Meet The Opponent: No. 12 Tennessee Hosts No. 17 Indiana in Exhibition Game

Tennessee won the SEC regular season title and reached the Elite Eight last season, but plenty of new faces are expected to be key contributors in coach Rick Barnes’ 10th season in Knoxville.

Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes instructs Jahmai Mashack during practice. / Hannah Mattix/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK

It won’t count toward official records, but Sunday’s exhibition game between No. 12 Tennessee and No. 17 Indiana comes with plenty of intrigue.

The top 25 matchup tips off at 3 p.m. ET in Knoxville and matches up two teams with high aspirations for the 2024-25 season. Under coach Rick Barnes, Tennessee looks to win back-to-back SEC titles for the first time in program history, and senior point guard Zakai Zeigler returned to lead that charge. 

Indiana took a step back in coach Mike Woodson’s third season with a 19-14 record, but transfer portal additions like Myles Rice, Oumar Ballo, Kanaan Carlyle and Luke Goode have vaulted the Hoosiers back into national relevance going into the season.

Here’s a full breakdown of who the Hoosiers will face in Sunday’s exhibition game.

Departures

• Dalton Knecht 21.7 ppg (drafted by Los Angeles Lakers)
• Jonas Aidoo 11.4 ppg (transferred to Arkansas)
• Josiah-Jordan James 8.4 ppg (graduated)
• Santiago Vescovi 6.3 ppg (graduated)
• Tobe Awaka 5.1 ppg (transferred to Arizona)
• DJ Jefferson 3.0 ppg (transferred to Longwood)
• Freddie Dilione V 1.7 ppg (transferred to Penn State)

Returners

• Zakai Zeigler 11.8 ppg
• Jordan Gainey 6.8 ppg
• Jahmai Mashack 4.5 ppg
• Cameron Carr 1.6 ppg
• J.P. Estrella 1.6 ppg
• Cade Phillips 0.9 ppg

Newcomers

• Chaz Lanier (19.7 ppg at North Florida)
• Darlinstone Dubar (18.1 ppg at Hofstra)
• Felix Okpara (6.6 ppg at Ohio State)
• Igor Milicic (12.8 ppg at Charlotte)
• Bishop Boswell (No. 110 freshman, per On3.)

Tennessee Volunteers guard Zakai Zeigler (5) dribbles against Purdue in the Elite Eight. / Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

Indiana’s history against Tennessee

Indiana leads the all-time series 4-0, with all matchups occurring between 1967 and 1985. Most recently, Indiana defeated Tennessee 74-67 in the semifinals of the 1985 NIT at Madison Square Garden in New York. Uwe Blab led the Hoosiers with 24 points and 10 rebounds, followed by Steve Alford with 23 points. Other matchups include a 70-68 Indiana victory on Dec. 28, 1979 in San Diego, a 73-71 Indiana win in the 1974 National Commissioners Invitational Tournament in St. Louis, and a 51-44 Indiana victory in the 1967 NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional third-place game.

Tennessee coach: Rick Barnes

Barnes is in his 10th season at Tennessee with a 202-101 overall record and a 100-60 record in regular season SEC play. Barnes has six NCAA Tournament appearances with the Volunteers, and reaching the Elite Eight last season was his best run. Tennessee has won two regular season SEC titles and one SEC Tournament title under Barnes. Prior to Tennessee, he coached 17 seasons at Texas, including a 402-180 overall record, a 186-94 record in Big 12 play, 16 NCAA Tournament appearances, one Final Four run, three regular season conference titles and three conference coach of the year awards. Barnes also has head coaching stints at Clemson, Providence and George Mason, dating back to 1987. He was also previously an assistant coach at Ohio State, Alabama, George Mason, Davidson and North State Academy, where he began his coaching career in 1977. Barnes played at Lenoir-Rhyne from 1974-77.

Strengths

Under Barnes, Tennessee can always be counted on to have a formidable defense. The Volunteers have finished top five in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency in each of the last four seasons, and they’re fourth in this year’s preseason ratings. 

Tennessee returned its defensive table-setter, point guard Zakai Zeigler, a three-time All-SEC Defensive team member and last year’s SEC Defensive Player of the year, who has averaged 1.8 steals per game in 101 career games.

Tennessee’s most intriguing transfer portal additions were a pair of mid-major bucket-getters in Hofstra’s Darlinstone Dubar and North Florida’s Chaz Lanier. Both have good positional size at 6-foot-6, 220 pounds and 6-foot-5, 207 pounds, respectively. Both shot over 39% from 3-point range on at least 5.5 attempts per game. And both averaged over 17 points per game as all-conference players. Tennessee’s biggest loss of the offseason was Knecht, but Barnes did well by adding two transfers cut from a similar cloth.

Weaknesses

Will Tennessee’s interior defense and shot blocking regress? The Volunteers lost their top five rebounders and top four shot blockers from last season. Among them are multi-year starters like 6-foot-11 Jonas Aidoo, who transferred to Arkansas and was picked to the preseason second-team All-SEC, and 6-foot-7 Josiah-Jordan James, who graduated. 

Aidoo led the team with 7.3 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game, and James added 6.4 rebounds and 0.6 blocks per game. Add Knecht, Awaka and Vescovi, and Barnes will be asking a new group of Volunteers to crash the glass and defend inside.  

Indiana is familiar with one of Tennessee’s replacements, 6-foot-11 forward Felix Okpara, who averaged 6.6 points, 6.4 rebounds and ranked ninth nationally with 2.4 blocks per game at Ohio State. Okpara had six points, 15 rebounds and five blocks in his first matchup against Indiana last season, and he finished with seven points, four rebounds and two blocks in the second. The other is 6-foot-10 forward Igor Milicic, who averaged 12.8 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game last season at Charlotte.

Indiana’s advantage in this game appears to be inside with Oumar Ballo and Malik Reneau going up against Okpara, Milicic and company. 

Season outlook

Coming off an Elite Eight appearance, Tennessee is primed for another strong season. The Volunteers are ranked No. 12 in the AP Top 25 poll and USA Today Coaches Poll. In their efforts to defend the SEC regular season crown, they were picked third in the preseason SEC media poll. Zeigler was selected to the preseason first-team All-SEC, but no other Volunteers garnered recognition. Barnes made a few enticing transfer portal additions, and he’ll need several to step up in a big way after losing three of last season’s top four scorers.

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• HOW TO WATCH: Indiana plays its first exhibition game of the 2024-25 season on Sunday against Tennessee at Thompson–Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tenn. Here's how to watch, game time and TV information, offseason roster changes, preseason rankings, the coaching matchup, series history, stats and more. CLICK HERE