NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee men’s basketball team registered its second AP top-20 road triumph in as many opportunities this season with a 69-65 victory Saturday afternoon at No. 19/18 Vanderbilt.

Tennessee (20-7, 10-4 SEC) rallied from a nine-point deficit to claim its 15th victory in the last 17 series meetings with its in-state conference foe. Senior guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie paced the victors with a game-high 17 points at a sold-out Memorial Gymnasium, helping the program clinch its school-record-tying fifth straight 20-win season.

The Volunteers started 6-of-9 from the field and 2-of-2 at the line to take a 15-10 advantage after 5:33 of action. Freshman wing Chandler Bing then hit back-to-back 3-pointers to spark a 24-10 extended run—it included four makes in a row—for Vanderbilt (21-6, 8-6 SEC) and give it a 34-25 lead with 4:33 on the clock.

Tennessee responded by holding the Commodores scoreless for 3:50, forcing seven straight missed field goals, and scoring six points in a row to make it a three-point just 54 ticks before the intermission. The home team, which did not make a field goal in the last 6:08 of the stanza, tallied the final point of the frame on a free throw and took a 35-31 edge into the locker room.

The Volunteers forced four missed shots and three turnovers on the defensive end to open the second half and took a 37-35 edge with 17:25 to go. The Commodores, 30 seconds later, snapped a stretch of 9:13 without a made field goal—they missed 11 in a row—on a contested, turnaround, buzzer-beating 3-pointer, to go back up by one.

That shot started an 11-2 surge for the home team—it included eight consecutive points in 1:59—to give Vanderbilt a 46-39 lead with 13:50 left. After the teams exchanged 3-pointers, Tennessee went on an 11-2 run in 2:55 to go in front, 53-51, with 8:56 remaining. It pushed the margin to four, 57-53, with 5:59 to go, but the Commodores scored the next five points to go back ahead by one just 61 ticks later and then stretched the cushion to three with 3:18 on the timer.

Just 30 seconds later, Tennessee leveled the score at 60 on a 3-pointer by Gillespie, but Vanderbilt answered with a long-range make of its own 23 seconds after that to claim a 63-60 lead with 2:25 to play.

Sophomore guard Bishop Boswell scored on the Volunteers’ next two possessions, grabbing a defensive rebound in between, to put his team up by one with 1:34 remaining. The Commodores pulled back ahead by a point, on a pair of free throws, 16 seconds later, but freshman forward Nate Ament answered with a turnaround jump-shot to put Tennessee up, 66-65, with 54 ticks left after its fourth make in a row.

Following two more stops, the Volunteers tripled their lead on a pair of free throws by Gillespie with 13.2 seconds left. Tennessee then forced another miss and freshman guard Amari Evans sealed the game with a free throw with 1.8 ticks remaining. Vanderbilt missed a shot at the buzzer, as Tennessee held the home team without a made field goal—its last five attempts all missed the mark—in the closing two-plus minutes.

Gillespie shot 3-of-7 from long range in the victory and added a game-best three steals to his leading point total. Ament tallied 13 points and a team-high nine rebounds, the latter tied for his second-most of the year. Boswell, meanwhile, finished with nine points and a team-best four assists.

Sophomore guard Tyler Tanner paced the Commodores with 16 points on 5-of-9 shooting, but the Volunteers limited him a 1-of-5 clip in the second half. Graduate guard Duke Miles had 12 points, but Tennessee held him to a 3-of-13 ledger from the field.  

Senior forward Devin McGlockton had 11 points and five boards for Vanderbilt, while senior center Jalen Washington had eight points, a game-best 10 rebounds and a game-high six blocks.

Miles and senior forward Tyler Nickel, the Commodores’ second- and third-leading scorers, combined to shoot 4-of-21 against the stingy Tennessee defense, with a 3-of-12 mark from long range. Nickel had a season-low three points on 1-of-8 shooting, including a 1-of-6 tally beyond the arc.

The Volunteers concluded the tilt with a 40-22 margin in paint points and, aided by a 14-8 tally on the offensive glass, a 12-6 figure in second-chance points. They also held Vanderbilt, which made four of its first five 3-point tries in the opening eight minutes, to a 5-of-18 ledger over the last 32 minutes.

Tennessee now visits Columbia, Mo., where it plays Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET against Missouri, live on SEC Network from Mizzou Arena.

To keep up with the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team on social media, follow @Vol_Hoops on Instagram and X/Twitter, as well as /tennesseebasketball on Facebook.

TENNESSEE VOLUNTEERS POSTGAME NOTES

• Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes now owns 856 victories in his career, maintaining sole possession of first place among all active Division I head coaches and ninth-most all-time (min. 10 years in Division I).

• Barnes also collected his 122nd victory in SEC play, tying Rick Stansbury for No. 17 on the all-time league-only leaderboard.

