Tennessee is limping into the midway point of SEC play.

A daunting stretch hasn’t been kind to the No. 8 Vols (18-4, 4-4 SEC) who dropped back-to-back games at Auburn and at home against Kentucky in their most recent outing.

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It only gets tougher Saturday against No. 5 Florida (18-2, 5-2) at Food City Center (Noon ET, ESPN), offering Tennessee a much-needed bounce-back opportunity as the calendar flips to February.

The Vols are solidly in the NCAA Tournament, but their seeding has fluctuated in the latest bracket projections after losing three of their last games, spending much of non-conference play as a 1-seed but moving down to a 2-seed as of late.

Where Tennessee hasn't moved is the NET rankings, which factors in winning percentage, game results, strength of schedule, net offensive and defensive efficiency and more.

The Vols remained at No. 4--the second-highest ranking for an SEC team behind No. 1 Auburn and one spot ahead of No. 5 Florida.

Tennessee is 5-4 in Quad 1 games with an opportunity for another against the Gators. It is 2-0 in Quad 2, 3-0 in Quad 3 and 7-0 in Quad 4 games. Among the Vols' Quad 1 wins are Louisville, Baylor and Illinois in the non-conference, but just two of those wins have come against the SEC in Texas and Mississippi State earlier this month.

Plenty of resume-boosting opportunities remain with more than a month left in the regular season with seven Quad 1 teams on Tennessee's schedule. After the Vols host Florida, it gets No. 26 Missouri on their home floor (Feb. 5), at No. 11 Kentucky (Feb. 11), at No. 15 Texas A&M (Feb. 22), at LSU (Feb. 25), No. 6 Alabama (March 1) and at No. 21 Ole Miss (March 5).

MORE FROM VOLREPORT: How Tennessee struggled with Kentucky game plan

Tennessee's rematch with No. 37 Vanderbilt, which handed the Vols a 1-point loss at Memorial Gymnasium nearly two weeks ago, on Feb. 15 in Knoxville currently stands as a Quad 2 opportunity.

Tennessee will face No. 93 South Carolina in its regular season finale on March 8 at home. The Gamecocks are the only Quad 3 team remaining on the schedule.

The Vols will have to improve offensively during that stretch. Tennessee ranks 15th in scoring, 13th in field goal percentage and eighth in three-point percentage among league teams.

Tennessee went 11-of-45 from three-point range in its 78-73 loss to Kentucky on Tuesday and shot just 31.8% in its defeat at Auburn the game before. The Vols are 35th in adjusted offensive efficiency, according to KenPom.

“We’ve had games where we have (made shots), and I’m hoping at the right time, we’re going to knock them down," Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said. "Teams go through it. I do think we can shoot the ball. I do. But we shouldn’t be a team that thinks we have to rely on one guy or two guys to do it.

"But I know how hard these guys work at shooting the ball and we want to take our shots but it’s got to be in how we talk about doing it."

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