The Tennessee basketball program has finalized a home-and-home series with Illinois, beginning with a meeting at Thompson-Boling Arena next season on Dec. 9, 2023.
The Vols make a return trip to Champaign, Illinois, during the 2024-25 season on Dec. 14, 2024.
The Volunteers currently own a 2-1 all-time record against Illinois, but the programs have not met since Jan. 17, 1988—a 103-79 win by the Fighting Illini in Champaign. Tennessee won the first two meetings—a 54-51 triumph over 10th-ranked Illinois on Dec. 10, 1985, in Knoxville and a 66-42 victory on Dec. 15, 1967, in Knoxville at the Volunteer Classic.
Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes also owns a 2-1 career record vs. Illinois.
In his sixth season at the helm of the Fighting Illini basketball program, head coach Brad Underwood has posted a 101-69 record and has led Illinois to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances.
Currently riding a 7-3 record, the Illini are ranked No. 18 in this week’s AP Top 25 and defeated then-No. 2-ranked Texas last week.
Last season, Illinois won a share of the regular-season Big Ten title, earned a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the Round of 32.
The home contest against Illinois marks the second addition to Tennessee’s 2023-24 non-conference schedule. This past April, the eight-team field for the 2023 Maui Jim Maui Invitational was revealed, with Tennessee set to make its fourth all-time appearance at the event from Nov. 20-22, 2023, joining Gonzaga, Kansas, Marquette, Purdue, Syracuse, UCLA and Chaminade.
This new series with Illinois marks the latest of several multi-game series scheduled between Tennessee and a major-conference opponent since Barnes took the reins of the program prior to the 2015-16 season—previous series featured the likes of Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Wake Forest, Wisconsin, Colorado and Arizona. The Vols under Barnes also completed a two-game neutral-site series with perennial power Gonzaga and a home-and-home series vs. Cincinnati.
Seven previous Tennessee lettermen hailed from the state of Illinois, including current Orlando Magic wing Admiral Schofield (Zion, Ill.).
While Tennessee and Illinois have never met in football, the Vols and Lady Vols are a combined 43-15 (.741) against Illinois in head-to-head team sports—7-0 in women’s basketball, 4-0 in softball, 1-0 in soccer, 16-1 in women’s tennis, 11-4 in men’s tennis, 2-1 in men’s basketball, 2-6 in volleyball and 0-3 in baseball.
-UT Athletics
