KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee’s Dec. 19 regular season finale against No. 5 Texas A&M is set for a noon ET kickoff in Neyland Stadium, the Southeastern Conference announced on Thursday.

The SEC has scheduled four games on Dec. 19 that were postponed during the 2020 season due to the impact of COVID and involve teams that did not otherwise qualify for participation in the SEC Football Championship.

The television networks that will carry games of Dec. 19 will be announced after games of Dec. 12. The four rescheduled games will be televised by either ESPN, the SEC Network or the SEC Network Alternate channel.

Tennessee-Texas A&M was originally scheduled for Nov. 14 and later postponed. The two teams will meet for just the fourth time and the first time in Knoxville. UT leads the series, 2-1, and it will be the first matchup between the two since the Aggies won in 2016 in College Station.

It will be the fourth contest for the Vols this season involving a top-five ranked team in the respective polls. UT has previously faced No. 1 Alabama, then-No. 3 Georgia and No. 5/6 Florida.

Saturday, Dec. 19 Games
Texas A&M at Tennessee, Noon ET/11 am CT*
Vanderbilt at Georgia, Noon ET/11 am CT*
Ole Miss at LSU, 3:30 pm ET/2:30 pm CT*
Missouri at Mississippi State, 3:30 pm ET/2:30 pm CT*
SEC Football Championship, 8 pm ET/7 pm CT on CBS

*To be televised by ESPN, SEC Network or SEC Network Alternate

-UT Athletics

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The 12th-ranked Tennessee basketball team returns to action for a Saturday afternoon tilt with Cincinnati. Tipoff from Thompson-Boling Arena is slated for 12:30 p.m. ET on the SEC Network Alternate Channel.

The SEC Network Alternate Channel is not the same channel as the SEC Network. The SEC Network Alternate is not live 24 hours per day, and content only appears on the channel when it is programmed to carry live events. All games available on SEC Network and SEC Network Alternate are also available on the ESPN App. Viewers can also search to see if their provider carries SEC Network Alternate using the SEC Network’s channel finder. Paul Sunderland and VFL Dane Bradshaw will have the call.

Fans can also listen live on their local Vol Network affiliate to hear Bob Kesling and Bert Bertlekamp describing the action.

Last time out, the Vols took down Colorado in their season opener Tuesday, 56-47. Tennessee used a stifling effort on the defensive end and 11-point scoring outputs from senior John Fulkerson and sophomore Santiago Vescovi to battle past the Buffaloes.

A win on Saturday would give the Vols a 50-43 all-time record against current members of the American Athletic Conference and leave the program just two wins shy of 400 inside Thompson-Boling Arena.

A victory would also improve the Vols record to 57-17 as a ranked team under head coach Rick Barnes.

Up next, Tennessee will play its third of five straight home contests to begin the year when it takes on Appalachian State on Tuesday night. The opening tip vs. the Mountaineers is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET on SEC Network.

THE SERIES
• UT trails its all-time series with Cincinnati, 1-6, dating to 1952. The Vols’ lone win in the series came at home in 1956.
• The Bearcats defended their homecourt last season with a 78-66 win over the Vols on Dec. 18.
• This year, Cincinnati welcomes two key transfers in point guard David DeJulius (Michigan) and big man Rapolas Ivanauskas (Colgate).
• Tennessee owns a 49-43 all-time record against current members of the American Athletic Conference.
• Vols head coach Rick Barnes is 22-20 against AAC opposition.

A WIN WOULD…
• Give the Volunteers a 50-43 all-time wins over current members of the AAC.
• Give Tennessee 398 wins at Thompson-Boling Arena.

LAYUP LINES
• Tennessee has won 77 percent of its games a ranked team during the Barnes era (56-17). The Vols are 12th in this week’s AP poll.
• Thompson-Boling Arena has an adjusted capacity of 4,191 this season. All available ticket inventory sold out quickly in November.
• A preseason media poll predicted Tennessee to win this year’s SEC championship.
• Seniors John Fulkerson and Yves Pons were both named to the Wooden Award preseason top-50 watch list. Pons also earned a spot on the preseason watch list for the Naismith Trophy College Player of the Year.
• In Tuesday’s season-opener vs. Colorado, Tennessee started five left-handers.

