KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee men’s basketball team checks in at sixth in the country in the major polls this week.
After a program-best five-week run atop the rankings, Tennessee (15-1, 2-1 SEC) dropped five spots in both the Associated Press Top 25 Poll and the USA TODAY Coaches Poll, as released Monday afternoon.
The Volunteers are in the AP rankings for the 70th straight week, a streak spanning four campaigns and dating to the 2021-22 preseason edition. That tally is 33 longer than the previous program record and is the third-longest active streak in the country, trailing just Houston (96) and Kansas (75). No other program is at even 55-plus, while the next closest SEC school, Kentucky (32), has the eighth-longest streak and is 38 back of Tennessee.
This is the 44th time in the last 47 releases Tennessee claimed an AP top-15 position, dating to Nov. 28, 2022. The Volunteers are in the AP top 10 for the 66th time in the Barnes era, including the eighth in a row.
Tennessee split its two outings last week, both on the road in SEC play. The Volunteers’ nation-best 14-0 start came to an end Tuesday with a 73-43 defeat at then-eighth-ranked Florida. The team rebounded with a 74-70 triumph Saturday at Texas behind 16 points and a game-best eight assists from senior guard Zakai Zeigler.
The Volunteers collected 1,251 points in this week’s AP Poll balloting, 67 above seventh-place Marquette. In the Coaches Poll, Tennessee got 626 points, just 22 shy of fifth-place Alabama, and retained one first-place vote.
Tennessee is among nine SEC teams in the top 25 of both polls, six of which are in the top 11 of each. It is featured alongside top-ranked Auburn, No. 4/5 Alabama, No. 5/4 Florida, No. 8/9 Kentucky, No. 11 Texas A&M, No. 15/18 Mississippi State, No. 21 Ole Miss and No. 23 Georgia. Meanwhile, Missouri and Oklahoma are listed in the receiving votes section of both polls.
Tied for the second-best winning percentage in the country with a .938 clip, the Volunteers also place fourth in the NCAA NET rankings.
Tennessee resumes play Wednesday at 8 p.m. when it hosts No. 23 Georgia in the first-ever AP top-25 matchup between the two sides, live on SEC Network from Food City Center.
