HOOPS CENTRAL: #20/18 Tennessee vs. Rice

Monday, November 17

Knoxville, TN

8:30 PM ET

University of Tennessee

Rice

Tickets

KNOXVILLE, TN - November 12, 2025 - Guard Amaree Abram #77 of the Tennessee Volunteers during the game between the North Florida Ospreys and the Tennessee Volunteers at Food City Center in Knoxville, TN. Photo By Andrew Ferguson/Tennessee Athletics

Photo by: Andrew Ferguson/Tennessee Athletics

November 16, 2025 | Men's Basketball

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 20/18 Tennessee men's basketball team (3-0) is set to continue the 2025-26 slate at Food City Center Monday as it hosts the Rice Owls (2-2). Tipoff is set for 8:30 p.m. ET.

GAMEDAY TIMES & BROADCAST INFO

Opponent: Rice Owls
Tipoff: Monday, Nov. 17 | 8:30 p.m. ET
Venue: Food City Center
Watch Online: SECN
Online: Listen Live | Live Stats

TENNESSEE

Roster Schedule Game Notes

RICE

Roster Schedule Game Notes

THE LATEST FROM THE VOLS

#20/18 Vols Register 99-66 Victory over North Florida Ament Claims Opening SEC Freshman of the Week Honor Vols Earn 60th Consecutive AP Top-20 Ranking #18/17 Vols Steamroll Northern Kentucky, 95-56 Vols in the Pros Update: Nov. 6

Fans can stream Wednesday's game on SEC Network and the ESPN app. Mike Morgan (play-by-play) and Dane Bradshaw (color) will have the call.

Fans state-wide can tune in to their local Vol Network radio affiliate to hear New Voice of the Vols Mike Keith and analysts Chris Lofton and John Wilkerson depict the action.

Tennessee has started its 2025-26 regular season with three straight wins, most recently a 99-66 rout of North Florida. Freshman forward Nate Ament received the first SEC Freshman of the Week honors for the 2025-26 season, after leading the Vols in scoring through the team's first two contests and is currently averaging 20.0 points, 8.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game.

THE MATCHUP
• All four prior series meetings came between 1951 and 1963. Tennessee is 1-3 against Rice All-time.
• Following a 13-19 (4-14) campaign in 2024-25, Rice placed No. 12 in the AAC preseason poll.
• The Owls are led by graduate guard Trae Broadnax's 16.5 ppg.
• UT is 54-46 all-time versus the current AAC membership. Of the 100 games, 65 (32-33) are against Charlotte, Memphis and Tulane.
• Rick Barnes is 26-7 against current AAC members. His best mark is a 9-0 ledger versus Rice, with all nine games while he was at Texas.
• Rob Lanier worked as Rick Barnes' associate head coach during his first four years at Tennessee (2015-19) and as an assistant for two seasons at Texas (1999-2001). They earned four NCAA Tournament berths and four year-end AP top-20 rankings. The Vols won the SEC in 2017-18 and reached the Sweet 16 during a 31-win 2018-19 campaign.
• In his first year as a head coach, 1987-88, Barnes' George Mason team faced a St. Bonaventure team on 12/28/87 that featured Lanier as a sophomore guard.

