KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – For the third week in a row, the University of Tennessee is the top-ranked men’s basketball team in the nation.
Tennessee (11-0) yet again places first overall in both the Associated Press Top 25 Poll and the USA TODAY Coaches Poll, as released Monday afternoon.
This is the eighth time, across three campaigns, the Volunteers check in atop the AP Poll. They held the top spot once in 2007-08, four times in 2018-19 and now thrice in 2024-25.
Eight of Tennessee’s 10 all-time weeks in the AP top three, including seven of its eight No. 1 nods, are under the direction of 10th-year head coach Rick Barnes. One of just seven teams to claim the top spot in the AP Poll in more than one of the last seven seasons, Tennessee is 25-4 all-time while holding an AP top three spot (21-2 in the Barnes era), including 11-2 at No. 1 overall (10-1 in the Barnes era).
This is the 67th straight week the Volunteers are in the AP Poll, a streak extending across four campaigns and dating to the 2021-22 preseason release. The figure is 30 weeks greater than the program’s previous top tally and is the third-longest active mark in America, behind just Houston (93) and Kansas (72). No other team is at even 50-plus, while the next closest SEC program, Kentucky (29), is eighth nationally and 38 weeks shy of Tennessee.
The Volunteers are in the AP top 15 for the 41st time in the last 44 releases, dating to Nov. 28, 2022. This is the 63rd AP top-10 ranking for Tennessee in Barnes’ tenure, including its 31st top-five placement, with the latter mark 14 greater than the program’s entire total (17) before his arrival on Rocky Top in 2015. Additionally, Tennessee now has four times as many top-two rankings under Barnes (eight) as it had before his hiring (two).
Barnes has coached Tennessee to an AP top-five ranking in each of the last four seasons, a streak only matched by Kansas. He has also led Tennessee to an AP top-six ranking in each of the last five years, a figure only Alabama, Houston and Kansas can equal.
The Volunteers won their lone game last week, registering a dominant 84-36 victory Tuesday against Western Carolina behind a game-best 19 points from fifth-year guard Chaz Lanier and a near triple-double by senior guard Zakai Zeigler. It marked the program’s seventh-largest win in the last 50 seasons (1975-2025) and co-second-fewest points allowed in that period.
Tennessee earned 1,528 of a possible 1,550 points in the AP Poll balloting, a slight nine-point decrease from last week, as well as claimed 41 of the 62 first-place votes. In the Coaches Poll, it amassed 764 of a possible 775 points, just one fewer than its total las week, and recorded 20 of the 31 first-place nods.
Tennessee leads a group of 10 SEC teams in the top 25 of at least one poll, with nine in the top 20 of both. It is joined by second-ranked Auburn, No. 5/6 Alabama, No. 6/5 Florida, No. 10 Kentucky, No. 12/11 Oklahoma, No. 13 Texas A&M, No. 16 Ole Miss and No. 19 Mississippi State, while Arkansas places No. 23 in the AP Poll. The Razorbacks are receiving votes in the Coaches Poll, while Georgia and Missouri are featured in that category of both lists.
Among the last four undefeated teams in the nation, Tennessee also sits second in the NCAA NET rankings and third in KenPom’s rankings.
Tennessee resumes play Monday at 7 p.m. when it squares off with Middle Tennessee State at Food City Center, live on SEC Network.
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.
