KU basketball to face Tennessee in Big 12/SEC Challenge. Here’s the series history
Kansas men’s basketball team will play Tennessee for the second straight season in the 2021 Big 12/SEC Challenge, it was announced Wednesday.
The game will be Jan. 30 in Knoxville, Tennessee.
The Jayhawks defeated coach Rick Barnes’ Volunteers, 74-68, in last season’s Challenge on Jan. 25, 2020 in Allen Fieldhouse.
That game was a rematch of KU’s 87-81 overtime win over the Vols in the finals of the 2018 NIT Season Tipoff on Nov. 23, 2018 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
The Jayhawks are 4-1 all-time against Tennessee.
Other games in the one-day challenge will be TCU at Missouri, Texas A&M at Kansas State, Florida at West Virginia, Texas at Kentucky, Texas Tech at LSU, Auburn at Baylor, Iowa State at Mississippi State, Alabama at Oklahoma and Arkansas at Oklahoma State.
The Big 12 leads the challenge, 40-30, over the last seven seasons. KU is 5-2 in the event.
KU’s schedule, which has been revised because of COVID-19 and the new Nov. 25 start of the college basketball season, has not yet been released.
KU is expected to open against Boise State in the first round of the Wooden Legacy on Nov. 25 in Orlando, Florida. KU will meet either Seton Hall or UCLA in the title game or consolation contest on Nov. 26. The Jayhawks will take on Kentucky in the Champions Classic Dec. 1 in Orlando, Florida.
The Jayhawks will play 27 games in the regular season — 25 plus two in the Wooden Legacy. There will be 18 Big 12 Conference games.
Quick look at past KU-Tennessee games
KU 74, Tennessee 68, Jan. 25, 2020, Allen Fieldhouse: Point guard Devon Dotson scored 22 points and dished seven assists, while center Udoka Azubuike scored 18 points with 11 rebounds for KU, which saw a 13-point lead dip to three late.
Ochai Agbaji had 16 points and Marcus Garrett eight points with seven rebounds, four steals and three assists for No. 3-ranked KU.
Azubuike had two of his four blocks the final minute. Yves Pons (24 points) and Jordan Bowden (19 points) led the way for UT.
KU 87, Tennessee 81 (OT), NIT Season Tipoff Final, Nov. 23, 2018, New York: KU forward Dedric Lawson, who missed a possible game-winning shot from the corner to end regulation, scored eight of No. 2-ranked KU’s 18 points in overtime. Lawson scored seven points and his brother, K.J. Lawson, totaled three in a 13-6 run that lifted KU to an 82-75 lead with 1:23 left in overtime.
Lawson finished with 24 points and 13 boards in 41 minutes. Lagerald Vick scored 15 points and dished four assists. Dotson scored 17 points with four rebounds and two assists.
Azubuike scored nine points with four rebounds in 17 minutes. He fouled out with 4:26 left in regulation.
Tennessee junior Grant Williams scored 18 points with eight rebounds, six assists and five turnovers. The power forward fouled out with 1:24 left in regulation. Senior guard Admiral Schofield scored 21 points and junior guard Jordan Bone 16 points for the No. 5-ranked Vols.
KU 82, Tennessee 67, Orlando Classic semifinal, Nov. 28, 2014, Orlando, Florida: KU forward Perry Ellis scored 24 points,center Cliff Alexander had 16 and guard Frank Mason 11 points and seven assists for No. 11-ranked KU. Unranked Tennessee was led by senior guard Josh Richardson and junior guard Kevin Punter who had 16 and 14 points respectively. Freshman guard Detrick Mostella contributed 13 points.
The Volunteers trailed 54-53 with 12 minutes to play as Mostella hit a pair of threes and Richardson a layup following a Kansas turnover.
Kansas outrebounded UT, 44-22. The Jayhawks had 18 offensive rebounds.
Tennessee 76, KU 68, Jan. 10, 2010, Knoxville, Tennessee: The Vols, who were ranked No. 16, knocked off No. 1 KU, 76-68, in the Vols’ campus arena in what was called one of the biggest victories in school history.
Freshman walk-on guard Skylar McBee hit a three-pointer with just over a minute left after KU had cut the gap to 71-68.
Coach Bruce Pearl’s Vols had just six scholarship players available for the game. Tyler Smith, Melvin Goins, Cameron Tatum and Brian Williams all were out for disciplinary reasons.
Sophomore guard Scotty Hopson led the Vols with 17 points in the shocking victory.
Sherron Collins scored 22 points to lead KU. Forward Cole Aldrich scored seven points with 18 rebounds.
McBee scored six points in 23 minutes.
KU 92, Tennessee 85, Jan. 3, 2009, Allen Fieldhouse: Collins scored 26 points with nine assists and five rebounds as unranked KU beat No. 14 Tennessee, Collins hit 10 of 14 free throws, including two with 3:52 left to give KU a 79-70 lead. The Jayhawks led by as many as 17 points (72-55) with 7:22 left, the lead dropping to seven points at 4:33.
Aldrich had 22 points, 10 boards and six blocks. Guard Brady Morningstar had 12 points and six assists against three turnovers.
Forward Tyler Smith had 21 points and nine rebounds to lead the Vols. Rorward Wayne Chism had 17 points and eight boards.
This story was originally published October 21, 2020 at 10:06 AM with the headline "KU basketball to face Tennessee in Big 12/SEC Challenge. Here’s the series history."
