Tennessee Vols vs. Auburn Tigers Basketball Preview 2026
Volunteers vs. Tigers | Knoxville, TN | Sat. Jan. 31, 8:30 pm EST | ESPN
Arguably the two hottest teams in the SEC square off on a Saturday night in Knoxville.
After starting off with two SEC losses, Auburn has won four in a row, including a win at Florida last Saturday night.
Tennessee has won two in a row and three of their last four with consecutive road wins over Alabama and Georgia. Only an epic collapse against Kentucky in the Vols’ last home game keeps them from matching Auburn’s win streak.
Nate Ament and Auburn's Keyshawn Hall are the reigning co-SEC Players of the Week. Hall dropped 31 points against Texas Wednesday, with 25 of those coming in the second half.
Auburn’s Kevin Overton also scored 25 against Texas (5-7 from three point range). Overton has scored 20+four times this year.
Auburn leads the nation in free throws attempted (28.8) and free throws made (21.3) per game. So go ahead and prepare to be frustrated about that.
Tennessee remains the top offensive rebounding team in America, but also is still among the worst when it comes to turning the ball over. The Vols did have just 12 turnovers against UGA Wednesday, which isn’t good in general but is pretty dang good for them.
Ja’Kobie Gillespie has scored 20+ in three straight games, joining Chaz Lanier and Dalton Knecht as Vols who have pulled that feat in the last few years.
Bishop Boswell has recorded a double-double in two of the last four games. He had never recorded a double-double before that.
VFLs Chris Lofton (Vol Network) and Dane Bradshaw (ESPN) will be calling the game for their networks. Both played alongside Auburn head Coach Seven Pearl in the late 00’s. Pearl is 14-7 in his first year as a head coach.
Wednesday’s win against Georgia was Rick Barnes’ 850th career win. In his time at UT, Barnes has more SEC wins (116) than he has total losses among all games (115).
