The new number-one team in the county, the Tennessee Volunteers, headed to the Big Apple Tuesday night to play in the Jimmy V Classic against Miami, and once again, Rocky Top would not flinch.

The Volunteers won 75-67, and star transfer guard from North Florida Chaz Lanier put on a show, leading the team with 22 points. Tennessee has put themselves into the conversation as a legit team to win it all this season.

Tennessee Is For Real

Beating Miami isn’t the most significant thing a team can do. Still, Tennessee has done great against teams in the Big Five conferences, like the Hurricanes, Baylor, Louisville, Syracuse, and Virginia. This week, they play Illinois, so we will have to see if the Volunteers can keep up their excellent work.

Tennessee has everything working for them, and we know they are going to be lights out defensively. They have been in the Top Three in defense the past couple of years, but this year, according to KenPom, they are the number one defensive team in the country.

The Volunteers will have to be ready for the SEC schedule because it will be a dogfight. In that conference, you could be the best one week and then, six days later, be fifth in the standings with all the great teams in there.

Auburn, Alabama, Florida, and Kentucky will all be legitimate threats to the Volunteers. It’s a good thing Tennessee has been dominating its games in the nonconference because it will need that experience when SEC play starts in the new year.

Tennessee

Tennessee has turned itself into maybe the best school in athletics, with its baseball team winning the College World Series last season, its football team in the college football playoffs, and its women’s basketball team still undefeated under first-year head coach Kim Caldwell.

It’s a fun time to be a Volunteers fan, and hopefully, the basketball team can keep up the great play until April, and they can cut down the nets at the Final Four.

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