The Tennessee Vols picked up their fourth win in their last five games with a thrilling come from behind win over Vanderbilt on Saturday 81-76 in a game where Tennessee trailed by as many as 16 points in the first half.
It was a key win for Tennessee as they get a short bit of breathing room during a rugged schedule. Tennessee gets a little bit of extra time off, with this being the week where they don’t have a mid-week game. As such, at 8-5 in SEC play, let’s take a look at where the Vols stand in the conference pecking order and what lies ahead for them.
The question is: how can Tennessee get up to that fourth spot to get a double bye in the SEC tournament? They have some control over that over the coming week.
The Vols are chasing Texas A&M for that spot, but that’s the next opponent Tennessee faces next weekend in College Station. A&M has to take on Mississippi State on the road mid-week, so there’s at least a chance the Vols could be playing to take over that spot. That depends in part on what Missouri does as well. The Tigers have a whale of a challenge mid-week, as they will face Alabama at home on Wednesday.
After A&M the Vols finally don’t take on a ranked or projected tournament team (has been awhile) when they face LSU on the road. Things get tough again with #2 Alabama at home before a trip to #19 Ole Miss. They close out at home with last-place South Carolina, another rare recent apparent layup – although with the Vols’ cold shooting streaks, nothing is a sure thing.
We’ll see if Tennessee can use the extra prep time to find a way to put a full 40 minutes together, something they’ve struggled to do this year. They’ll need to do that against Wade Taylor IV and the Aggies next weekend.