KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee men’s basketball team is ranked atop both major national polls, as announced Monday afternoon.
Tennessee (8-0) climbed two spots in both the Associated Press Top 25 Poll and the USA TODAY Coaches Poll to No. 1 overall. It is just the second team to hold the top position in either poll this year, alongside Kansas.
This is the sixth time in program history, across three different seasons, Tennessee is first in the AP Poll. The Volunteers held the top spot once in 2007-08 (Feb. 25), as well as four times in 2018-19 (Jan. 21, Jan. 28, Feb. 4 and Feb. 11). This is the earliest the program has ever ascended atop the poll and the first time it has done so during non-conference play.
Five of Tennessee’s six all-time AP No. 1 rankings are under the direction of head coach Rick Barnes, who is now in his 10th year on Rocky Top. Over the last seven years (2018-25), the Volunteers are one of just seven programs to claim the No. 1 position in the AP Poll in multiple seasons, alongside Baylor, Duke, Gonzaga, Houston and Purdue.
This is the 65th straight week the Volunteers are in the AP Poll, a span stretching across four campaigns that dates to the 2021-22 preseason poll. The mark is 28 weeks longer than the program’s previous record and is the third-longest active tally in America, behind just Houston (91) and Kansas (70). No other school is even 50-plus, while the closest SEC team is Kentucky (27), ninth nationally and 38 weeks shy of Tennessee.
The Volunteers are in the AP top 15 for the 39th time in the last 42 releases, dating to Nov. 28, 2022. Tennessee now has 61 AP top-10 nods in Barnes’ tenure, including 29 in the top five, the latter mark 12 greater than the program’s entire total before his hire. The Volunteers also now have thrice as many AP top-two rankings (six) under Barnes as they had before his 2015 arrival (two).
Barnes has led Tennessee to an AP top-five ranking in each of the past four seasons, a mark only Kansas can match. He has also guided the Volunteers to an AP top-six ranking in each of the last five years, a ledger only Alabama, Houston and Kansas can equal.
Tennessee won its only outing last week, turning in a dominant 96-70 triumph Tuesday over Syracuse in the SEC/ACC Challenge at Food City Center behind a game-best 26 points from fifth-year guard Chaz Lanier. The Volunteers were one of just two teams in last week’s AP top eight that did not lose last week, including the only one in the top five.
In its eight outings so far, Tennessee has led for 303 minutes and 50 seconds of possible 320 minutes, while trailing for just six minutes and three seconds. It has led by at least 26 points in every game, winning all of them by 15-plus, and has not faced a deficit larger than three.
The Volunteers earned 1,544 of 1,550 points in the AP Poll balloting, a 193-point ascension from last week, and collected 58 of 62 first-place votes. In the Coaches Poll, Tennessee registered 770 of a possible 775 points, a 51-point increase from last week, and received 26 of 31 first-place votes.
Tennessee is among nine SEC teams in the top 25 of at least one poll. It is joined by second-ranked Auburn, fifth-ranked Kentucky, No. 7/8 Alabama, No. 9/7 Florida, No. 13/17 Oklahoma, No. 17/18 Texas A&M and No. 19/15 Ole Miss in each poll, while Mississippi State is No. 25 in the AP Poll and atop the receiving votes section of the Coaches Poll. Arkansas, Georgia, Missouri and Texas garnered points from both voting bodies, while LSU did so from the coaches.
Additionally, the Volunteers, who are among eight remaining undefeated teams, once again place first in the NCAA NET rankings and second in KenPom’s rankings.
Tennessee is back in action Tuesday in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden in New York, where it faces Miami at 6:30 p.m., live on ESPN.
To keep up with the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team on social media, follow @Vol_Hoops on Instagram and X/Twitter, as well as /tennesseebasketball on Facebook.
