Photo By Andrew Ferguson/Tennessee Athletics

LAS VEGAS — Tennessee basketball will face off against Kansas in the third-place game of the Players Era Festival on Wednesday. Tipoff at MGM Grand Garden Arena is at 7 p.m. ET and TNT is broadcasting the game.

The Vols are 2-0 in the event but won’t play in the championship game of the 18-team tournament due to the tiebreaker system. Here’s what to know.

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Why Tennessee Is Not In The Championship Game

Five teams went 2-0 in the first two games of the tournament. The first tiebreaker is point differential with any individual game maxing out at a 20-point differential.

The Vols are plus-23 with Tennessee which is the third best of the five unbeaten teams. Michigan is plus-40 after dominating San Diego State and Auburn. Gonzaga is +30 after beating Alabama by 10 points and Maryland by 39 points.

Kansas slightly edged past Iowa State to get into the third place game. The Jayhawks are plus-21 after earning wins over Notre Dame and Syracuse. Iowa State defeated St. John’s by one point and Creighton by 18 points for a plus-19 differential.

How Tennessee Got Here

Tennessee opened up the tournament by routing Rutgers 85-60 on Monday. The Vols lead by 26 points at halftime and by as many as 36 points in the second half before calling off the dogs in the final 10 minutes of the game.

Ja’Kobi Gillespie led the way for the Vols with 32 points while Nate Ament added 20 points and Felix Okpara added 10 points and seven rebounds.

The Vols earned their best win of the season Tuesday, knocking off No. 3 Houston 76-73 in a back-and-forth thriller. Bishop Boswell and Jaylen Carey were fantastic on both ends of the court while Gillespie went for a team-high 22 points with four assists and no turnovers.

Tennessee is 6-0 so far this season and is 3-5 all time against Kansas. The Jayhawks hold a 2-3 advantage in the series during Rick Barnes’ tenure.

How Kansas Got Here

The Jayhawks have played one of the weaker slates in the event so far. Kansas knocked off Notre Dame 71-61 in its opening game of the event before beating Syracuse 71-60 on Tuesday afternoon.

Kansas is 5-2 this season and not ranked in the AP Top 25 or the USA Today Coaches Poll. Bill Self’s team lost at North Carolina and against Duke at Madison Square Garden. While they’re not ranked in the polls, KenPom ranks Kansas as the No. 19 team in the country.

The Jayhawks are without star freshman point guard Darryn Peterson due to injury. Peterson is averaging 21.5 points in his two games played this season and projects as a lottery pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.