Tennessee basketball will play No. 4 seed Vanderbilt in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament at Bridgestone Arena.
The No. 5 seed Vols (22-10) beat No. 12 seed Auburn 72-62 in their first game in Nashville on March 12 to advance.
Tennessee will face the Commodores for a third time this season on March 13 (3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN).
The Vols beat Vanderbilt 69-65 in Nashville on Feb. 21 before the Commodores beat Tennessee 86-82 on senior day on March 7 at Food City Center.
Tennessee is looking to make its second straight SEC Tournament championship game appearance. In 2025, the Vols defeated Texas and Auburn before falling short, 86-77, to the eventual national champion Florida.
Here’s what to know about the start time for Tennessee basketball vs. Vanderbilt.
USA TODAY and ESPN’s Joe Lunardi both have the Vols as a No. 5 seed in March Madness bracket predictions. USA TODAY placed Tennessee in the South Region playing No. 12 Hofstra in Tampa, Florida, while Lunardi has them taking on No. 12 Northern Iowa in Portland, Oregon, in the Midwest Region.
CBS Sports differs with No. 6 seed Tennessee facing No. 11 seed UCF in the South region.
Tennessee basketball is in its best stretch in program history in coach Rick Barnes’ 11th season. The Vols are coming off back-to-back trips to the NCAA Elite Eight the last two seasons, and are primed to make their sixth straight NCAA Tournament appearance. Tennessee has earned NCAA tournament berths seven times under Barnes.
Tennessee only made it to the Elite 8 once before Barnes, in the 2009-10 season under former coach Bruce Pearl. The Vols have 27 NCAA Tournament berths overall with three Elite Eight appearances, but have never made it to the Final Four.
Cora Hall is the University of Tennessee women’s athletics reporter for Knox News. Email: [email protected]; X: @corahalll; Bluesky: @corahall.bsky.social. Support strong local journalism and unlock premium perks: subscribe.knoxnews.com/offers
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