#17 Tennessee Tops #3 Auburn For Another Quad 1 Win
Tennessee is “checkering” Thompson-Boling Arena for Saturday’s regular season finale against Arkansas.
🟧⬜️
⬜️🟧https://t.co/ZiLwrLnlcX pic.twitter.com/HDQtnr1fBQ— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) February 27, 2022
It’s the third Checker Thompson-Boling Arena game of the Rick Barnes era joining the 2017-18 North Carolina game (78-73 loss) and the 2018-19 Florida game (73-61 win).
Fans are encouraged to wear either orange or white to the top 20 matchup depending on their seat location.
Tennessee is looking to stay unbeaten on the season at Thompson-Boling Arena and expand its home win streak to 17 games against the Razorbacks. Rick Barnes’ seventh Tennessee team has four top 25 home wins this season and three top 10 wins.
Barnes and Vols’ players were very complimentary of the Thompson-Boling Arena crowd after Saturday’s come-from-behind win over No. 3 Auburn.
“I want to appreciate the whole fanbase for coming out today,” Tennessee guard Santiago Vescovi said. “We need everybody to bring the same energy on Saturday. We’re playing Arkansas that we know was a tough loss over there. They brought a lot of energy. … It’s a big game. We need everybody here.”
Tennessee is looking to avenge its, 58-48, loss to Arkansas in Fayetteville just nine days ago. The red-hot Razorbacks forced Tennessee in to one of its worst offensive performances as foul trouble crippled the Vols. Barnes was publicly critical of the officials handling of block/charge calls in the loss as both Kennedy Chandler and Santiago Vescovi picked up two fouls on charge calls and had four fouls midway through the second half.
Barnes has been fantastic in regular season rematches in his Tennessee tenure, posting a 18-5 record since 2018. The Vols are 4-0 in rematches this season earning home wins over Vanderbilt, LSU and Kentucky and a win at South Carolina.
The regular season finale could potentially have SEC Championship implications. Both Tennessee and Arkansas enter the final week of the regular season a game behind Auburn in the SEC standings. If Auburn falls at Mississippi State Wednesday or versus South Carolina Saturday and Tennessee (at Georgia) and Arkansas (vs. LSU) get past their midweek tests then the top 20 showdown would be for a share of the SEC regular season title.
Both Tennessee and Arkansas would hold tiebreakers over Auburn and Kentucky.
Tip-off from Thompson-Boling Arena is set for noon ET. ESPN will broadcast the game.
