Tennessee basketball coach Rick Barnes signs a hat for a young Volunteers fan on Monday night at the Rocky Top Summer League at Knoxville's Catholic High School.
Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl waves goodbye to supportive fans while leaving the court following Auburn's 71-63 loss to Tennessee in an their game at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015. KNOXVILLE -- Tennessee's new basketball coach will make his Southeastern Conference debut against one of the Volunteers' former coaches.
The league announced its league schedule on Wednesday night, and it has Tennessee and first-year coach Rick Barnes opening conference play at Auburn on Jan. 2 on CBS.
Former Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl will be in his second season with the Tigers, who will visit Knoxville for the second straight season on Feb. 9.
Pearl took the Vols to six straight NCAA tournaments and guided the program to its first Elite Eight during his tenure. He was fired amid NCAA trouble in 2011. His teams won two meetings with Texas, where Barnes coached the past 17 seasons.
Tennessee will play Kentucky twice after only playing the Wildcats once last season.
The Vols also play Vanderbilt, Arkansas and South Carolina twice.
Barnes will make his coaching debut in an exhibition game against Alabama-Huntsville on Nov. 6, the Friday before Tennessee's home football game against South Carolina.
The Vols open the season against UNC Asheville one week later.
Tennessee's non-conference schedule includes trips to Brooklyn for the Barclays Center Classic, where the Vols will play George Washington and then either Cincinnati or Nebraska, in addition to Georgia Tech, Gonzaga, Butler and TCU.
The home non-conference games are UNCA, Gardner-Webb, Army, Marshall, Florida Atlantic, East Tennessee State and Tennessee State.
Click here for Tennessee's complete 2015-16 basketball schedule.
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.