No. 10 Texas at No. 4 Tennessee Game Preview

On3 imageby:Gerry Hamilton01/27/23

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The No. 10 ranked Texas Longhorns face the toughest game of the season Saturday with a trip to Knoxville to take on No. 4 ranked Tennessee as part of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.

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The Longhorns (17-3, 6-2) are coming off a 89-75 Big 12 win over Oklahoma State Tuesday. The Volunteers (17-3, 7-1 in the SEC) are coming off a 70-41 blowout win over Georgia (13-7, 3-5) Wednesday in Knoxville.

The Longhorns are 10-2 under interim head coach Rodney Terry.

How to watch the game

Texas and Tennessee tipoff at 5 p.m. central on ESPN with Dave O’Brien (play by play), Dick Vitale (analyst) and Kris Budden (reporter) calling the action.

Thompson-Boling Arena (21,678) – Knoxville, Tennessee

The Longhorns lead the series 4-3. Texas won the last meeting 52-51 January 29, 2022 in Austin.

Big 12 conference race

No. 12 Iowa State Cyclones (15-4, 6-2)
Cyclones games this week: Beat Kansas State 80-76, at Missouri

No. 5 Kansas State Wildcats (17-3, 6-2)
Wildcats games this week: Lost at Iowa State 80-76, Florida 

No. 10 Texas Longhorns (17-3, 6-2)
Longhorns games this week: Beat Oklahoma State 89-75, at Tennessee

No. 14 TCU Horned Frogs (16-4, 5-3)
Horned Frogs games this week: Beat Oklahoma 79-52, at Mississippi State

No. 17 Baylor Bears (15-5, 5-3)
Bears games this week: Beat Kansas 75-69, Arkansas

No. 9 Kansas Jayhawks (16-4, 5-3)
Jayhawks games this week: Lost at Baylor 75-69, at Kentucky

Oklahoma State Cowboys (11-9, 3-5)
Cowboys games this week: Lost at Texas 89-75, Ole Miss

Oklahoma Sooners (11-9, 2-6)
Sooners games this week: Lost at TCU 79-52, Alabama

West Virginia Mountaineers (12-8, 2-6)
Mountaineers games this week: Won at Texas Tech 76-61, Auburn

Texas Tech Red Raiders (10-10, 0-8)
Red Raiders games this week: Lost to West Virginia 76-61, at LSU

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The Rodney Terry File

Rodney Terry enters Tuesday with a career record of 173-158. He has been a head coach at the Division I level for ten year prior to joining Chris Beard’s staff in Austin.

Terry built the Fresno State program up in his time in California. The Bulldogs won 20 or more games in four of Terry’s last five seasons. That included three times in post season play. Terry has a 0-1 record in the NCAA Tournament.

The Rick Barnes File

Rick Barnes is in his eighth season as head coach of Tennessee. He has a 166-83 record in Knoxville, including 81-51 in SEC play. The Volunteers have a 4-4 NCAA Tournament record under Barnes, including a Sweet 16 appearance in 2018-19.

Barnes sports an NCAA Tournament record of 25-26 in 26 career appearances. He coached Texas to the Final Four in 2002-03, and the Elite Eight in 2005-06 and 2007-08.

Tennessee Volunteers starters

Santiago Vescovi, 6-3, senior (12.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 2.4 steals)

G Zakai Zeigler, 5-10, sophomore (10.7 points, 3.1 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 2.3 steals)

G Josiah-Jordan James, 6-6, senior (9.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, 1.8 assists)

F Julian Phillips, 6-8, freshman (10.0 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists)

PF Olivier Nkamhoua, 6-9, junior (10.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.1 assists)

Key reserves

Key reserves for the Volunteers are 6-2 super senior Tyreke Key (8.9 points, 2.9 rebounds), 6-11 sophomore Jonas Aidoo (5.3 points, 5.3 rebounds), 7-1 senior Uros Plavsic (6.2 points, 4.3 rebounds) and 6-8 freshman Tobe Awaka (3.5 points, 3.3 rebounds).

Texas starters

PG Tyrese Hunter, 6-1, sophomore (10.3 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.9 assists)

CG Marcus Carr, 6-2, super senior (17.6 points, 2.9 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1.8 steals)

Timmy Allen, 6-6, super senior (10.7 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.4 assists)

Dillon Mitchell, 6-8, freshman (6.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 0.8 steals)

PF Dylan Disu, 6-9, senior (7.4 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.6 blocks)

The reserves 

SG Sir’Jabari Rice, 6-4, super senior (10.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists)

PF Christian Bishop, 6-7, super senior (6.9 points, 3.6 rebounds, 0.9 steals)

CG Arterio Morris, 6-3, freshman (5.6 points, 2.0 rebounds, 0.8 assists)

Brock Cunningham, 6-6, senior (4.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, 0.9 steals) 

PF Alex Anamekwe, 6-5.5, freshman (2.0 points, 0.8 rebounds)

SG Gavin Perryman, 6-1, redshirt freshman (Logged 36 minutes through 20 games)

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