Rick Barnes
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Tennessee men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes, former NBA star and Vanderbilt men’s basketball coach Jerry Stackhouse and former PGA Tour golfer Curtis Strange headline this year’s class for the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Santiago Vescovi scored 14 points, Zakai Zeigler had 11 points and 10 assists, and No. 8 Tennessee beat Mississippi State 87-53 on Tuesday night.
OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — Tennessee was expecting a challenging Southeastern Conference opener, and Mississippi provided a stiff test.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Olivier Nkamhoua scored 20 points and No. 13 Tennessee flexed its defensive muscles in a 94-40 victory over Alcorn State on Sunday night.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Santiago Vescovi scored 16 points to lead No. 13 Tennessee to a 76-40 victory over McNeese on Wednesday night.
Santiago Vescovi scored 20 points while No. 22 Tennessee locked down on third-ranked Kansas to beat the reigning national champions 64-50 in the championship game at the Battle 4 Atlantis.
PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas (AP) — Tennessee has twice played without its leading scorer at the Battle 4 Atlantis.
PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas (AP) — Rick Barnes believes his Tennessee squad is a good offensive team, even if the 22nd-ranked Volunteers haven’t consistently shown it yet during the opening weeks of the season.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Olivier Nkamhoua and Josiah-Jordan James each scored 18 points to lead No. 22 Tennessee to a 81-50 victory over Florida Gulf Coast on Wednesday night.
Tennessee finally ended a decades-long drought last season. Coach Rick Barnes just might have a better team this time around trying to do something that the Volunteers have never managed.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — The 22nd-ranked Michigan basketball team has three Howards this season.

Juwan Howard is entering his fourth season as coach, and his first with two sons on the roster.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee has signed forward Julian Phillips, the fourth high school All-American and seventh five-star prospect to join the Volunteers under men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee point guard Kennedy Chandler has declared for the NBA draft and is signing with an agent after his freshman season with the Volunteers.
DALLAS (AP) — SMU named Rob Lanier as its coach on Sunday after he took Georgia State to the NCAA Tournament this season.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee has rewarded coach Rick Barnes for winning the Volunteers’ first Southeastern Conference Tournament championship in 43 years with a contract extension through the 2026-27 season
Athletic director Jon Gilbert announced the hiring.
Santiago Vescovi scored 17 points and Josiah-Jordan James had 16 points and 10 rebounds to help ninth-ranked Tennessee beat Texas A&M 65-50 to claim its first men’s SEC basketball tournament title in 43 years.
Kennedy Chandler scored 19 points, Zakai Zeigler added 11 and No. 9 Tennessee held off fifth-ranked Kentucky 69-62 in the final minutes to reach the Southeastern Conference Tournament final for the third time in the last five years.
That includes unselfish players, balanced scoring and a deep bench.
Tennessee kept winning against a demanding schedule of top teams in the Southeastern Conference. That has pushed the Volunteers to their highest ranking this season in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll.
Freshman guard Zakai Zeigler, whose family was left homeless by a fire in New York City last weekend, made two key free throws in the final seconds to help No. 13 Tennessee hold off No. 14 Arkansas 78-74.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Kennedy Chandler scored 23 points to lead No. 17 Tennessee to an 80-61 victory over Missouri on Tuesday night.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee starting forward Olivier Nkamhoua will have surgery on his left ankle that is expected to sideline him for the remainder of the season.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — It’s been a while since Olivier Nkamhoua established his presence on the court.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas rolled out the welcome mat for Rick Barnes’ return to campus, then pulled it out from under him with a free throw at the end.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — After 35 years in the coaching business, Tennessee’s Rick Barnes has just about seen it all.
The Big 12 and Southeastern Conference got together about a decade ago and create a yearly challenge on the hardwood, giving each of their schools the chance to break up their league play with a marquee mid-season opponent.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Confidence wasn’t on Josiah-Jordan James’ side.

But when the basketball came his way, he didn’t have time to think.
John Fulkerson had 24 points and 10 rebounds, and No. 19 Tennessee overpowered No. 6 Arizona early and held on for a 77-73 win, giving the Wildcats their first loss.
The men’s basketball game between No. 18 Tennessee and Memphis was canceled about an hour before tipoff due to COVID-19 issues within the Tigers’ program.