Tennessee basketball: Vols top 10 modern-era teams with under 20 wins

6. 2019-2020

17-14 (9-9)

*No postseason available

Obviously, this is the unique season we were talking about. Tennessee basketball may have reached 20 wins had the season not ended prematurely, but it did, so here we are. Despite going 17-14 and finishing the regular season unranked, this may have been Rick Barnes’ greatest coaching job ever. He lost four starters from his team that reached No. 1 last year.

Of the only two rotational players returning, one of them, Lamonte Turner, had season-ending shoulder surgery in December. That left Jordan Bowden to lead the team. Meanwhile, the NCAA shocked Barnes by not initially granting transfer center Uros Plavsic immediate eligibility. Oh, and Josiah-Jordan James, his one elite recruit, played all year injured, missing some games.

Plavsic did eventually play, but when he did, Barnes had to replace Turner at point guard with Santiago Vescovi, a freshman from Europe with raw talent but not enough experience yet for the college game. Taking all that into account, the deck was stacked against him. However, this team still did enough to have a solid season, even if it didn’t finish an NCAA Tournament caliber one.

Bowden, even in a slump, led them through the tough times along with the development of John Fulkerson and Yves Pons. In the process, UT scored quality wins over the Washington Huskies, VCU Rams, Arkansas Razorbacks, Florida Gators and Kentucky Wildcats on the road. So they still had great wins and came close in so many others. It’s enough to get to No. 6 here.