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Tennessee basketball: Vols will travel to Memphis this December

By Caleb Calhoun

ST LOUIS, MO - MARCH 10: Rick Barnes the head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers gives instructions to his team against the Arkansas Razorbacks during the semifinals of the 2018 SEC Basketball Tournament at Scottrade Center on March 10, 2018 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
ST LOUIS, MO - MARCH 10: Rick Barnes the head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers gives instructions to his team against the Arkansas Razorbacks during the semifinals of the 2018 SEC Basketball Tournament at Scottrade Center on March 10, 2018 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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Tennessee basketball will renew its rivalry with the Memphis Tigers this December. The Volunteers will face them on the road.

And it’s now official. Tennessee basketball announced publicly on UTSports that the Vols will face the Memphis Tigers in the 2018-2019 season, beginning the first of a three-year run in which the programs face each other.

With Penny Hardaway now at the helm in Memphis, the Vols will travel to the city in December of 2018 and take them on in the FedEx Forum. That game is scheduled for Dec. 15 and will be the first meeting between the two schools since Josh Pastner ended the rivalry in 2013.

The next season, the Tigers will travel to Knoxville to face the Vols at Thompson-Boling Arena. Finally, in a new twist, Tennessee basketball and Memphis will face each other on a neutral court in Nashville in December of 2020.

Exact dates for the next two games have not yet been set, but this is an exciting way to renew the rivalry. The Vols and Tigers used to float the idea of playing in Nashville, specifically when John Calipari was head coach and pushed for it. However, they were never able to get it going.

Of course, playing in Nashville might favor the Vols, so it’s odd anybody affiliated with the Tigers ever wanted it to work out that way. Still, the renewal of the rivalry is good for both programs. We broke down why here.

Although the Vols hold a 14-11 lead over Memphis, the Tigers have won the last three, including twice in 2011-2012 and once in 2012-2013. Tennessee’s last win against them was under Bruce Pearl.

They actually played Memphis every year under Pearl and won four of six games during that time. Their longest period of dominance over the Tigers came at the turn of the century, during the Jerry Green years. Green beat them four straight times, and before that, Kevin O’Neil beat Larry Finch once.

That lead to a five-game winning streak overall against Memphis. The Tigers have never won more than three straight over Tennessee basketball. The two schools first played each other back in 1969.

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