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Tennessee basketball adds another game, moves two more dates

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TN - FEBRUARY 2: Cheerleaders of the Tennessee Volunteers pregame against the Kentucky Wildcats in a game at Thompson-Boling Arena on February 2, 2016 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Patrick Murphy-Racey/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TN - FEBRUARY 2: Cheerleaders of the Tennessee Volunteers pregame against the Kentucky Wildcats in a game at Thompson-Boling Arena on February 2, 2016 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Patrick Murphy-Racey/Getty Images) /
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The Tennessee basketball Volunteers have a new non-conference game.

Continuing to schedule on the fly in order to make up for so many early-season cancelations, Tennessee basketball has added another non-conference game to its 2020-2021 schedule. Once again, it will be on Rocky Top.

UTSports announced that the Vols will host the Saint Joseph’s Hawks, who will travel to Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tenn. on Monday, Dec. 21. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. ET, and that game will be played on SEC Network.

To make room for Saint Joseph’s, Tennessee basketball moved its matchup with the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles up one day to Friday, Dec. 18, and its matchup with the USC Upstate Spartans down one day to Wednesday, Dec. 23. Conference play begins Wednesday, Dec. 30 with the Vols visiting the Missouri Tigers.

Coming off a 6-26 season, Saint Joseph’s is 0-2 under second-year head coach Billy Lange, losing to the Auburn Tigers and Kansas Jayhawks. They had games against the Villanova Wildcats on Dec. 2, the Bradley Braves on Dec. 5 and the Temple Owls on Dec. 12 all postponed due to COVID.

Adding Saint Joseph’s allows the Vols to still have 25 regular season games, including 18 conference games. Other non-conference games outside of the three we mentioned include the Cincinnati Bearcats, the Appalachian State Mountaineers and the Kansas Jayhawks in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. They beat the Colorado Buffaloes in their opener.

Five non-conference games were all canceled due to COVID issues. Tennessee basketball was set to open the season Thanksgiving week in the Volunteer classic, hosting the Charlotte 49ers and the VCU Rams. However, a COVID outbreak in the Vols program, which included infecting head coach Rick Barnes, forced those games to be canceled.

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That outbreak forced UT to also cancel its matchups the next week, against the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the Jimmy V Classic and at the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The Vols then added the UT Martin Skyhawks for this past Wednesday, but that game was canceled, so they added Colorado for this past Tuesday, the only game they have played so far. They won that opener 56-47.

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