{"id":889056,"date":"2026-10-20T17:14:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T17:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/889056\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T17:14:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T17:14:11","slug":"tennessee-basketball-faces-the-most-important-exhibition-before-they-begin-the-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/889056\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennessee Basketball Faces the Most Important Exhibition Before They Begin the Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Tennessee Volunteers<\/a> are set for an exhibition game on the road, as they take on the Duke Blue Devils<\/a>, in what appears to be the biggest obstacle that they will face ahead of the season. This is the second exhibition for the Vols this offseason.<\/p>\n

It is no secret that things didn’t go the way the Vols wanted them to<\/a> in the first go-around, which is something that Barnes detailed, as he explained to the media that the mood has remained good.<\/p>\n

Rick Barnes on the Mood Ahead of the Game vs. Duke\"Rick<\/p>\n

Oct 13, 2026; Birmingham, AL, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head coach Rick Barnes speaks during the SEC Basketball Tipoff at Grand Bohemian Hotel Mountain Brook. Mandatory Credit: Butch Dill-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

\u201cI think everything\u2019s good. I mean, we know that we\u2019ve got a lot to learn just by being out and playing against somebody else, and there were some things in the first half that were good. We should have scored more points than we did in the first half. The second half, it really got down to when we hit some adversity, we just stopped altogether playing defense and rebounding, just think we\u2019re gonna shoot the ball and think that\u2019s gonna be good enough.”<\/p>\n

“We knew that would rear its head at some point in time; we knew that. That\u2019s why I love these exhibition games, because you get a chance to let those things happen.\u00a0And then, obviously, we\u2019ve got a good group of guys. They wanna learn, but they don\u2019t know what they don\u2019t know right now. There\u2019s some elementary things that we feel like that they should, but that\u2019s not their fault, because we\u2019re learning a whole new system and some of that we\u2019ve got to do better jobs as coaches to teach them some of these things.”<\/p>\n

“But their attitudes have been good. I know they wanna be a good basketball team. But we haven\u2019t been able to put the whole team together yet. Obviously, with Tyler (Lundblade), I don\u2019t think he\u2019ll play again tomorrow, but he\u2019s making progress. And Jalen (Washington\u2019s) status, we don\u2019t know. But with that, we\u2019re still trying to figure out a lot of things with this group. But we will figure it out,\u201d Barnes said.<\/p>\n

There Will Be a Lot to Learn\"Jalen<\/p>\n

Tennessee guard Jalen Haralson (10) moves the ball while guarded by Xavier forward Filip Borovicanin (4) during a college basketball exhibition game on Oct. 15, 2026, in Knoxville, Tennessee. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

The Vols have some things that they need to fix, and that will be expected for the season, but this is a game that the Vols will look to learn more from. In fact, the Vols will look more at the negatives from this contest than the positives, as they will look to chase the first championship in program history.<\/p>\n

The fans are counting on this team, and they believe this is the team that could give Barnes his first national championship in his college career, which is something that Tennessee has been working towards since he got here. With that being said, the Vols have to get off to a great start, and in many people’s minds, that season begins against Duke, as this may not count, but is a great measuring-stick contest for the Vols.<\/p>\n

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