No. 1-ranked Vols look to finish strong in the final stretch of 2024

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WCYB) — Aiming to build on its fifth 10-0 start to a season in program history, the No. 1 Tennessee men’s basketball team home Tuesday night in a meeting with Western Carolina at the Food City Center.

Tuesday’s game marks the first of a three-game homestand that wraps up the 2024 calendar year before a new chapter begins with SEC play at the start of the new year.

With three games against lower-tier DI teams such as Middle Tennessee and Norfolk State in the next two weeks, the Vols will prepare as they would any other game — focusing on themselves before the SEC’s gauntlet arrives on their doorstep.

If you follow schedules, everyone will have what people call ‘bye games’. You go into that game and we try to think a lot about making sure we can try to get something out of it. We know it – every team we schedule, if we’re not ready to play, we can get beat. We believe that,” head coach Rick Barnes said. “Every game you have a chance to get better, but it’s always about us. You can always compete against yourself and be the best you can be, and that will be our focus.