How To Watch: No. 20 Tennessee Basketball vs. North Florida

It’s Tennessee Basketball game day, with the Vols back home for the third game in their five-game home stand to start the new season, hosting North Florida at Food City Center in a 7 p.m. Eastern Time start on SEC Network+.

No. 20 Tennessee (2-0) beat Mercer 76-61 on November 3 to open the season and throttled Northern Kentucky 95-56 on Saturday afternoon. Next week the Vols host Rice (Monday) and Tennessee State (Thursday) before going to Las Vegas for the Players Era Men’s Championship. 

North Florida (0-1) started the season with a 104-64 loss at No. 10 Florida and later this season plays at No. 19 Gonzaga and at Miami before starting ASUN Conference play. 

Last season the Ospreys started won at South Carolina and at Georgia Tech over the first three games of the season, but would finish just 15-17 overall, with losses in six of its final eight games and its season ending against Austin Peay in the ASUN Tournament.

How to Watch: No. 20 Tennessee vs. North Florida

When: Wednesday, 7 p.m. Eastern Time | Where: Food City Center

Streaming: SEC Network+

Radio: WNML 99.1 FM in Knoxville (Mike Keith, Chris Lofton). The Vol Network radio broadcast can be heard on local affiliates across the state of Tennessee.

SiriusXM Radio: SiriusXM App

KenPom Prediction: Tennessee 93, North Florida 61

Tennessee facing North Florida for the first time

Wednesday’s game is the first meeting between Tennessee and North Florida.

The paths of the two programs crossed when Chaz Lanier transferred from North Florida to Tennessee after the 2023-24 season. He was coming off a breakout senior season at North Florida — he averaged 19.7 points per game and shot 51.0% from the field and 44.0% from three — and it continued with the Vols. 

Lanier last season averaged 18.0 points per game during an All-American one-and-done career at Tennessee, setting a new program record with 123 3-point field goals made while shooting 39.5% from three.

Lanier’s head coach at North Florida, Matt Driscoll, left the program after last season to become associate head coach under Jerome Tang at Kansas State. 

North Florida promoted Bobby Kennen to replace Driscoll. Kennen has been on staff at North Florida since 2009, after stops as an assistant at Campbell, Jacksonville and Wichita State. 

Tennessee drops in AP Top 25, Coaches Poll

Tennessee dropped two spots in both the Associated Press Top 25 and the Coaches Poll on Monday, now ranked No. 20 in the AP Top 25 and No. 21 in the Coaches Poll. 

The Vols are ranked No. 13 overall in the KenPom.com ratings, coming in at No. 3 in adjusted defensive efficiency (91.5) and No. 38 in adjusted offensive efficiency (116.2).

North Florida is ranked No. 340 overall (out of 365) and is ranked No. 271 on offense (101.2) and No. 360 on defense (116.3).