 Illinois (7-1) has won five straight, including a 98-89 win over No. 11 Florida Atlantic Tuesday night in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden.
Rick Barnes is 111-22 at Thompson-Boling Arena since taking over as Tennessee’s head coach before the 2015-16 season. The Vols have lost just three non-conference home games under Barnes, against Chattanooga in November 2016, North Carolina in December 2017 and Wisconsin in December 2019.
Tennessee basketball season tickets sold-out during preseason
The Vols announced on November 1 it had officially sold out the allotment of 14,500 season tickets at Thompson-Boling Arena this season.
It’s the seventh consecutive full-capacity season with more than 13,000 season tickets sold for men’s basketball. Last season the Vols averaged 18,781 fans at home games, which ranked fifth nationally. There were only eight schools that averaged more than 15,100 fans at home games.
Tennessee next week hosts Georgia Southern on Tuesday and plays North Carolina State in a neutral-site game in San Antonio on December 16.
Tarleton State on December 21 is the final game before the Christmas break and Norfolk State on January 2 is the final non-conference game, with SEC play starting January 6 at home against Ole Miss.
Top 10
- 1Breaking
Derek Dooley
Announces U.S. Senate Bid
- 2Hot
Blurred out QB
Vols protect INT thrower
- 3Trending
Top 25 WR units
Ranking the pass catchers
- 4
OLB rankings
Top 25 in college football
- 5
Top 25 College QBs
Ranking best '25 signal callers
Get the Daily On3 Newsletter in your inbox every morning
By clicking "Subscribe to Newsletter", I agree to On3's Privacy Notice, Terms, and use of my personal information described therein.
SEC play begins at home vs. Ole Miss on January 6
Florida (January 16), Alabama (January 20), Texas A&M (February 24), Auburn (February 28) and Kentucky, the regular-season finale on March 9.
SEC play starts at home with Ole Miss on January 6. Other conference games include South Carolina (January 30), LSU (February 7) and Vanderbilt (February 17).
Road games in SEC play are at Mississippi State (January 10), at Vanderbilt (January 27), at Kentucky (February 3), at Texas A&M (February 10), at Arkansas (February 14), at Missouri (February 20), at Alabama (March 2) and at South Carolina (March 6).
The 80-70 win at Wisconsin was the second in a home-and-home series that started at Thompson-Boling Arena in December 2019. The Vols were scheduled to play at Wisconsin in December 2020 before the COVID pandemic altered the 2020-21 basketball season.
Tennessee announced in December that a home-and-home with Illinois had been scheduled, starting in Knoxville this season. The Vols make the return trip to Illinois on December 14, 2024.
