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Tennessee basketball: Vols add the Wisconsin Badgers to non-conference slate

By Billy Williford

LAHAINA, HI - NOVEMBER 21: Game action during the second half of the Maui Invitational NCAA college basketball game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Wisconsin Badgers at the Lahaina Civic Center on November 21, 2016 in Lahaina, Hawaii. (Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images)
LAHAINA, HI - NOVEMBER 21: Game action during the second half of the Maui Invitational NCAA college basketball game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Wisconsin Badgers at the Lahaina Civic Center on November 21, 2016 in Lahaina, Hawaii. (Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images) /
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Tennessee basketball inks a deal with the Wisconsin Badgers to play a home and home series in the future.

You can’t say Rick Barnes scares easily from a challenge or he doesn’t try to get his teams ready for the NCAA Tournament. On Thursday, the University of Tennessee announced the basketball team would add a home-and-home series with the Wisconsin Badgers.

Since Barnes has been in Knoxville, Tennessee consistently plays one, if not the best non-conference schedules in the nation. Which is only going to continue as long as Barnes is running the show and when you such storied programs like Wisconsin.

Next season on December 28, 2019, Tennessee basketball will host the first of the two-game home-and-home series. In 2020 it’s the Vols turn to travel to Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin.

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The Badgers have flown under the radar but have been one of the premier college programs the past ten seasons. In that time span, Wisconsin has finished in the AP Top-25 seven times with nine 20-win seasons. They received a four seed in the NCAA Tournament five times and finished National Runner-Ups in 2014-15 with an overall record of 36-4. That year was part of back-to-back seasons where Wisconsin won 66 games with just 12 losses.

Tennessee and Wisconsin last met in 2016 in the Maui Invitational. The Badgers won that game 74-62 thanks to a 17-point, ten rebound double-double from Nigel Hayes. Tennessee’s leading scorer was Shembari Phillips, now plays for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, who scored 16 points on 5-of-9 shooting and went 3-of-4 from the three-point line.

In the game, Jordan Bowden, Admiral Schofield, and Jordan Bone played a combined 29 minutes scoring just nine points. Fast forward to this season, Schofield and Bone are averaging 31 minutes per game while Bowden is around 27 minutes for a combined 41.8 points per game.

Paired with Wisconsin, the Vols will play in the 2019 Emerald Coast Classic that includes Florida State, VCU, and Purdue. And, don’t forget that the Memphis Tigers will still be apart of the non-conference slate next season.

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Wisconsin has one of the best home crowds in the nation, and with Tennessee’s state, this should be one of the most exciting games on the schedule the next few seasons.

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