Tennessee Basketball has officially revealed that the road contest against the Wisconsin Badgers this fall will take place on Nov. 10, 2023. The game will be played in Madison, Wisconsin.
Considering how early in the schedule this date is set up for, the Wisconsin matchup could very well be one of the first two or three games on Tennessee’s schedule. Tennessee began the season on Nov. 7 this past season.
This November’s contest closes the book on the home-and-home series that began in 2019. Tennessee hosted Wisconsin on Dec. 28, 2019, and was defeated by a score of 68-48 in Thompson-Boling Arena. No Volunteer player scored double-digits on the night as Jalen Johnson and John Fulkerson both led Tennessee with nine points each.
The return trip to Wisconsin was originally set for the fall on the 2020 schedule. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that was delayed indefinitely. Now, with a spot open on the 2023 calendar, Tennessee will officially bookend the Wisconsin series in Madison this November.
According to UT Sports, Wisconsin holds the 3-2 all-time series lead against Tennessee. The Vols won the first two games of the series, defeating Wisconsin 79-67 in 1981 and 66-56 in 2000. The first matchup was at a neutral site in Portland, Oregon while the second matchup was at home in Knoxville.
Following those initial wins, though, Wisconsin has taken the last three games. The Badgers defeated the Vols by a score of 65-62 in Madison in 2001, 74-62 in Hawaii in 2016, and most recently, the aforementioned 68-48 game in Knoxville in 2019.
More from RTI: Julian Phillips, Josiah-Jordan James Testing NBA Waters
Tennessee has had several pieces of roster movement in the last few days. On Tuesday, USC Upstate transfer guard Jordan Gainey announced that he would be committing to Tennessee. Gainey’s father, Justin Gainey, is the associate head coach of the Tennessee men’s basketball team under head coach Rick Barnes.
Just hours after Gainey’s commitment, Tennessee veteran guard Santiago Vescovi took to Instagram to announce that he would be returning to the Volunteers for his super senior season in 2023. Vescovi averaged 12.5 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game last season.
Then, on Wednesday night, Tennessee received another transfer portal commitment from Harvard forward Chris Ledlum. The Brooklyn, NY native stands at 6-foot-6, 225-pounds, and averaged nearly 19 points and more than eight rebounds per game last season.
Around the same time as Ledlum’s commitment, though, Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes stated that former freshman Julian Phillips and veteran Josiah-Jordan James are both testing NBA waters while maintaining their college eligibility.
So while Tennessee’s roster is still taking shape for next season, we now know that the Vols will be taking on the Wisconsin Badgers in Madison on Nov. 10, 2023.
