Let the Rick Barnes Bowl commence.
No. 2-seed Tennessee basketball will face seven-seed Texas in the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament on Saturday afternoon. The game will be the first one of the game, tipping off at 8 p.m. ET. CBS will broadcast the game.
*CBS has pushed the tip off time for UNC-Michigan State back to 5:45 p.m. ET. Tennessee-Texas will start 35 minutes after the conclusion of that game. Now roughly 8:15 p.m. ET.
Texas advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament after knocking off 10-seed Colorado State 56-44 in Charlotte right before the Vols took the floor to face Saint Peter’s. The Longhorns used a balanced scoring performance with Max Abmas and Dylan Disu each leading the way with 12 points a piece.
Tennessee never broke a sweat in an opening round win over 15-seed Saint Peter’s. The Vols jumped out to a huge lead early and coasted to a 83-49 victory over the Peacocks. Dalton Knecht led Tennessee with 23 points while junior big man Jonas Aidoo added 15 points himself.
More From RTI: Three Quick Takeaways From Tennessee Basketball’s Win Over Saint Peter’s
Both the Vols and the Longhorns advanced to the Round of 32 thanks to elite defensive performances and that shouldn’t be surprising due to the connections between the two schools.
Ninth-year Tennessee coach Rick Barnes spent 17 years as Texas head coach. During that time current Longhorns’ coach Rodney Terry served as one of his assistant coaches.
Barnes’ teams are known for their defensive mindset and identity and Texas has followed suit with Terry leading the program.
The two teams have met in each of the previous two seasons as part of the now extinct Big 12-SEC Challenge. Texas won the matchup in Austin 52-51 during the 2021-22 season while Tennessee won the matchup in Knoxville 82-71 last season.
Both Tennessee and Texas are looking to advance to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season.