NEWS & NOTES
• Rice's Trae Broadnax was a teammate of VFL Jordan Gainey at USC Upstate from 2021-23, while Presley Patterson is a native of Knoxville and a KCHS graduate.
• Tennessee, Alabama and Houston are the only schools to make the last three Sweet 16s. Tennessee, Alabama and Duke are the only three in the last two Elite Eights.
• UT finished fifth in the AP Poll, Coaches Poll and KenPom for the second consecutive season in 2024-25, tying the program best set/tied just one year prior. They were in the AP top 12 all year, with 18 straight top-eight nods to end the year. UT was top-five 11 times and No. 1 spot for five weeks.
• Last season was the first time UT won 30-plus games and made the Elite Eight in the same year.
• With 839 wins, Rick Barnes leads active DI coaches and ranks ninth all-time (min. 10 years in DI).
• The Vols placed third in the SEC media preseason poll this year. It marked UT's fourth straight topthree selection—no other school has even a two-year streak—and eighth consecutive top-five pick.
• UT has won 39 non-conference games in a row, since 12/8/20. Per Elias, that is its second-longest streak ever and is five shy of the school record.
• In the win over North Florida, J.P. Estrella (23), Ja'Kobi Gillespie (21) and Nate Ament (19) became the third UT trio to reach 19 points in the same game in Rick Barnes' 11-year tenure, including the second in the last 10 seasons.
• J.P. Estrella has set new career highs in points in each of the first three games this year, going from 12 to 17 to 23. He also amassed his first two double-doubles as a Vol.
• Nate Ament has posted at least 18 points and eight rebounds in each of his first three collegiate games. He also recorded five assists in two of those affairs.
• Tennessee's 204 victories over the last nine seasons (2017-26) rank co-seventh in DI, with Saint Mary's. Only Houston (246), Gonzaga (242), Duke (224), Kansas (214), Purdue (209) and Auburn (205) own more. After UT, the rest of the top 10 is Liberty (202), Drake (200) and San Diego State (200).

WINNING WAYS
• Over the last nine seasons (2017-26), Tennessee paces all SEC programs in postseason victories (23), plus sits a close second in total victories and overall winning percentage with a 204-74 (.734) mark. In that period, UT has three SEC titles (2018 and 2024 regular seasons, 2022 tournament).
• In that same span, the Vols are one of two SEC teams with 190-plus wins or an overall winning percentage above .700, alongside Auburn (205-71; .743).
• Over SEC play across the same period, Tennessee (98-45; .685) is first in league victories and league winning percentage. Only Kentucky (97-46; .678), Auburn (96-48; .667) and Alabama (91-53; .632) are also at 85-plus wins and/or a .600 clip.
• In just the last five seasons (2021-26), the Vols own a 112-36 (.757) overall record. That is good for the most wins and the second-best winning percentage in the SEC, ahead of Auburn (111-33; .771) in the former and closely behind it in the latter.
• In that same span, Tennessee (51-21; .708) is cosecond, alongside Alabama (51-21; .708), in the SEC in both league victories and league winning percentage. It is behind only Auburn (53-19; .736).

POLL PRESENCE
• Tennessee has played 244 games as a ranked team in the AP Poll in Rick Barnes' tenure, posting a 184-60 (.754) record. A total of 70.9 percent of the Volunteers' 344 games since Barnes arrived in 2015-16 have come with the team ranked in the AP Poll, all since 2017-18 (244 of 278, 87.8 percent).
• UT is 162-55 (.747) while in the AP top 20 under Barnes, 128-42 (.753) while top-15, 102-33 (.756) while top-10, 50-15 (.769) while top-five, 25-3 (.893) while top-three and 14-2 (.875) while No. 1.
• The Vols are 38-28 (.576) in AP top-25 matchups under Barnes, including 30-21 (.588) with both teams in the top 20, 20-15 (.571) with both in the top 15 and 11-10 (.524) with both in the top 10.

HOLDING SERVE
• The Volunteers went undefeated at home in nonconference play each of the last five seasons. Including their 3-0 record this year, they have won 39 such games in a row, dating to the to the 2020-21 season opener (12/8/20).
• Per Elias Sports Bureau, the 39 straight wins marks the second-longest such streak in UT history, passing a 38-game tally from 12/15/96 to 12/17/01. The program record, according to Elias, is 43 from 12/7/40 to 12/10/49.
• UT's 39-game regular season non-conference home winning streak is co-fourth in DI, alongside Akron (39), according to Elias. It trails only Auburn (63), Baylor (47) and Texas Tech (42). The lone others at even 30-plus are Wake Forest (37), Connecticut (36), Iowa State (36), Providence (35) and Purdue (34).
• The only other school with 38-plus non-conference regular season home wins and no such losses over the past six years (2020-26) is Texas Tech (42-0). Just five other schools are above 30: Baylor (38-0), Auburn (34-0), Providence (33-0) and Wake Forest (32-0).
• During its streak, Tennessee owns victories over programs such as Arizona, Cincinnati, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Syracuse and Texas.

