Tennessee basketball dropped two-spots to No. 8 in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 after the Vols went 1-1 last week.
Despite dropping in the rankings, Tennessee is still the highest ranked SEC team in this week’s poll coming in ahead of No. 11 South Carolina, No. 13 Auburn, No. 15 Alabama and No. 22 Kentucky. Florida, Texas A&M and Ole Miss also received votes.
The Vols earned a lopsided home victory over LSU on Wednesday night before going on the road and falling 85-60 at Texas A&M. Tennessee never led in College Station as the Aggies handed the Vols their most lopsided loss of the season.
Following the loss at Texas A&M, the Vols have lost two of their last four games which has made a dent in their SEC Championship hopes as well as their chance to earn a one-seed in the NCAA Tournament.
“No. I mean, it’s college basketball. A long way to go,” Rick Barnes said on whether he’s worried about his team. “It only hurts you if you don’t learn from it. And if you don’t respond from it. You look at it and can be honest with yourself individually. And we as coaches, we break down what we didn’t do a good job with. And I think we got a program that’s transparent with each other.”
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Junior point guard Zakai Zeigler was Tennessee’s best player on the week, averaging 16 points, 7.5 assists and five rebounds in the two games. Dalton Knecht was productive offensively per usual but Santiago Vescovi and junior big man Jonas Aidoo both had quiet weeks.
The Vols have a strong opportunity to get back on track over the next two weeks. They travel to Arkansas on Wednesday and host Vanderbilt on Saturday before playing at Missouri and home against Texas A&M next week.
Tennessee will be sizable favorites in all four games which gives them a chance to get back on solid footing before a very difficult four game stretch to end the regular season.
Tipoff at Bud Walton Arena is at 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday night. ESPN2 is broadcasting the matchup between the Vols and Razorbacks.
