20. Tennessee (7-3)
The Volunteers got this season off to a hot start, though with their initial schedule the perfect start wasn’t too big of a surprise. Their performance in a win over Houston out in Las Vegas wasn’t quite as expected, but Rick Barnes’ team really put their best effort together to take down the Cougars during the Players Era Festival. Unfortunately, things have gone downhill ever since that 7-0 start.
Tennessee didn’t have a game in the last week, meaning we’re stuck focusing on their current 3-game slide. Losing to Kansas in Las Vegas is forgivable, but the road loss to Syracuse a week later was this team’s weakest showing of the season. When you add on that most recent performance, a 13-point loss to Illinois in Nashville, this recent slide hurts even more.
Ja’Kobi Gillespie and company may have lost their last three games but we’re far from pushing the panic buttons in Knoxville. The Volunteers hit an unquestionably harder point in their schedule but that win over Houston looks great and this team has the raw talent to turn things around in the weeks ahead. As hard and tough as things have been, another major test awaits back home as the Volunteers take on Louisville this coming Tuesday.