Tennessee Basketball: How the Vols matchup against each top 10 team

The new NCAA basketball polls were released earlier today and have some new faces listed in the top 10. Let’s dive into how much each team moved, upcoming matchups, team statistics that are quite surprising, and how Tennessee basketball matches up against each team.

There are still many good teams ranked just outside the top 10 like TCU, Xavier, and Gonzaga. It’s important to note that many of these teams are dangerous and are likely just a few wins away from moving into the elite group of the top 10.

The top 10 NCAA basketball rankings:

Texas lost to Iowa State which caused them to dropped them three spots to No. 10. The Longhorns are now prepping to face Oklahoma State on Tuesday in Austin followed by a tough non-conference matchup on the road against No. 4 Tennessee on Saturday.

How Tennessee basketball matches up against the Longhorns:

This is a game that I am extremely excited about. This is a top-10 matchup between two teams that can fire away from behind the arc, and also have great defenses. This will be a very close game and I can see it going either way.

The Kansas Jayhawks come in at No. 9 on the list and are trending downward. They ranked No. 2 just two weeks ago, but have seriously fallen off ever since. The Jayhawks suffered an embarrassing home loss this past weekend to TCU by 23 points. This game was right after another loss in overtime at Kansas state earlier last week.

Kansas is going to look to bounce back after taking these two brutal losses. They face off against Baylor tonight at 9:00 pm ET.

How Tennessee basketball matches up against the Jayhawks:

Tennessee basketball doesn’t play the Jayhawks again this regular season but did play them earlier in the year. They played at a neutral site and lost by 14 to the Vols. Tennessee took care of business and will likely continue to take care of business if they ever match up again in the tournament.

The UCLA Bruins come into the list on a downward trend, ranking No. 8. UCLA suffered a close loss on the road this past weekend to Arizona, but still showed some serious talent.

UCLA is a great team, and they have all of the talents to go deep in march. The Bruins are being led by senior guard Jaime Jaquez Jr., who is one of the biggest names in college basketball. Jaime is averaging 16 points, and 7 rebounds, and is the team’s biggest leader on and off the court.

UCLA will be looking to bounce back this week, they play USC on Thursday at 9:00 pm ET.

How Tennessee basketball matches up against the Bruins:

The Vols have yet to play UCLA this year but could see them in march. Tennessee has a slightly better defense (No. 1 vs. No. 3 ranked defenses), while UCLA has a slightly better offense (No. 31 vs. No. 22 ranked offenses). This matchup would likely come down to the wire, and I could see this game going either way.

UVA is ranked number 7 and is trending upwards in the polls. They had a game earlier this week against their biggest in-state rival Virginia Tech. In this game, they dominated from behind the arc and showed how good of a team they truly are. The Cavaliers have sneaky good talent, amazing defense, and can light it up from 3-point land. UVA faces off against Boston College next Saturday.

How Tennessee basketball matches up against the Cavaliers:

We would hypothetically see this matchup in march madness because they do not play each other in the regular season. If we were to, then it would be an insane matchup between two slow-paced, disciplined defenses, with superior outside shooting abilities.

Next up on the list are the Arizona Wildcats. They are an elite team with one of the best offenses in college basketball. The Wildcats jumped up 5 spots since their win over UCLA a few days ago. They did not play that well in this game and still came up with the upset win.

If we look at the statistics, they shot 27% from 3, and 38% from the field, which is not the best. So how did they win this game? UCLA played horribly.

I think if this game happened again, maybe even 5 more times, UCLA wins all 5. Arizona got lucky, and I think they are ranked a little too high and should be closer to 8 or 9 in the polls.

The Wildcats play Washington State on Thursday.

How Tennessee basketball matches up against the Wildcats:

Tennessee played Arizona earlier in the year and lost by 5. This was an early road game for the Vols, and I think that if they played again, the Vols take care of business.

Finally, we see the shocker at No. 5, Kansas State. They should NOT be ranked this high. I get it, they won a big game against Kansas in overtime by 1 point this week. However, they lost to TCU by almost 20 points just a game before.

They have some big wins this year but to be ranked No. 5 is kind of unheard of. They also jumped 8 spots over the past week, which seems like a little much. We will see if they prove me wrong this week when they play a very good Iowa State team.

How Tennessee basketball matches up against the Wildcats:

Tennessee would destroy this team. Kansas State is a fraud just like the way TCU was a fraud in the college football championship.

On a serious note, Kansas state is good, but not good enough to hang with Tennessee.

We finally reach the Volunteers. They are a dynamic and fun team to watch. Tennessee basketball was faced with some serious adversity last week when they faced off against the Kentucky Wildcats. They suffered their first home loss in over 2 years but found a way to dig deep and rebound extraordinarily well. Since falling to the Wildcats, the Vols have been rolling and showing the country why they are one of the best teams in college basketball.

The vols have been crushing teams and will continue their season next week against Georgia and Texas. It was announced yesterday that college gameday will be coming to Knoxville for the game this weekend against Texas too. The city will be buzzing and it’s going to be an amazing top-10 matchup.

The Vols have two big home games coming up against Georgia and Texas this week.

Houston took an embarrassing loss to temple last week and suffered a drop in 2 spots in the polls. I think that this was just an upset and nothing else really to it.

Every single team has off days, and they just had an off day. Temple isn’t bad, but not even close to the level that Houston is on. Houston plays UCF on Wednesday.

How Tennessee basketball matches up against the Cougars:

Houston vs. Tennessee would be the matchup of the year. This is the No. 1 defense (Tennessee) vs the No. 2 defense (Houston). With both having very similar offenses, this game would be like a coin flip, I have no idea who would win, but one thing I do know is that it will be close.

Alabama’s basketball team has been slowly working its way up the college basketball polls and has won eight straight victories. The Crimson Tide has made it to second this week in the Associated Press Poll, up from fourth last week.

How Tennessee basketball matches up against the Crimson Tide:

These two teams are very similar in defense, and also very similar in offense. They are playing each other on Feb. 15th in Knoxville, which should be an instant classic.

Purdue returned to the top spot in the men’s college basketball poll on Monday, moving up two spots after Temple beat the No. 1 seeded Houston over the weekend.

The Boilermakers received 39 first-place votes from a 62-person media panel after a volatile week where just two teams kept the same spot from a week ago.

How Tennessee basketball matches up against the Boilermakers:

Tennessee has a way better defense than Purdue, but the Boilermaker’s offense is incredibly good. This would be an interesting game, and it would come down to whether defense or offense dominates more.