TRENDING
• Through the games of Wednesday, Dec. 9, Tennessee led the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 47.0 points per game.
• First-year Vols Victor Bailey Jr. (8), Jaden Springer (6), E.J. Anosike (4) and Keon Johnson (4) combined for 22 points Tuesday.
• After shooting .360 from 3-point range as a true freshman last season, point guard Santiago Vescovi was 3-of-4 from beyond the arc Tuesday vs. Colorado.
• The Vols totaled 12 steals in the win over Colorado (and forced 23 turnovers). Last season, UT logged double-digit steals just three times.
• Senior forward John Fulkerson owned Tennessee’s best plus/minus rating in the team’s opener, as the Vols were +12 when he was on the court.

ABOUT CINCINNATI
• Cincinnati under second-year head coach John Brennan is off to a 2-1 start to the young season, with home victories over Lipscomb and Furman bookending a tough 77-69 loss to cross-town rival Xavier.
• Prior to the end of the COVID-19-shortened 2019-20 season, Cincinnati had just won a share of the AAC regular-season championship and was poised to make a run through the AAC Tournament and into the Big Dance.
• Through three games, the Bearcats have gotten the production they’ve needed from senior guard Keith Williams, who leads the team in scoring with 17.3 points per game. On Wednesday night against Furman, Williams took over, scoring 27 points, pulling in five boards and added two steals and a pair of blocks in the win.
• Like with Williams, UC looks for regular production from senior center Chris Vogt. In last season’s contest with Tennessee, Vogt put in quality time in the paint, scoring 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field. This year, he is the team’s third-leading scorer with 9.3 points per contest and has been a nuisance on defense, totaling four blocks through three games.
• Cincinnati has also already seen a ton of production from junior David DeJulius. The Michigan transfer through three games is the team’s second-leading scorer (10.3 ppg) and the team leader in both rebounding (6.7 rpg) and assists (5.0 apg).
• Cincinnati’s student-run newspaper, The News Record, much like Tennessee’s Daily Beacon, is an independently run newspaper that is editorially independent of the university, meaning that any student, regardless of major, is able to work and contribute for the publication.

LAST MEETING WITH CINCINNATI
•  Despite four Vols scoring in double digits and a perfect shooting night from the free-throw line, a late Cincinnati run pushed the Bearcats past Tennessee, 78-66, on Dec. 18, 2019, at Fifth Third Arena.
•  Vols senior Lamonté Turner fought through early foul trouble to pour in 12 points, six of which came from the foul line.
•  Senior Jordan Bowden had a solid night, scoring 13 points and dishing off six assists.
•  Junior Yves Pons scored 11 points and also recorded a block for the 10th consecutive contest.
•  John Fulkerson was efficient from the field, tallying a team-high 14 points and knocking down six of his eight attempts from the field.
•  The Bearcats jumped out to an early 8-0 advantage, but a 12-2 run by the Vols, during which five different players scored, gave UT its first lead with just over 14 minutes remaining in the first half.
•  The sides closed the final 14 minutes of the opening half trading baskets, with the largest lead for either team being six points. Heading into the locker room Cincinnati held a slim, 38-34 lead.
•  Down 46-42 near the mid-point of the second half, a 3-pointer at the top of the arc from Pons, followed by a turnaround jumper from Bowden, gave Tennessee its first lead since the 3:49 mark of the first half.
•  From there, the squads continued to trade baskets and the lead. Then, with 6:20 remaining, and Cincinnati holding a 58-57 lead, the Bearcats went on a 9-0 run to increase their advantage to 67-57 with just over three minutes to play.
•  Tre Scott led Cincinnati in both scoring (15) and rebounding (7).

VOLS’ DEPTH A WEAPON
• The stars have aligned for the Vols, as Rick Barnes‘ boasts the deepest roster of his Tennessee tenure during a year in which COVID-19 could sideline players at any time.
• 10 Vols saw action in the season-opener vs. Colorado, and nine of them scored.
Sophomore point guard Santiago Vescovi: “It feels really different with the depth we have in the team right now (compared to last year), knowing that you can go 100 percent every possession on offense or defense and know that the guy coming in will give their all and play at a high level.”

BAILEY HUNGRY TO CONTRIBUTE
• After transferring from Oregon in the summer of 2019, guard Victor Bailey Jr. sat out last season and now has two years of eligibility remaining.
• In his Tennessee debut against Colorado (12/8/20), Bailey earned the start and totaled eight points, three rebounds, two assists and a team-high three steals.
• Bailey played in 73 games in his two years at Oregon, including eight starts, and averaged 7.0 points in 17.9 minutes per game. As a sophomore in 2018-19, he scored in double figures 13 times and dropped a season-high 20 points on UCLA.
• Residents of Austin, Texas, the Bailey family is very familiar with Rick Barnes. Bailey’s mother, 1996 Olympic bronze medalist Tonja Buford-Bailey, was an assistant track coach at the University of Texas while Barnes was leading the Longhorns’ hoops program.
• Bailey Jr.’s father, Victor Bailey Sr., was a second-round NFL Draft pick out of Missouri in 1993 (wide receiver).

