The fourth-seeded Tennessee basketball team competes in the NCAA Tournament’s round of 32 Saturday in Orlando, taking on No. 5 seed Duke as part of the East Region at 2:40 p.m. ET inside the Amway Center.
Fans can catch Saturday’s game on CBS and online or on any mobile device through the CBS Sports app. Kevin Harlan (play-by-play), Dan Bonner (analyst), Stan Van Gundy (analyst) and Lauren Shehadi (reporter) will have the call.
Fans can also listen live on their local Vol Network affiliate to hear Bob Kesling and Bert Bertelkamp calling the action.
Tennessee (24-10) is coming off a first round victory over No. 13 seed Louisiana on Thursday, 58-55. The Vols led by as many as 18 points in the second half before fending off a late rally by the Ragin’ Cajuns.
Graduate Tyreke Key, playing in his first career NCAA Tournament game, led the Vols with 12 points, while Jahmai Mashack scored 11 on 4-of-6 shooting, dished three assists and grabbed two steals.
The winner of Saturday’s game advances to the Sweet Sixteen of the East Region, set to be contested in New York City at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.
SATURDAY’S MATCHUP
• Tennessee is 7-8 all-time vs. Duke, with no meetings in the NCAA Tournament. The most recent meeting came at the 2011 Maui Invitational, a 77-67 Duke victory.
• Rick Barnes owns a 4-9 career head coaching record vs. Duke.
• In a 2009 second-round NCAA clash in Greensboro, N.C., Barnes’ seventh-seeded Texas squad fell to second-seeded Duke, 74-69.
• Duke assistant coach Jai Lucas played for Barnes at Texas from 2009-11.
• The Vols are 113-100 all-time against current members of the ACC, but that includes a 1-7 mark in NCAA Tournament games.
• The Vols own a 4-5 all-time record on March 18, including a 3-3 record in NCAA Tournament games.
• Tennessee’s Santiago Vescovi and Duke’s Tyrese Proctor are both products of the NBA Global Academy in Canberra, Australia.
NOTEWORTHY
• Tennessee and Indiana are the only teams in the field of 68 that have multiple wins over No. 1 seeds, with the Vols having beaten both Kansas and Alabama. The Vols also beat No. 2 seed Texas.
• The Vols are 4-1 this season against teams ranked in the top 15 of the Associated Press Top 25. The Blue Devils are currently ranked No. 12.
• The Vols haven’t played with the rotation fully healthy since Feb. 8.
• Tennessee leads the nation in 3-point defense (.264) while ranking second in field-goal defense (.370) and third in scoring defense (57.9 ppg).
• Only five teams have reached the 70-point mark against these Vols.
• Tennessee is a perfect 21-0 this season when it holds its opponent to fewer than 60 points.
• With a Tennessee win Saturday, Barnes would tie College Basketball Hall of Famer Lou Henson for 15th place on the all-time Division I coaching wins list.
• For the third time under head coach Rick Barnes, Tennessee has spent the entire season ranked in the AP Top 25.
PLAYER NOTES
• In four career NCAA Tournament games, Josiah-Jordan James is averaging 10.8 points and 8.0 rebounds per game.
• In the four games since he returned from a two-game injury absence (ankle), Tyreke Key is averaging 11.0 points per game (compared to 3.0 ppg in the previous three games).
• Thursday’s win was Key’s 145th career collegiate game, but it was his first-ever NCAA Tournament game. He was Tennessee’s top scorer with 12 points.
• Vols senior Uroš Plavšić started Thursday for the first time since Jan. 17. He is shooting 19-for-23 (.826) from the field over the last 10 games.
• Over the last eight games, sophomore Jahmai Mashack is averaging 8.9 points, 3.0 assists and 1.7 steals on 25-for-48 (.521) shooting.
• Santiago Vescovi made only one 3-pointer Thursday after making 16 over UT’s previous four contests.
ABOUT DUKE
• Duke (27-8) is currently on a 10-game win streak and coming off a 74-51 win over No. 12 seed Oral Roberts during Thursday’s Round of 64.
• The Blue Devils entered the NCAA Tournament coming off an ACC Tournament title and have not lost a game since Feb. 11.
• Duke finished the season ranked No. 16 in the NET and posted a 5-6 record in Quadrant 1 games.
• Freshman center Kyle Filipowski, the ACC’s Rookie of the Year and a second-team All-ACC selection, is Duke’s leading scorer (15.1 ppg) and rebounder (9.0 rpg) this season.
• Fellow freshmen Tyrese Proctor and Dereck Lively II were each ACC All-Freshman honorees, while junior guard Jeremy Roach was All-ACC honorable mention.
• As a team, Duke ranks fifth in Division I with a +8.1 rebounding margin.
BARNES’ VOLS HAVE PINNED MANY BLUE-BLOOD PELTS TO THE WALL
• Tennessee under head coach Rick Barnes has logged several wins over college basketball “blue bloods.”
• The list of highly successful programs that have suffered losses to the Vols dating to 2015-16 includes Kentucky (nine times), Kansas (twice), Gonzaga, Purdue, North Carolina, Maryland and Arizona.
VOLS SEEKING NINTH SWEET SIXTEEN APPEARANCE
• A win over Duke Saturday would give Tennessee its ninth Sweet Sixteen appearance.
• Tennessee has previously competed in the Round of 16 in 1967, 1981, 2000, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2014 and 2019.
• The Vols made their deepest tournament run in 2010, when they beat San Diego State (Kawhi Leonard), Ohio and Ohio State (Evan Turner) to advance to the Elite Eight, where they fell to Michigan State (Draymond Green).
• Rick Barnes has led his teams to seven Sweet Sixteens—including one at Tennessee—three Elite Eights and one Final Four, in 2003.
-UT Athletics
