Hoops Central: #11/9 Tennessee vs. Virginia

NASSAUBahamas – The 11th-ranked Tennessee men’s basketball team heads to the Bahamas this week for the Baha Mar Championship, taking on Virginia in the opener Thursday night at 7 p.m. 9:30 p.m. ET.

Fans can watch Thursday’s game between the Volunteers and Cavaliers CBS Sports Network. Chris Sylvester (play-by-play), Kyle Macy (analyst) and Sam Hyman (reporter) will have the call.

Fans can also tune in live on their local Vol Network affiliate to hear John Wilkerson and Bert Bertelkamp describe the action.

Tennessee posted a 103-68 victory over Austin Peay on Sunday behind a brilliant offensive performance at the Food City Center.

The Volunteers shot a remarkable 63.8 percent, tied for its fifth-best mark in the last 20 seasons (2005-25) in the decisive victory and got a game-high 23 points from the senior forward Igor Miličić Jr.who paced the team in scoring for the second straight outing.

THE MATCHUP
• After starting 1-4 against Virginia, Tennessee is 4-4 in its last eight games in the series dating back to 1917, the ninth year of the Volunteers’ program.
• This is the fifth neutral site the two sides have met, joining Atlanta (1981 loss), Indianapolis (1982 loss), East Rutherford (2000 loss) and Columbus (2007 win). The 1981, 1982 and 2007 games were all in the NCAA Tournament, as Virginia is one of three schools Tennessee has faced three times in the event.
• The Cavaliers, who went 23-11 (13-7) and reached the NCAA Tournament last year, were ranked fifth in the ACC preseason poll.
• Junior guard Isaac McKneely paces Virginia with 16.0 ppg and owns a 64.7 percent (11-of-17) 3-point clip.
• Tennessee is 122-101 all-time against current ACC schools and has defeated all of them at least once except Notre Dame (0-1).
• Rick Barnes owns an 82-77 all-time mark against the current ACC membership, including a 12-5 record in his Tennessee tenure.

NEWS & NOTES
• Igor Miličić Jr., spent his first year (2021-22) at Virginia. He then transferred to Charlotte, where he played his first season (2022-23) under Ron Sanchez, who is now the Cavaliers’ interim head coach.
• Virginia is the second of four ACC schools the Volunteers will face in non-conference play. They already won at Louisville (11/9), plus will host Syracuse (12/3) and face Miami (12/10) in New York.
• Tennessee owns a 7-2 record in the Bahamas, with each game coming in the Battle 4 Atlantis. It was 2-1 in 2013 (fifth place), 2-1 in 2017 (third) and 3-0 in 2022 (champion). The Volunteers, who beat third-ranked Kansas to claim the 2022 title, have won four in a row in the Bahamas.
• In Rick Barnes‘, UT is 10-10 in its eight multi-team event (MTE) appearances. That includes a 7-5 record outside the continental United States.
• This is the second year in a row that the Vols will open their MTE with an ACC foe. They beat Syracuse, 73-56, on 11/20/23 in Honolulu.
• The Volunteers lead the nation with a 58.1 percent field-goal clip. They have shot over 53.0 percent in each of the last seven halves, including surpassing 57.0 percent in each of the last four, marking over 63.0 twice.
• Tennessee shot 32-of-44 (72.7 percent) from inside the arc in its last outing, a win over Austin Peay.
• In the Vols’ first four games, they led 155:32 out of a possible 160 minutes and trailed just 1:34.
• Chaz Lanier is just 16 points short of becoming the fourth player on Tennessee’s list with at least 1,000 career points.
• The Volunteers are looking for a 5-0 start for the third time in six years, along with 2019-20 (5-0) and 2020-21 (7-0).
• Tennessee’s 175 wins over the last eight years (2017-25) are tied for second nationally with both Liberty and Saint Mary’s. Only Gonzaga (217), Houston (210), Kansas (195), Duke (188), Purdue (186), San Diego State (179) and Virginia (179) have more. Through 11/18/24, only 14 schools own over 170 wins in that span.

TENNESSEE LOST THIRD
• Tennessee ranked third in the SEC preseason poll, as voted on by a select panel of league and national media members.
• Only the two Yellowhammer State schools, Alabama and Auburn, finished above Tennessee in the poll.
• It’s the third straight year the Volunteers have taken a top-three finish in the preseason media poll, the only school to make such a claim. Tennessee held the top seed in 2023-24 and actually won the league title. In 2022-23, UT took third place in the poll.
• Tennessee has claimed a top-five spot in the preseason media poll seven straight years dating back to the 2018-19 edition.