• Barnes now has 26 seasons with 20-plus wins in his 39 years as a head coach—that includes seven in 11 campaigns at Tennessee—to put him in a tie with Rick Pitino and Kelvin Sampson for No. 12 all-time and for fifth among active coaches.

• Tennessee moved to 133-77 in its all-time series with Vanderbilt, with the 133 wins 32 more than it has over any other opponent.

• The Volunteers now own a 17-5 ledger versus the Commodores across Barnes’ 11 seasons at the helm.

• Tennessee moved to 15-2 in its last 17 outings against Vanderbilt, a tally that dates to Jan. 9, 2018, and features no loss by greater than a single point.

• Of the 67 series meeting in the last 33 seasons (1993-2026), Saturday was just the fourth with Vanderbilt ranked and Tennessee unranked, with the Volunteers improving to a perfect 4-0 in those contests, with an average margin of victory of 12.5 points per game.

• Tennessee is now 37-7 (.841) versus in-state competition under Barnes, including 20-2 (.909) in its last 22 such outings.

• For the second consecutive game, Tennessee played without redshirt sophomore forward J.P. Estrella—he started the prior seven contests—due to left foot soreness.

• Tennessee now possesses 32 20-win campaigns in program history, including seven in the past nine seasons and five in a row.

• The five-year streak with 20-plus wins is tied for the longest mark in Tennessee history, matching 2005-06 to 2009-10 and 1980-81 to 1984-85.

• The Volunteers reached double-digit SEC victories for the sixth consecutive season, the second-longest such streak in program history, trailing only a 13-year ledger from 1964-65 to 1976-77.

• Saturday marked just the eighth (8-0) regular season game Tennessee has played in the last six seasons (2020-26) during which it was unranked in the AP Poll, alongside a 65-54 home win over Florida on March 7, 2021; a 79-73 road win at Alabama on Jan. 24, 2026; an 86-85 overtime road win at Georgia on Jan. 28, 2026; a 77-69 home win over Auburn on Jan. 31, 2026; a 73-64 road win at Mississippi State on Feb. 11, 2026; a 73-63 home win over LSU on Feb. 14, 2026; and an 89-66 home win over Oklahoma on Feb. 18, 2026.

• Across the last five campaigns (2021-26), Tennessee has played just 23 games as a lower-ranked team and now possesses a 14-9 record, including a 4-1 mark in 2025-26.

• Tennessee increased its AP top-25 win total over the last five seasons (2021-26) to 35, good for five more than any other program in the country.

• The Volunteers upped their AP top-20 tally in those five years (2021-26) to 30, good for three more than any other school in the nation.

• Tennessee is now 48-45 (.516) versus AP top-25 teams in Barnes’ tenure, including 32-18 (.640) in its past 50 such games, dating to Jan. 22, 2022.

• The Volunteers improved to 42-37 (.532) against AP top-20 opponents in the Barnes era, including to 28-14 (.667) in their last 42 such affairs, since Jan. 22, 2022.

• Tennessee has logged double-digit offensive rebounds in 26 of 27 games this year, with 15-plus in 17 outings, 17-plus nine times and 20-plus on five occasions, with a high of 26.

• The Volunteers have grabbed at least 35 total boards in 24 of 27 contests, with 40-plus in 16, 42-plus in 15, 45-plus in 13 and 50-plus in six, with a top tally of 60.

• Through 27 outings thus far, Tennessee has amassed 13-plus assists on 23 occasions, with 17-plus in 17 games, 20-plus in seven and 23-plus in four.

• Across its 27 games this season, Tennessee has played just two that did not feature a double-digit lead for either side, including only seven that did not include a 14-point margin one way and 12 that did not have a 23-point lead at any time.

• The Volunteers improved to 2-1 in games without a double-digit lead either way, as Saturday’s decision joined a Jan. 28 double-overtime victory at Georgia, 86-85, alongside a 62-60 setback Dec. 2 at Syracuse.

• Tennessee became the first team to hold Nickel under four points and/or without multiple makes since Kentucky did so on its home court on Feb. 19, 2025, over a year ago.

• Washington’s six blocks tied for the most by a Tennessee foe this year, matching  the mark set Dec. 2 by Syracuse’s William Kyle III.

• With an offensive board at the 18:29 mark of the first half, junior forward Jaylen Carey reached 500 rebounds in his career, en route to finishing with seven points and seven boards in his return to the arena he played his home games in last year as a Commodore.

• Ament registered nine-plus rebounds for the sixth time this season, including the second in the last three games.

• The nine rebounds for Ament also matched his top tally in SEC play, previously recorded Feb. 14 versus LSU.

• Freshman forward DeWayne Brown II, who scored eight points and had the first two buckets of the second half to tie the score, played 30-plus minutes for the second time in his career.