Tennessee basketball remains on the road after a disaster in Gainesville earlier this week.
Austin, Texas, is the host site as the No. 1 Vols (14-1, 1-1 SEC) look to rebound from a 30-point loss to Florida on Tuesday. Texas (11-4, 0-2) will be back on the home court, coming in on a close loss to No. 2 Auburn.
As SEC play rolls along, it remains a heavyweight battle throughout as the Vols and Longhorns face off for the first time in a conference matchup.
Here’s how to watch Tennessee take on Texas, along with some notes and storylines to follow.
How to watch Tennessee basketball
Tennessee and Texas battle it out at 6 p.m. ET in the Moody Center. The game will be broadcast on ESPN, signaling Tom Hart on play-by-play joined alongside Dane Bradshaw as an analyst.
Bob Kesling and Bert Bertelkamp will have the call on the radio with the local Vol Network affiliate.
A quick look at the Longhorns
Texas sits near the bottom of the conference in its SEC-debuting season. Despite being seven games above .500 and holding an 11-2 record in non-conference play, the brutality of playing in the southeast has already done dividends on the Longhorns. Texas began the new year with a 20-point loss to Texas A&M before following up with a mere five-point loss to Auburn. Now, Texas is in search of its first win in the SEC.
“They can shoot the ball,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said. “I don’t think there’s any question they can do that, but I think they are different. They’ve got an explosive, one of the very best players in the country… I mentioned that Rodney (Terry) does a good job at getting guys shots, and when he gets a guy that gets it going, he’s going to feed it to him.”
A trio of double-digit scorers leads the Longhorns. True freshman guard Tre Johnson leads the way with 18.4 points a night, while transfer Arthur Kaluma and Jordan Pope follow behind. Kaluma hails from Kansas State by way of Creighton, where he posted a 34-point, 8-rebound outburst on Tuesday against the Tigers. Pope’s storylines came earlier this season where he dropped 42 points on New Orleans.
Bounce back
The story sits on the visiting bench when the Vols travel to Austin. While Texas has not had a premier start to its first season in the conference, Tennessee enters the game with an embarrassment of a product last time on the court.
It was the worst offensive performance of the Rick Barnes era, posting a decade-low 43 points on 21% shooting. A 13.8% mark from 3-point range added salt to the wound. A bad start from sharpshooter Chaz Lanier lingered throughout the night, which makes it all the more important for Tennessee to bounce back.
“We have to be ready or we’ll lose again,” Barnes said. “I mean, it’s plain and simple. Even being ready sometimes, you’re going to lose some games. But the fact is you’ve got to do everything, control everything that you can control.”
The Vols will not win every game on the road this season. In fact, it will be impressive to finish above .500 in road games this season. In order to put the train back on the rails of the track, the Vols will need to steal one at Texas on Saturday — and that begins on the offensive end, with Lanier in particular.
Injury news
Tennessee remains without sophomore big man J.P. Estrella with a season-ending foot injury. It is the only reported injury for the Vols.
Texas will be without guard Chendall Weaver on Saturday. The 6-foot-3 junior averages 6.7 points per game and 5.1 rebounds across 15 appearances including nine starts.
