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Tennessee basketball 2019-2020 season recap: Vols five most painful losses

By Caleb Calhoun

FAYETTEVILLE, AR - FEBRUARY 26: Tennessee Volunteers huddle together before a game against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Bud Walton Arena on February 26, 2020 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The Razorbacks defeated the Volunteers 86-69. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
FAYETTEVILLE, AR - FEBRUARY 26: Tennessee Volunteers huddle together before a game against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Bud Walton Arena on February 26, 2020 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The Razorbacks defeated the Volunteers 86-69. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images
Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images /

1. Texas A&M Aggies

Tennessee loses 63-58

Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020

Losing a heartbreaker to a very good team on the road is one thing. It’s a totally different story, when you lose like that to a horrendous team at home. That’s what happened to Tennessee basketball here.

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At the time, the Vols had a lot of momentum. They had just come off giving the No. 3 ranked Kansas Jayhawks a fight on the road on Saturday. Then they got the news that Uros Plavsic would be eligible to play after all, giving the Vols more length. Combine that with Santiago Vescovi developing, and Rick Barnes was managing Lamonte Turner’s season-ending injury.

In the middle of all this, they had what should have been an easy home win. At the time, the Texas A&M Aggies were .500. There’s no explanation for what happened, though. In a back and forth game, A&M did what lots of teams did to the Vols, which was dominate the last few minutes.

With the game tied in the last minute, they allowed a 7-0 run. John Fulkerson did his part with 15 points and seven rebounds, but this was the game when Jordan Bowden’s slump began to get really bad. He and Yves Pons still had double-figures, though, as did Santiago Vescovi. The problem was none of them stepped up in the last minute.

Next. Vol sports worst affected by COVID-19 ending year. dark

If Tennessee basketball had won this game, they would have finished the regular season on the NCAA Tournament bubble with no questionable home losses. A&M did finish 16-14, but this game cost the Vols 18 wins and a winning record in league play, two benchmarks for a top 10 strength of schedule. As a result, the Vols let an easy win slip away, and that’s why it tops the list.

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