Live Updates: No. 9 Tennessee basketball vs. Vanderbilt

After back-to-back road games and playing three of the last four games away from home, No. 9 Tennessee basketball is back home to host Vanderbilt on Saturday, a 6 p.m. Eastern Time start at Thompson-Boling Arena. The game will be televised by SEC Network.

Follow along for all the live updates before, during and after tonight’s game on The General’s Quarters

The Vols (18-6, 8-3 SEC), with seven games left on the regular-season schedule, now have three of their next four games at home. After hosting Vanderbilt (7-17, 2-9), they go to Missouri on Tuesday, then have home dates with Texas A&M (February 24) and Auburn (February 28).

Tennessee on Saturday afternoon will get a look at where it stands in the eyes of the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee, which will reveal the current top 16 seeds for the NCAA Tournament in a bracket preview at 12:30 Eastern Time on CBS. The Vols are currently projected as a No. 2 seed.

How to Watch: No. 9 Tennessee vs. Vanderbilt

Start Time: Saturday, 6 p.m. Eastern Time

Location: Thompson-Boling Arena (21,678)

TV: SEC Network

Streaming: WatchESPN.com

Radio: WNML-FM 99.1 in Knoxville. The Vol Network radio broadcast can be heard on local affiliates across the state of Tennessee. 

KenPom Prediction: Tennessee 82, Vanderbilt 60 (Vols 98% chance to win)

The Line: Tennessee -21.5

A Closer Look: The Vanderbilt Commodores

Tennessee beat Vanderbilt 75-62 on January 27 at Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville, outscoring the Commodores 45-27 in the second half after trailing 35-30 at halftime.

Dalton Knecht scored 32 points to lead the Vols, going 13-for-21 from the field and 3-for-7 at the 3-point line. He added six rebounds, three assists and three blocks in his 34 minutes. 

Santiago Vescovi had 12 points and Zakai Zeigler had 10, going a combined 4-for-11 from three, and Jordan Gainey had 10 points off the bench. 

The loss to Tennessee was part of a seven-game losing streak for Vandy, which was snapped on February 3 in a home win over Missouri. The Commodores beat Texas A&M 74-73 on Tuesday — Vandy guard Ezra Manjon hit a buzzer beater in the paint to win it — with the Aggies fresh off an 85-69 win over Tennessee in College Station Saturday night. Manjon had 14 points in the home loss against Tennessee while guard Tyrin Lawrence had a team-high 21. 

“Vanderbilt is playing better,” Tennessee assistant coach Gregg Polinksy said on Friday. “They led South Carolina at the half. If South Carolina doesn’t have a few guys step up and make some key threes in that game, Vanderbilt’s there the whole way.

“Coach (Barnes) will say this, Coach (Jerry) Stackhouse probably runs as good an offense as anybody in this league, at the high end. They’re going to tweak what they do, they’re not going to show you the same thing. They’re able to make some changes that are difficult to deal with.” 

Vandy started the season 3-1 and since then has gone 4-16 over the 20 games that followed. Tennessee has won 12 of its last 13 in the series and the ‘Dores haven’t won in Knoxville since February 2017.

“They’re always going to play us very tough,” Polinksy said. “They’re very capable. I think (beating) Texas A&M is a testament more to Vanderbilt, right? Having won whatever they won, coming into that game and going out and playing the team that just took care of us pretty good.”