Vols, Lady Vols Fall in Final January Top 25 Rankings
Tennessee's men's and women's basketball programs fall a combined seven spots in the final edition of the AP Top 25 rankings of January 2022. After splitting games against Florida and Texas, the Vols drop from No. 18 to No. 22. As for the Big Orange Women, the Lady Vols drop out of the top five from No. 4 to No. 7 after their loss to unranked Auburn on Thursday night.
The full list of the AP Top 25 men's rankings are here and the AP Top 25 women's rankings are here.
On Wednesday night, the Vols knocked off Florida 78-71 in Thompson-Boling Arena in a gritty conference win but fell to Texas on the road in a defensive battle, losing 52-51 to the fellow UT and Rick Barnes' former stomping grounds.
The Lady Vols lost their lone matchup of the week to the unranked Auburn on Thursday, falling 71-61 on the road. The loss was surprising considering the Lady Vols' recent dominance and perfect conference record, and the Tigers are winless in conference play thus far.
The Vols are the third-best SEC team in the rankings behind No. 1 Auburn and No. 5 Kentucky. The Wildcats improved seven spots after their statement win over formerly No. 5 Kansas in the SEC/Big 12 challenge. LSU rounds out the SEC representation in the January 31 edition of the Top 25, capturing the final spot. Texas, who Tennessee lost to Saturday night, returns to the Top 25 at No. 23.
As for the women, the Lady Vols remain the second-best SEC team in the Top 25 behind No. 1 South Carolina. Like the men, the SEC has four teams in the women's Top 25, with Georgia and LSU rounding out the conference's representation at No. 14 and No. 15. Tennessee defeated Georgia two Sundays ago 63-55 in Athens, and the Lady Vols will take on LSU in the season's final game.
The Vols have a two-week break until they face their next opponent, as Rick Barnes squad will take on Kentucky in Thompson-Boling Arena on February 15 at 9:00 p.m. ET. Before that, the orange and white have Texas A&M and Vanderbilt at home with Arkansas and South Carolina on the road.
The Lady Vols next ranked opponent is this Sunday when UT travels to Hartford to take on UConn. However, a couple of tricky conference matchups precede the Top-10 matchup, as Kellie Harper's squad will face Arkansas on Monday night in Thompson-Boling Arena and Florida in Gainesville on Thursday.
Photo Credit: Tennessee Athletics
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