Vols Ascend to #13 in Both Polls

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee men's basketball team moved to a season-best No. 13 in each major national poll, as released Monday afternoon.

Tennessee (7-1) jumped four spots in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll and climbed three places in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll.

This is the 85th week in a row the Volunteers are ranked in the AP top 25, a ledger that extends to the first poll of the 2021-22 season. That is 48 weeks higher than the previous program record of 37 weeks, which took place from March 1999 to Feb. 2001.

The Volunteers' 85-week streak is the second-longest active mark in the country, behind only Houston (111). No other team is at even 65-plus weeks, while the closest SEC team, Kentucky, is at 47 weeks, 38 shy of Tennessee.

This is the 63rd week in a row Tennessee is ranked in the AP top 20 and it is the 80th time in the 85-week streak the program is inside the top 20. In addition, the program has now earned an AP top-15 ranking in 56 of the last 63 poll releases, dating to Nov. 28, 2022.

Head coach Rick Barnes has led Tennessee to a total of 139 AP top-25 rankings in his 11 years on Rocky Top, all since 2017-18.

Tennessee went 2-1 last week at the Players Era Men's Championship in Las Vegas. It started with an 85-60 win Monday against Rutgers behind 32 points from senior guard Ja'Kobi Gillespie. He then scored a team-best 22 points the next day in a 76-73 triumph over No. 3/2 Houston. The team capped the week with an 81-76 setback Wednesday versus Kansas, despite 20 points from freshman forward Nate Ament.

The Volunteers garnered 771 points in the AP Poll balloting, a 276-point jump from last week. They earned 337 points in the Coaches Poll, an increase of 64 points.

Seven SEC teams are in the top 25 of both polls this week. The Volunteers are joined by No. 12 Alabama, No. 15/14 Florida, No. 17/16 Vanderbilt, No. 18 Kentucky, No. 20/24 Auburn and No. 25/23 Arkansas. Meanwhile, Missouri and LSU are in the receiving votes section of both polls, while Ole Miss is listed there in the Coaches Poll.

In addition, the first NCAA NET rankings of 2025-26 came out Monday morning and the Volunteers are No. 12 overall.

Tennessee resumes play Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the JMA Wireless Dome in Syracuse, N.Y., where they take the court for an ACC/SEC Challenge matchup with Syracuse, live on ESPN2.

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.

Players Mentioned

Nate Ament

Ja’Kobi Gillespie

University of Tennessee Athletics