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Tennessee to play at TCU in SEC/Big 12 Challenge

Tennessee guard Josh Richardson, front right, drives to the basket past Kansas State guard Jevon Thomas (1) during an NCAA game at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville on Saturday. Tennessee guard Josh Richardson, front right, drives to the basket past Kansas State guard Jevon Thomas (1) during an NCAA game at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville on Saturday.

By Patrick Brown May 14, 2015 2 min read

KNOXVILLE — Rick Barnes and Tennessee are heading back to Texas for the SEC/Big 12 Challenge this upcoming season.

The Volunteers aren’t playing Texas, where Barnes spent the last 17 seasons.

Instead, Tennessee will travel to Fort Worth to play at TCU on Jan. 30, 2016, as part of the annual basketball series between the two conferences.

While coaching the Longhorns, Barnes posted an 8-0 record against the Horned Frogs, who joined the Big 12 from the Mountain West Conference in 2012.

Former LSU coach Trent Johnson is entering his fourth season at TCU, which went 18-15 and 4-14 in the Big 12 last season.

SEC-Big 12 Challenge logo

Tennessee is 11-16 all-time against the Big 12 and lost its only previous meeting against TCU in the 1991 San Juan Shootout in Puerto Rico.

This season’s edition will be the third installment of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. Tennessee did not participate in the inaugural event. The Vols beat Kansas State at home last season.

The headlining game in the event will be Kentucky’s visit to Kansas. The other matchups are Oklahoma-LSU, West Virginia-Florida, Vanderbilt-Texas, Georgia-Baylor, Texas Tech-Arkansas, Ole Miss-Kansas State, Oklahoma State-Auburn and Iowa State-Texas A&M.

Barnes said prior to Wednesday night’s Big Orange Caravan stop in Chattanooga that Tennessee will play Gonzaga in Seattle next season, with the Bulldogs returning the game in Nashville the following season.

Tennessee’s new coach also said the Vols are close to finalizing a four-year commitment to play Georgia Tech.

The Vols already were set to play at Butler in Indianapolis in the return game of a home-and-home agreement with the Bulldogs and also will be part of the field for the Barclays Center Classic in Brooklyn along with Cincinnati, Nebraska and George Washington.

“If you’re going to be a national program, you’ve got to play a national schedule,” Barnes said a couple of weeks ago. “You’ve got to be willing to go north, south, east, west and want to play the very best.

“We want to bring the big teams in here,” he added. “We want to do that, because it changes the perception. Once you get good, playing that schedule gets easier.”

Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.