KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – For the 28th time in program history, the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team is headed to the NCAA Tournament.
This is the eighth consecutive appearance for the Volunteers, extending their best streak ever. All eight trips have featured a seed of sixth or better.
No. 25 Tennessee (22-11, 11-7 SEC) received the sixth seed in the Midwest Region, as revealed Sunday night on the NCAA Selection Show, live on CBS. The team will open competition Friday at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia, against either No. 11-seeded, No. 20/RV Miami (OH) (31-1, 18-0 MAC) or No. 11-seeded SMU (20-13, 8-10 ACC) in the opening round. Those teams will play Wednesday in Dayton, Ohio, in the First Four.
The Volunteers are 4-2 all-time versus Miami (OH), including 4-0 at home, 0-1 on the road and 0-1 at neutral sites. The programs have not met this century, as their last clash came on Dec. 1, 1999, when Tennessee posted a 78-59 home triumph.
Tennessee owns a 2-0 record all-time against SMU, including a 1-0 mark at home and a 1-0 ledger on the road. The programs have not met in nearly 25 years, as the last matchup was a Dec. 6, 2001, when the Volunteers registered a 79-62 road win.
Alongside the Volunteers, Mustangs and RedHawks, the other two teams in the pod are third-seeded, No. 10/8-ranked Virginia (29-5, 15-3 ACC) and No. 14-seeded Wright State (23-11, 15-5 HL). The winner of Tennessee’s contest against Miami (OH) or SMU will meet the Nebraska/Wright State victor Sunday in the Round of 32.
The Volunteers are 31-28 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, including 12-7 under 11th-year head coach Rick Barnes. He has four more wins and now two more bids than any other coach in program history.
This is the 14th time Tennessee is seeded sixth or better in the NCAA Tournament, all but six of which are under Barnes’ tutelage. The only other time it earned a No. 6 seed was in 2010, when it advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time ever.
The Volunteers are coming off back-to-back Elite Eight trips under Barnes’ tutelage, as they reached the Regional Final in both 2024 and 2025. Alabama and Duke are the only other programs to achieve that feat.
Tennessee’s eighth consecutive NCAA Tournament trip is the co-fourth-longest active official streak in the nation alongside Houston. Only Michigan State (28), Gonzaga (27) and Purdue (11) have longer counts.
Barnes, who has steered the Volunteers to all eight trips during this run, is in the NCAA Tournament for the 30th time as a head coach, moving into a tie with Roy Williams for the third-most all-time in Division I. The only coaches to earn more such berths are Mike Krzyzewski (36) and Jim Boeheim (35).
Tennessee is one of 10 SEC schools in the NCAA Tournament this year, marking the second straight season the league put double-digit teams in the field. This is the third time a conference has ever put 10-plus teams in the field, including the second year in a row the SEC has done so.