FRESHMAN PHENOM
• Nate Ament claimed SEC Freshman of the Week honors on 11/10/25, the first such accolade of the year in the league. The last Volunteer to win the award was Julian Phillips on 1/23/23.
• Ament averaged 20.5 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 3.0 apg and 1.0 spg across his first two collegiate outings. He shot 52.2 percent from the floor, 37.5 percent from deep and 82.4 percent at the line. He led all scorers in each of UT's first two games, with 18-plus in each.
• Ament, against Mercer (11/3/25) became the fifth Tennessee freshman with 18 points in a season opener in the last 20 years (2006-26).
• Next, Ament had 23 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two steals versus Northern Kentucky (11/8/25). He became the sixth SEC freshman in the last 20 seasons (2006-26) to reach that mark, joining Kentucky's Reed Sheppard (12/2/23), Alabama's Brandon Miller (3/12/23), Tennessee's Kennedy Chandler (2/22/22), LSU's Ben Simmons (12/2/15) and Kentucky's James Young (1/8/14). Only two other Vols, Chandler and Josiah-Jordan James (3/1/22), have hit those numbers across that two-decade span.
• In the lone game of his second week, Nate Ament had 19 points, nine rebounds, five assist, two steals and one block versus North Florida (11/12/25). He became the fifth SEC reshman—seventh occurence— in the last 20 years (2006-26) to register that line. Ament follows LSU's Ben Simmons (thrice in 2015- 16), Kentucky's James Young (1/8/14), Kentucky's Archie Goodwin (11/23/12) and Kentucky's John Wall (3/27/10). Only one other Vol, Igor Miličić Jr. (2/5/25) has notched that line in those 20 seasons.

DISHING OUT DIMES
• In each of Tennessee's first three games of the season—wins over Mercer (11/3/25), Northern Kentucky (11/8/25) and North Florida (11/12/25)— two different players had five-plus assists. The Volunteers had that happen just four total times during the 2024-25 season.
• The first four instances were recorded by four different players. Ja'Kobi Gillespie (six) and Ethan Burg (five) did it against Mercer, while it was Nate Ament (five) and Troy Henderson (five) versus Northern Kentucky. Gillespie (seven) and Ament (five) achieved the feat against North Florida.
• In 2024-25, only three different Volunteers had fiveplus assists in a game at any point in the year.
• UT had with 24 assists against Northern Kentucky, its most since 11/13/24 versus Montana, when it also logged 24. The Volunteers eclipsed that number with 26 against North Florida, their top tally since 2/17/24 when they had 28 against Vanderbilt.
• Against Northern Kentucky, Troy Henderson became the first UT freshman with five-plus assists and zero turnovers in a game since Kennedy Chandler (seven) on 3/13/22 in the SEC Tournament title game win over Texas A&M in Tampa, Fla.

BIG MAN'S BIG-TIME RETURN
• After missing the final 35 games of the 2024-25 season due to left foot surgery, J.P. Estrella resumed play in the 2025-26 season opener with a career high 12 points and co-career-best five rebounds against Mercer (11/3/25).
• Estrella followed that with new career highs in both categories versus Northern Kentucky (11/8/25), tallying 17 points and 11 rebounds for his first collegiate double-double.
• In the next game, against North Florida (11/12/25), Estrella had another career-best point total in a double-double, notching 23 points and 10 rebounds, while shooting 11-of-14. He became just the fourth SEC player—fifth instance—in the last six season (2020-26) to make 11-plus field goals on fewer than 15 attempts while grabbing 10-plus boards. The others are Tennessee's Jonas Aidoo (2/14/24), Mississippi State's Tolu Smith III (1/28/23 and 1/16/21) and Kentucky's Oscar Tshiebwe (11/16/21).