WINNING WAYS
• Over the past eight seasons (2017-25), Tennessee leads all SEC programs in total wins (175) and is tied for first in postseason wins (18) while ranking a close second in winning percentage (.726 ). In that span, UT has three SEC titles, winning the regular season in 2018 and 2024 plus the 2022 tournament.
• In that same eight-year stretch, the Vols are one of only three SEC teams with a combined winning percentage above .700, along with Auburn (.728) and Kentucky (.701).
• In SEC play over the same eight-year span, Tennessee (86-39; .688) is second in the league, behind Kentucky (87-38; .696), in both wins and winning percentage. Only Auburn (81-45; .643) and Alabama (78-48; .619) even have 70-plus wins.
• Over the last four seasons (2021-25), UT has an overall record of 83-28 (.7478). That’s good for most wins and the best winning percentage of any SEC team in that span. Auburn ranks second at 80-27 (.7476) during that time.
• In that same four-year span, Tennessee (39-15; .722) is tied with Kentucky for the best record in conference play among SEC teams.

PRE-SEASON CLEAN
• Zakai Zeigler was a Preseason First Team All-SEC selection by the media along with Auburn’s Johni Broome, Florida’s Walter Clayton Jr., Alabama’s Mark Sears and Texas A&M’s Wade Taylor IV.
• In addition, Zeigler was one of five people to receive votes for SEC Preseason Player of the Year, joining Sears (the designer), Broome, Taylor and Georgia’s Asa Newell.
• This is the third straight year that Zeigler, a second-team pick ahead of both the 2023-24 and 2022-23 campaigns, has earned Preseason All-SEC honors from the media. He is the fourth such three-time selection in UT history, joining Allan Houston (first team in each of 1990-91, 1991-92 and 1992-93), Tony Harris (first team in each of 1998-99, 1999-2000 and 2000-01) and Tyler Smith (second team in 2007-08, first team in both 2008-09 and 2009-10).
• The league’s coaches also tabbed Zeigler a Preseason First Team All-SEC selection, placing him with the same four players. It marked his third straight year receiving this distinction, the only one of its kind in the league.
• Zeigler earned Preseason Second Team All-America honors from the Blue Ribbon Yearbook. The other second-team selections were Broome, Taylor, Duke’s Cooper Flagg and Purdue’s Braden Smith. He was named a Preseason Third Team All-American by ESPN’s Jay Bilas.
• After finishing as a Midseason Top 10 List selection last year, Zakai Zeigler was named to the Bob Cousy Award Top 20 Preseason Watch List this season. In addition Chaz Lanier earned a spot on the Jerry West Award Top 20 Preseason Watch List.
• Zeigler was one of nine SEC players to earn a spot on the Naismith Trophy Preseason Watch List. He also made the Lute Olson POY Award Early Season Watch List as he did Darlingstone Dubar.

POLLEN PRESENCE
• Tennessee has played 207 games as a ranked team in the AP Poll i Rick Barnes‘ tenure, with a record of 155-52 (.749). Over 67.0 percent of the Volunteers’ 307 games since Barnes arrived in 2015-16 have come with the team ranked in the AP Poll, all since 2017-18 (207 of 241, 85.9 percent).
• UT is 134-47 (.740) while in AP top 20 under Barnes, 103-34 (.752) while top-15, 79-25 (.760) while top-10, 36-12 (.750) while top-five, 17-2 (.895) while top-three and 7-1 (.875) while no. 1.
• The Vols are 28-22 (.560) in AP top-25 matchups under Barnes, including 22-15 (.595) with both teams in the top 20, 13-9 (.591) with both in the top 15 and 7- 6 (.538) with both in the top 10.

1K CLUB
• Tennessee has three players with over 1,000 points, each of whom entered the season above that mark. It also has another just 16 away from quadruple figures.
• Darlingstone Dubar owns 1,359 points in 116 outings, good for 11.7 ppg across four seasons.
• Jordan Gainey owns 1,219 points in 104 contests, averaging 11.7 ppg over four years.
• Zakai Zeigler has 1,114 points in 105 appearances, giving him an average of 10.6 ppg in four seasons.
• Chaz Lanier approaching 1,000 points as he owns 984 points in 108 outings, a 9.1 ppg ledger across five campaigns.•

INAM: “IT’S NOT ABOUT ME”
• In each of Zakai Zeigler three full seasons, Tennessee finished top-15 nationally in assist rate, according to KenPom. It was ranked no. 13 in 2023-24 (61.0), second in 2022-23 (66.2) and sixth in 2021-22 (63.0).
• So far in 2024-25, the Volunteers have twice earned 20-plus assists. Their highest mark is 24 vs. Montana (11/13/24).
• Tennessee dished out 20-plus assists 11 times in 2023-24 and reached 25-plus three times, with a high of 28 against Vanderbilt (2/17/24).
• In 2022-23, Tennessee tallied 20-plus assists in seven contests, with 25-plus four times. It tallied 29 vs. South Carolina (2/25/23).
• The Volunteers recorded 20-plus assists 10 times in 2021-22, logged 25-plus on four occasions. They had a game-high 29 vs. Longwood (3/17/22) in the NCAA Tournament opener and vs. USC Upstate (12/14/21).