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Tennessee Basketball to face Duke in one of two preseason exhibition games

IMG_3593by: Grant Ramey07/16/25GrantRamey
Dusty May, Jon Scheyer
Michigan head coach Dusty May cheers on after a play against Auburn during the second half of the Sweet 16 round of NCAA tournament at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Ga. on Friday, March 28, 2025. Apr 5, 2025; San Antonio, TX, USA; Duke Blue Devils head coach Jon Scheyer directs players before a semifinal of the men's Final Four of the 2025 NCAA Tournament at the Alamodome. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

Tennessee Basketball’s preseason schedule will be loaded. Sources told Volquest the Vols are working to finalize a road exhibition game at Michigan in October and will also host Duke on October 26 in a second exhibition at Food City Center.

In January the NCAA eased rules for exhibition games, allowing for two to be played against any four-year schools.

Tennessee lost 66-62 to Indiana in a preseason exhibition last October at Food City Center. The Vols went to Michigan State in October 2023 for a charity exhibition, winning 89-88, and beat Gonzaga in a charity exhibition in Frisco, Texas, in 2022.

Tennessee has faced Duke 16 times and has an 8-8 record against the Blue Devils. The Vols won the most recent matchup 65-52 in the second round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament in Orlando. 

Duke beat Tennessee 77-67 in the 2011 Maui Invitational and the Vols won a natural-site game in New Orleans 90-69 in December 1980. Tennessee hasn’t hosted Duke since an 81-78 loss in December 1976.

Tennessee is 5-7 in 12 meetings with Michigan and has lost the last four, including three straight losses in NCAA Tournament meetings (2011, 2014, 2022).

Tennessee will reportedly open the season November 3 against Mercer. The Vols will face Rutgers, Houston and a third team to be determined in the Players Era tournament in Las Vegas November 24-27.

December starts with a road game at Syracuse in the ACC-SEC Challenge on December 2. The Illinois series will continue with a game at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on December 6 and Louisville comes to Knoxville on December 16 to finish a two-year home-and-home.

Tennessee finishing home-and-home with Louisville, Illinois series continues

The Vols host Louisville on December 16, Gardner-Webb on December 21 and close the non-conference schedule against South Carolina State on December 30. 

Tennessee won 77-55 at Louisville last November in the first road game of the season and the start of the two-year home-and-home between the two programs. The Vols swept Illinois over the last two seasons and will face the Illini again in Chicago during the 2026-27 season.

Syracuse has been on the schedule the last two seasons, with Tennessee winning in Hawaii during the Maui Invitational in November 2023 and again last December in the ACC-SEC Challenge game at Food City Center.

SEC opponents set, schedule not yet announced

Tennessee’s SEC schedule has not yet been released, though opponents were announced in June.

The Vols added a home-and-home series with Alabama, among other marquee matchups, and will also have their regular home-and-homes with Kentucky and Vanderbilt. The Alabama home-and-home replaced the Florida home-and-home from last season. 

The Vols will host Auburn, LSU, Missouri, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Texas and Texas A&M in Knoxville, after going on the road for those games lsat season. 

Tennessee will play on the road at Arkansas, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, after playing those opponents at home on the 2024-25 schedule. 

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