Where Tennessee basketball is ranked in updated AP Top 25, Coaches Poll

Tennessee basketball on Monday dropped three spots and is now ranked No. 10 overall in the updated the Associated Press Top 25. The USA Today Coaches Poll also dropped Tennessee three spots to No. 11.

The Vols went 1-2 and finished in fourth place in the Maui Invitational last week, beating Syracuse 73-56 in the first round before losses on back-to-back days against Purdue (71-67) and Kansas (69-60). The Jayhawks were ranked No. 1 overall last week, with the Boilermakers ranked No. 2.

Purdue moved to No. 1 in this week’s Coaches Poll while Kansas dropped to No. 6 after its loss to Marquette in the Maui Invitational.

Up Next: No. 10 Tennessee at No. 17 North Carolina

Tennessee (4-2) goes to No. 17 North Carolina (5-1) on Wednesday (7:15 p.m. Eastern Time, ESPN) for the first edition of the ACC-SEC Challenge at the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill. 

The Vols last week stayed at No. 7 in the AP Top 25 and No. 8 in the Coaches Poll after a 3-0 start to the season. 

Dalton Knecht was named to the Maui Invitational All-Tournament team after averaging 15.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists in the three games. 

Sixth man Jordan Gainey had a combined 28 points off the bench against Purdue and Kansas, after scoring just two points against Syracuse, and Santiago Vescovi had 21 against Kansas, going 5-for-11 from the 3-point line after going 3-for-17 from three over the first six games of the season.

Tennessee’s offense struggled over the final two days of the Maui Invitational, as the Vols shot just 31.0% from the field against Kansas and 33.3% against Purdue. They shot 26.7% from three against Purdue and 27.3% against Kansas. 

‘How will (the Vols) respond in Chapel Hill this week?’

ESPN dropped Tennessee to No. 10 in its updated power rankings after the Feast Week tournaments.

“We were pretty high on the Volunteers after their offensive performance the first three games of the season,” ESPN’s Jeff Borzello wrote, “and we’re still believers in the Volunteers at that end of the floor. But their performance in Hawaii was reminiscent of last season’s struggling unit. 

“They scored fewer than 0.96 points per possession in all three Maui Invitational games and shot a combined 17-for-63 from 3 against Purdue and Kansas. How will they respond in Chapel Hill this week?”

That response, Borzello added, will depend on Knecht’s response. 

Knecht struggled in the second half against Purdue, scoring 13 of his 16 before halftime. He struggled in the second half against Kanas, too, scoring 10 of his 13 in the first half and going 1-for-8 from the field after halftime. 

“Unsurprisingly,” Borzello wrote, “Tennessee also struggled to make shots in both games, going 17-for-63 (27%) from behind the arc and making just six of 20 layup attempts against the Jayhawks. Knecht is the separator for Tennessee, someone who can go get his own shot and has the size and athleticism to make contested shots over good defenders. But when he’s off, the Vols will struggle.”