The 2020–21 Tennessee Volunteers basketball team represented the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

during the

2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 25, 2020 and concluded on March 14, 2021. The 2021 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament culminated the season and began on March 18 and concluded on April 5. Season ...

. The team was led by sixth-year head coach

Rick Barnes Rick may refer to: People *Rick (given name), a list of people with the given name *Alan Rick (born 1976), Brazilian politician, journalist, pastor and television personality *Johannes Rick (1869–1946), Austrian-born Brazilian priest and mycol ...

, and played their home games at

Thompson–Boling Arena Thompson–Boling Arena is a multi-purpose arena on the campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The arena opened in 1987. It is home to the Tennessee Volunteers (men) and Lady Vols (women) basketball teams. Since 2008, it ...

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Tennessee, Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Di ...

as a member of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

. They finished the season 18-9, 10-7 in SEC Play to finish in 4th place. They defeated

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

in the quarterfinals of the

SEC tournament The Southeastern Conference (SEC) sponsors nine men's sports and twelve women's sports. This is a list of conference champions for each sport. Also see the list of SEC national champions. Members The SEC was established on December 1932, when t ...

before losing in the semifinals to

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament where they were upset in the First Round by

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

Previous season

The

Volunteers Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

finished the 2019–20 season 17–14, 9–9 in SEC play to finish in eighth place. They were set to take on

in the second round of the

. However, the remainder of the SEC Tournament was canceled amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. All further postseason tournaments were likewise canceled.

Offseason

2020 recruiting class

Preseason

SEC media poll

The SEC media poll was released on November 12, 2020.

Preseason All-SEC teams

The Volunteers had two players selected to the preseason all-SEC teams. First Team

John Fulkerson John Michael Fulkerson (born April 29, 1997) is an American professional basketball player for Leuven Bears of the BNXT League. High school career In his first two years of high school, Fulkerson played basketball for Dobyns-Bennett High School ...

Second Team

Yves Pons Yves Pons (born 7 May 1999) is a Haitian-born French professional basketball player for ASVEL of the LNB Pro A and the EuroLeague. He played college basketball for the Tennessee Volunteers. Early life and career Pons was born in Port-au-Prince, ...

Roster

Schedule and results

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the start of the season was pushed back from the scheduled start of November 10. On September 16, 2020, the NCAA announced that November 25 would be the new start date. On November 23, it was announced that head coach Rick Barnes had tested positive for COVID-19 and that the school had paused all basketball activities while further tests were conducted within the program. , - !colspan=12 style=, Non-conference regular season , - !colspan=12 style=, SEC regular season , - !colspan=12 style=, SEC Tournament , - !colspan=12 style=, NCAA tournament Source

Rankings

^Coaches did not release a Week 1 poll.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2020-21 Tennessee Volunteers basketball team Tennessee Volunteers basketball seasons

Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity college athletics, intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in NCAA Division I, ...

Volunteers basketball Volunteers basketball

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...