University of Tennessee Athletics
Men's SEC Basketball Schedule Released
September 06, 2016 | Men's Basketball
The Southeastern Conference released the men's basketball schedule for the upcoming season Tuesday, completing Tennessee's 31-game regular-season slate.
In addition to "permanent opponents" Kentucky, South Carolina and Vanderbilt, Tennessee also will face Mississippi State and Ole Miss both at home and on the road this season.
The nine SEC teams set to visit Thompson-Boling Arena are Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Missouri, Ole Miss, South Carolina and Vanderbilt.
Tennessee's nine SEC road trips include games at Auburn, Florida, Kentucky (on Valentine's Day), LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt.
The SEC Tournament takes place March 8-12 at Bridgestone Arena in downtown Nashville.
Season tickets go on sale in early September, and single-game tickets will become available in October.
Every intraconference can be seen from anywhere in the nation. SEC Network will televise 68 games, ESPN or ESPN2 will televise 32 contests, ESPNU will show 20 and CBS Sports airs six. The SEC's games on ESPN platforms are exclusively branded as the "SEC on ESPN."
All of the games included in the ESPN package (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and SEC Network) also will be available through WatchESPN, which is accessible on computers, smartphones, tablets and connected devices to fans who receive their video subscription from an affiliated provider. Each of the CBS Sports games will be available to stream live in more than 150 U.S. markets via the CBS All Access subscription service, with additional coverage on CBSSports.com and the CBS Sports app.
The SEC Network will televise the first three days of the SEC Tournament. The semifinals and championship game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN.
SEC SCHEDULE ITEMS OF NOTE
- Tennessee opens SEC play Dec. 29 at Texas A&M. That is UT's earliest SEC opener since its Dec. 16, 1989, conference lid-lifter vs. Ole Miss. It also marks the first time since 1989 the Vols start SEC play in December.
- The SEC experimented with an early conference game during both the 1988-89 and 1989-90 campaigns, opting to play a league game during the college football season. The Vols played at Ole Miss on Nov. 28, 1988, and then the Rebels visited Knoxville in December the following season.
- The Vols played December games against SEC opponents in 1961 (at Kentucky), 1958 (vs. LSU) and 1955 (Georgia), but each of those contests were officially non-conference games.
- League-wide, the SEC's Dec. 29 start date marks the first time a conference game has been played in the month of December since Vanderbilt hosted Mississippi State on Dec. 19, 1991.
- With UT's final two pre-conference games taking place in Nashville (vs. Gonzaga on Dec. 18) and Johnson City (at ETSU on Dec. 22), and its SEC opener also taking place on the road, there will be a span of 19 days without a Tennessee home game from Dec. 16 through Jan. 3.
- Tennessee's trip to Gainesville, Florida, to face the Gators on Jan. 7 is projected to be just the third game in the newly renovated Stephen C. O'Connell Center. Florida will play its home pre-conference schedule at neutral sites throughout the state while the renovation project is completed at the "O-Dome."
- The Vols' Jan. 17 trip to Oxford, Mississippi, to face Ole Miss will mark UT's first game at the Rebels' new facility, The Pavilion at Ole Miss, which opened last season.
- The Vols will play at least 20 games in the state of Tennessee this season (that includes at least one game at the SEC Tournament).
- Thirteen of Tennessee's 18 SEC games tip off at 7 p.m. ET or earlier.
