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

By Caleb Calhoun

LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY - MARCH 03: John Fulkerson #10 of the Tennessee Volunteers celebrates after the 81-73 win against the Kentucky Wildcats at Rupp Arena on March 03, 2020 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY - MARCH 03: John Fulkerson #10 of the Tennessee Volunteers celebrates after the 81-73 win against the Kentucky Wildcats at Rupp Arena on March 03, 2020 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images
Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images /

4. 2010-2011

19-15 (8-8)

NCAA Tournament

While the 2011-2012 team had the best second half of the season of any team in Tennessee basketball history to not win 20 games, the 2010-2011 had the best first half of the season. It was that middle part, which involved the fiasco with Bruce Pearl, eventually leading to his firing, and then the transition to Cuonzo Martin that made everything so bad.

The way this team finished the season was the worst of all the other teams on this list. For context, UT made the Elite Eight the year before, returned its leading scorer and secured an elite recruiting class led by Tobias Harris. However, in the offseason, Bruce Pearl got caught lying to the NCAA about a minor infraction.

Still, things started off great for the Vols, as they won the NIT Season Tip-Off and started off 7-0, scoring two top 10 wins over the Villanova Wildcats and Pitt Panthers. However, the fallout from Pearl began to sink in, and it hit that he would be suspended for eight SEC games. With the distractions, UT suffered three straight bad losses and limped into conference play at 10-4.

In SEC play, the Vols went 5-3 without Pearl and finished regular season 18-13 and 8-8. After winning one SEC Tournament game, they got blown out by the Michigan Wolverines in the NCAA Tournament. Pearl was then fired due to the infractions. Making the tournament puts this team ahead of Martin’s team, but all anybody remembers about this season is the horrible way it ended.

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