The Tennessee Volunteers likely will close out 2024 and ring in 2025 as the nation’s No. 1 college basketball team.
Saturday’s 66-64 topping of Illinois at the State Farm Center in Champaign improved the top-ranked Vols to 10-0, and they will wrap up this calendar year inside the Food City Center as decided favorites against Western Carolina, Middle Tennessee and Norfolk State. The Catamounts visit Knoxville on Tuesday night (7 on SEC Network+).
Yet the triumph over the Fighting Illini that was sealed on Jordan Gainey’s layup as time expired may be even more meaningful for what it revealed.
“We’re tough,” Vols senior forward and Charlotte transfer Igor Milicic Jr. told reporters afterward. “Everything was against us. The crowd was loud. We had to stick together and pull this off.