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Your 24th ranked Tennessee Volunteers return to action on Saturday, December 9th in Knoxville against the Lipscomb Bisons. The game is set to tip off at 2:15 PM at Thompson Boling Arena.
Tennessee entered the top 25 of the AP rankings for the first time since 2010 this past week. Sitting at 6-1, Rick Barnes has put together a deep team that has proven capable of playing with — and beating — anyone in the nation.
The Vols debuted as a ten seed in ESPN’s Bracketology last week, they’re now up to a seven seed this week.
Perhaps the biggest non-conference game of the season will take place next Saturday when the North Carolina Tar Heels come to town, but the Vols have business to take care of first. That business comes in the form of a 6-3 Lipscomb team.
The Bisons have proven to be a tough out, beating a pretty solid Belmont Bruins team twice already to this point. However, Lipscomb’s two tries against teams from power conferences this year have not gone well. They lost to Alabama and Texas by 20+ points. That doesn’t mean Tennessee won’t get a test from them on Saturday, though.
The Bisons are led by junior guard Garrison Matthews, who averages nearly 20 points per game. The 6-5 guard is currently shooting 45 percent from three point range. Forward Rob Marberry (6-7, 215) provides an inside presence for Lipscomb, averaging 13 and 7 coming into this one.
Last weekend in Atlanta, Tennessee was forced to find a way to hang on without star Grant Williams, who fouled out of the game. While it wasn’t pretty, they found a way. That’s a big deal for this team, considering how heavily they rely on Williams down the stretch.
Lamonte Turner and Admiral Schofield stepped up in a big way, doing just enough to maintain Tennessee’s lead against Georgia Tech. That seemed like a moment of growth for this group.
We’ll see how they go forward from that as they try not to look ahead to the Tar Heels next week.
Gameday Information
Location: Knoxville, TN
Tip Off: 2:15 eastern
TV: SEC Network
Radio: Vol Network
Streaming: Watch ESPN