KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee men’s basketball team continues its remarkable consistency, appearing in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll for the 90th consecutive week.
The Volunteers (11-5, 1-2 SEC) came in at No. 24 in Monday’s rankings, extending a streak that began with the 2021-22 preseason poll. Tennessee’s current run has now surpassed the program’s previous record by 53 weeks—the old mark of 37 consecutive weeks lasted from March 1999 to February 2001.
Second-Longest Active Streak in the Nation
Tennessee trails only Houston (116 weeks) for the longest active streak in college basketball. No other program has maintained a ranking for even 70 weeks, and within the SEC, Alabama sits closest to the Volunteers at 40 weeks—still 50 behind Tennessee’s total.
Under head coach Rick Barnes’ 11-year tenure, Tennessee has appeared in the AP Top 25 a total of 144 times, all coming since the start of the 2017-18 season.
In the USA TODAY Coaches Poll, Tennessee sits just outside the rankings at No. 26, leading the teams receiving votes.
Split Week for the Volunteers
Tennessee went 1-1 last week with contrasting performances. The Vols opened with an impressive 85-71 home victory over Texas on Tuesday, powered by senior guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie’s career-high 34 points on 12-of-18 shooting.
Saturday brought a tougher test at defending national champion Florida, where Tennessee fell 91-67. Freshman forward Nate Ament led the Vols with 17 points in the road loss.
Tennessee collected 140 points in the AP Poll voting, trailing No. 23 Utah State by just 21 points. In the Coaches Poll, the Vols garnered 45 points, 12 behind No. 25 Kansas.
SEC Strength on Display
The SEC boasts six teams ranked in at least one of the two major polls:
- No. 10/8 Vanderbilt
- No. 17 Arkansas
- No. 18 Alabama
- No. 19/20 Florida
- No. 21/22 Georgia
- No. 24 Tennessee
Texas A&M is also receiving votes from both polls.
Up Next
Tennessee returns to action Tuesday at 7 p.m. when it hosts Texas A&M at Food City Center. The game will air live on SEC Network.
Follow Tennessee men’s basketball on social media: @Vol_Hoops on Instagram and X/Twitter, and /tennesseebasketball on Facebook.
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