New Tennessee basketball coach Donnie Tyndall and his Volunteers will open the 2014-15 season against Virginia Commonwealth at the Naval Academy.Tennessee announced the nonconference portion of its 2014-15 men's basketball schedule today, with the 12-game lineup featuring five matchups against teams that competed in the NCAA tournament earlier this year.
Seven of the 12 games will be held at Thompson-Boling Arena. The Volunteers will play Virginia Commonwealth in Annapolis, Md., North Carolina State in Raleigh and will be among the eight teams in the Orlando Classic.
Highlighting the home schedule are matchups against Kansas State, Butler and Mercer, which upset Duke in the NCAA tournament before losing to the Volunteers.
"This is a very ambitious non-conference schedule," first-year Tennessee coach Donnie Tyndall said in a release, "but I think it will prepare us well for the level of competition we'll face once Southeastern Conference play begins. Nearly half of the teams we will face were in the NCAA Tournament last year, and all of them are extremely well coached programs.
"I think we've put together a schedule our fans will be excited about, and that's important because we are going to need our fans to be impactful for us this season - both at home and on the road."
For more information, read Thursday's Times Free Press