Tennessee basketball jumped up five spots to No. 12 in the Dec. 11 AP Poll after its 2-0 week which included home wins over George Mason and Illinois.
The Vols entered the week coming off three straight losses to ranked teams and got back on track on their home floor. Tennessee cruised past a solid George Mason team on Tuesday night before knocking off then-No. 20 Illinois on Saturday afternoon.
The Fighting Illini landed at No. 16 in this week’s poll due to their win over FAU earlier in the week. Tennessee currently boasts wins over No. 23 Wisconsin and No. 16 Illinois and losses against No. 3 Purdue, No. 2 Kansas and No. 9 North Carolina.
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Tennessee is the highest ranked of two SEC teams in this week’s AP Poll, joining No. 14 Kentucky.
After an extremely trying first month of the season, Tennessee’s schedule finally slows down until the start of SEC play in early January. The Vols host Georgia Southern at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center on Tuesday night before traveling to San Antonio to face North Carolina State on Saturday.
Tennessee then concludes non conference play with home matchups against Tarleton State and Norfolk State before opening up SEC play on Jan. 6 against Ole Miss.
Tipoff between Tennessee and Georgia Southern is at 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday night. Tom Hart and Jimmy Dykes are on the call for the SEC Network.
