Tennessee basketball opens up its 2024-25 campaign on Monday night as the Vols host Gardner-Webb at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center.
The reigning SEC Champions are breaking in a number of new players on this year’s squad but expectations remain high for a program that’s been as consistent as any in the SEC in recent seasons.
Here’s everything to know about the Vols’ season-opener against Gardner Webb on Monday night.
“They’re gonna play really fast. They’re well coached, extremely well coached. They got a new coach there, but they’re gonna work hard. They’re gonna really try to score quick. I think (they were) one of the top teams in the country last year. They can almost play with a 17-second shot clock. They get down the floor, they’re gonna shoot it quick, they know what they’re doing. They know how they wanna play. They’ll spread you out. Really good cutting team. If you turn your head, you get caught looking, they’re gonna take advantage of it.”
Gardner-Webb:
Points: Jamaine Mann (Georgia State) — 6.1 PPG, 46 FG%, 20 3PT%
Rebounds: Isaiah Richards and Ademide Badmus — 4.5 RPG
Assists: Darryl Simmons II — 0.8 APG, 0.4 TOPG, 10.2 MPG
Prediction
For as much new as Tennessee basketball is breaking in this season, Gardner-Webb is breaking in even more new including a first-year head coach and very few of its top contributors from a season ago.
I have a very hard time seeing Gardner-Webb scoring a lot of points in this game so this feels much more about what Tennessee can do on the offensive end of the court, especially after its poor offensive performance in its exhibition against Indiana.
The Vols will shoot better from the perimeter in this game. They need to be able to establish an inside scoring game too. It would be a bad sign if they can’t.
Tennessee 84, Gardner-Webb 51
