After playing three top 20 teams away from Knoxville, Tennessee gets to host a marquee match up on its own home floor on Saturday.
Coming off of a convincing win over George Mason, the No. 17 Vols (5-3) play No. 20 Illinois (7-1) at Food City Center, continuing one of the toughest non-conference schedules in college basketball.
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Tennessee, which faced then-No. 1 Kansas, No. 2 Purdue and No. 17 North Carolina in consecutive games late last month, snapped a three-game losing skid with in its last outing as forward Jonas Aidoo led the Vols in scoring with 17 points and Josiah-Jordan James finished with 15.
Illinois looked impressive in the Jimmy V Classic, beating No. 11 Florida Atlantic, 98-89 in Madison Square Garden in New York. The Fighting Illini had two different scorers in guard Terrence Shannon Jr. and forward Macus Domask finish with 33 points.
Here is a closer look at the match up.
Game Information
Who: No. 20 Illinois (7-1) at No. 17 Tennessee (5-3)
When: Saturday, Dec. 9 | Noon ET
Where: Food City Center | Knoxville
TV: CBS (Rich Waltz, play-by-play; Bill Raftery, analyst; Jay Wright, analyst; Jon Rothstein, reporter)
KenPom: Tennessee 76, Illinois 71
Series: Tennessee leads, 2-0
Projected Lineups
Numbers Edge
POINTS PER GAME
Illinois 80.1, Tennessee 77.6
FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE
Illinois 48.4%, Tennessee 43.7%
THREE-POINT PERCENTAGE
Illinois 33.7%, Tennessee 33.2%
REBOUNDS
Illinois 46.4, Tennessee 37.6
ASSISTS
Tennessee 15.4, Illinois 12.6
BLOCKS
Tennessee 4.9, Illinois 4.6
STEALS
Tennessee 7.5, Illinois 4.1
Pregame Notes
-- Tennessee is set to face its fourth AP Top 25 team this season. It is only the fourth time in program history that the Vols have played four ranked teams in a five-game stretch and the first time since 2012 when they played No. 13 Florida, No. 20 Mississippi State, No. 2 Kentucky and No. 13 Connecticut.
-- Illinois is currently ranked No. 20 in the AP Top 25 and No. 18 in the Coaches Poll but KenPom has the Fighting Illini ranked No. 14, making them the fifth team on Tennessee's non-conference schedule to be ranked in the top 15 in KenPom's rankings, joining No. 2 Purdue, No. 11 Wisconsin, No. 12 Kansas and No. 15 North Carolina.
-- Tennessee had its full roster as its disposal for the first time in six games against George Mason. Tobe Awaka and Freddie Dilione V returned to the lineup after missing games with injuries and leading scorer Dalton Knecht started despite an ankle injury in the previous game against North Carolina.
MORE FROM VOLREPORT: Vols set for next opportunity against top 20 team in clash with Illinois
-- Tennessee is getting the most from fifth-year senior guard Josiah-Jordan James who is arguably playing his best basketball through eight games. After missing stretches of games with injuries last season, James has looked at full health. He is second on the team in scoring with 11.4 points per game on 49.2% shooting from the field.
-- Tennessee is familiar with Illinois' Terrence Shannon Jr. The fifth-year senior guard previously played at Texas Tech, which beat the Vols, 57-52 on Dec. 7, 2021. Shannon, who scored a game-high 18 points in that match up, ranks 13th nationally in scoring with 21.6 points per game.
-- Illinois went 20-13 in head coach Brad Underwood's sixth season in 2022-23. The Fighting Illini lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. They were picked to finish fourth in the Big Ten in the preseason and enter Saturday on a five-game win streak, their lone blemish a 71-64 loss to No. 4 Maruqette on Nov. 14.
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