Following a week where Tennessee beat two conference opponents by an average of 32 points, the Vols are on the move in the latest polls.
After beating Arkansas, 92-63 on the road last Wednesday and Vanderbilt, 88-53 in Knoxville over the weekend, Tennessee (19-6, 9-3 SEC) jumped three spots to No. 5 in the Associated Press Top 25 on Monday.
The Vols also moved up to No. 5 in the USA Today Coaches Poll and in KenPom's ratings.
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Tennessee was the highest ranked SEC team in the AP poll, followed by No. 13 Alabama, No. 14 Auburn, No. 17 Kentucky and No. 20 South Carolina while Florida entered the rankings for the first time at No. 24.
The Vols were paced offensively by forward Jonas Aidoo against Arkansas. He finished with a team-high 23 points and 12 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the season.
Tennessee dominated in the paint, scoring 48 points and out-rebounding the Razorbacks, 36-25.
Against Vanderbilt, the Vols tallied a season-high 14 3-pointers and all five starters finished in double-scoring figures, led by guards Dalton Knecht and Zakai Zeigler who finished with 14 points each en route to Tennessee's second largest margin of victory vs. the Commodores all-time.
MORE FROM VOLREPORT: How Tennessee freshmen finished Vanderbilt win 'the right way'
“Well, first half I thought we were terrific. And honestly, I really do think a lot of it has to do with the respect that we have for Vanderbilt and Coach (Jerry) Stackhouse," Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said. "And we’ve been in so many tough games and our older guys understand the game in a mature way and we know that they’re a team that runs really good offense. And if you’re not ready, really in the first half, they had some shots that they’re certainly capable of making and they didn’t go down. And we shot the ball well. But I just know the preparation of our guys, because of the respect for his program and the way he does things, our guys came out ready to play.
“And really pleased with the young guys trying to play the game the right way at the end. I thought that was really important. I thought those minutes were really good for them. But they respected the game in terms of trying to play it the right way.”
MORE FROM VOLREPORT: Key takeaways: Historic first half gives Vols season sweep over Vanderbilt
Tennessee is back on the road this week to face Missouri on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET on SEC Network at Mizzou Arena in Columbia.
The Tigers are 8-17 and overall and currently last in the league standings at 0-12, including a 79-76 loss at Ole Miss in their last outing. They have lost 15 of their last 16 games dating back to December.
Missouri guard Sean East II leads the team in scoring and assists 16.0 points and 4.2 per game, respectively. He scored 25 points against Ole Miss.
Tennessee will return to Knoxville to face Texas A&M, who upset the Vols in College Station less than two weeks ago before closing out the regular season with ranked match ups against Auburn, Alabama, South Carolina and Kentucky.
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