Both Tennessee and Arkansas enter Tuesday night’s game in Knoxville on a bit of a skid, and both teams could really use a win to right their respective ships.
The Vols (13-10, 5-5 SEC) are coming off a home loss to Kentucky on Saturday, and UT has lost four of their last five games. Arkansas (16-7, 4-6) has really hit a wall in conference play, losing two-straight games in overtime and dropping five of their last seven contests.
Arkansas began the season at 12-1, but they’ve gone 4-6 since then to fall to 16-7 overall. Tennessee was 7-1 at the beginning of the year, but they’ve managed just a 6-9 mark in their last 15 games.
Both the Razorbacks and the Vols are expected to be without key contributors for Tuesday night’s match-up. Arkansas will be missing starting guard Isaiah Joe, who was the team’s second-leading scorer at 16.0 points per game. Joe was also the Hogs’ three-point ace, hitting 34 percent of his threes and attempting over 10 three-pointers a game. Joe has missed the last two games after having arthroscopic surgery on his right knee a week ago.
For Tennessee, they’ll likely be without freshman starting guard Josiah-Jordan James for a fourth-straight game. The former five-star has missed UT’s last three games after re-aggravating a hip/groin injury from the preseason. James was averaging 7.8 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 2.9 assists per game and had been the Vols’ best three-point shooter, making 36.7 percent of his 60 threes. Before tweaking the injury in Tennessee’s contest against Kansas, James had finally started to find a rhythm, averaging 10.0 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 3.2 assists in his 11 games prior to the match-up with the Jayhawks.
Tennessee is 21-20 all-time against Arkansas, and they’ve dominated the Razorbacks in Knoxville. The Vols hold a 12-4 record against the Hogs at home, though Arkansas has won two of the last three games they’ve played in Thompson-Boling Arena. Tennessee has beaten the Razorbacks the last two times they’ve played them, defeating the Hogs 106-87 in Knoxville last year.
Take a look at everything you need to know for today’s match-up. If you can’t make it to the game, here’s how you can watch or listen to tonight’s Tennessee vs. Arkansas game.
Tip-Off: 7:00 Eastern, February 11th, Thompson-Boling Arena (Knoxville, TN)
TV: SEC Network (Kevin Fitzgerald and Joe Kleine)
Streaming Online: ESPN.com/watch or the ESPN app
Radio: Vol Network
Line: Tennessee (-3)
