Tennessee basketball landed at No. 5 in the final AP Top 25 of the 2024-25 season, moving up one-spot from where they were entering the NCAA Tournament.
The Vols entered the season ranked 12th in the AP Poll but jumped into the top 10 the fourth week of the season and never fell out. Tennessee spent 11 weeks ranked in the nation’s top five and five weeks as the nation’s top team, spanning from early December to early January. It’s the second most weeks Tennessee has ever spent in the top five, only behind its 14 appearances in 2018-19.
Rick Barnes’ 10th Tennessee team spending the entirety of the season ranked in the AP Poll marks the fourth straight season that the Vols have gone wire-to-wire ranked in the top 25. Zakai Zeigler and Jahmai Mashack spent every week of their college careers ranked in the AP Top 25.
Tennessee finished the season 30-8 (12-6 SEC) marking just the third time in program history that the Vols won 30-plus games in a season. The Vols finished fourth in the SEC regular season before making a run to the SEC Tournament Championship game.
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Tennessee made it back to the Elite Eight for the second straight season after earning wins over Wofford, UCLA and then Kentucky in the Sweet 16 to make just the third Regional Final in program history.
A number of Tennessee players had notable final college campaigns. Zakai Zeigler was a finalist for both the Bob Cousy Award and Naismith National Defensive Player of the Year award, after averaging 13.6 points, 7.4 assists and 1.9 steals per game. Zeigler broke the SEC single-season assist record which stood for 40 years.
Chaz Lanier won the Jerry West Award, breaking onto the major college basketball season by averaging 18 points per game and breaking Tennessee’s single-season three-pointers made record.
Jahmai Mashack remained a lockdown defender but finally earned national recognition, joining Zeigler as a Naismith National Player of the Year finalist. Jordan Gainey earned no awards but was a breakout star for Tennessee, averaging 11.6 points per game as the Vols’ key sixth man.