UNDER BARNES, VOLS ARE 56-17 AS AN AP-RANKED TEAM
• Tennessee has played 73 games as a ranked team (AP poll) under head coach Rick Barnes, and the Vols are 56-17 (.767) in those contests.

-UT Athletics

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – A career day from junior Rae Burrell, who finished with 26 points and seven assists, fueled a 90-53 Lady Vols’ win over Furman in Thompson-Boling Arena on Thursday night.

Tennessee (3-1) shot a sizzling 54.8 percent from the floor, including an impressive 58.3 percent from behind the arc. Redshirt junior Jordan Walker was also in double digits for the Lady Vols with 14 points and three rebounds.

Furman (1-3) was led by Tierra Hodges, who had 17 points and seven rebounds. Tate Rodgers and Sydney James each pitched in 11.

Jordan Walker started out hot, knocking down a 3-pointer to score the first points of the game and give Tennessee a lead it never relinquished. Rennia Davis, Burrell, Marta Suárez, Tamari Key & Jordan Horston also got in on the scoring early, propelling UT to a 20-6 lead by the media break. Coming out of the timeout the Lady Vols picked up where they left off with Key scoring back-to-back layups to extend Tennessee’s streak of unanswered points to 12 before Jarya Outten scored for Furman, sparking an 8-0 run by the Paladins to close out the quarter with a UT lead of 24-14.

Furman continued its streak, starting the second period with a Celena Taborn layup, but Destiny Salary moved UT’s lead back to double digits on the following possession with a layup. Burrell heated up just over three minutes into the quarter, hitting a 3-pointer, assisting a Walker layup and managing a steal and a score on subsequent possessions, boosting UT’s lead to 39-20 by the 5:43 mark. Burrell would hit two more treys and a jumper before the end of the half, helping fuel a halftime score of 52-33.

The Paladins came out swinging in the second half with Walters and Hodges combining for five quick points while holding the Lady Vols scoreless for nearly two minutes. Horston broke the slump, driving through the lane to hit a layup, and Jessie Rennie followed it up with a layup of her own to put the score at 56-40 by the 7:11 mark. But Hodges continued to find success offensively, scoring 10 straight Furman points to whittle the deficit to 11 with 5:36 left in the quarter. Davis hit a layup with 5:31 on the clock, setting off a 12-1 UT run capped off by two more Burrell treys that put the Lady Vols up 69-47 with under a minute to play in the quarter. Sydney James converted on two free throws for the Paladins in the final seconds to send the game into the final stanza with Tennessee up by 20.

The teams traded 3-pointers to start the fourth, but that would be the last field goal Furman would hit, as Tennessee launched into an 18-0 run with five different Lady Vols contributing to close out the game and take a 90-53 victory.

Up Next: The Lady Vols hit the road, facing No. 23 Texas at 4 p.m. CT/5 p.m. ET on Sunday. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.

Have A Day, Rae: Junior Rae Burrell poured in a career-high 26 points, including a 6-of-7 mark from behind the arc, all while dishing out a career-high-tying seven assists. Dating back to last season, Rae is averaging 14.8 ppg. through 13 career starts.

From Downtown: Tennessee combined for 14 treys against Furman, ranking fourth all-time for the most 3-pointers made in a single game by a Lady Vol team. It’s the highest number of made threes since the 2010-2011 season, and six more than the highest total of made 3-pointers in any game during the 2019-20 season.

McCoy Making Moves: Jaiden McCoy was a perfect 3-of-3 from behind arc, notching a career-high nine points.

Big-Time Bench Points: Tennessee’s bench poured in 33 points against Furman, outscoring the Paladins, 33-14. Through four games UT’s bench is averaging 27.5 ppg. and has outscored opponents, 110-41.

Box Score | Postgame Quotes | Highlights | Harper Presser | Burrell Presser | Walker Presser | Photo Gallery 

-UT Athletics

Here is some video, courtesy of UT Athletics and VFL Films, of Tennessee football preparing at practice for Saturday’s game at Vanderbilt.

https://youtu.be/27u5gMM9NSE