Tennessee to play inside Thompson-Boling Arena at full capacity this season

David Paschall, Chattanooga Times Free Press, Tenn.
·2 min read

Jun. 24—Tennessee will return to a Thompson-Boling Arena at full capacity for the 2021-22 basketball season, with the touted Volunteers facing a nonconference schedule that includes Villanova, Colorado, Texas Tech, Memphis, Arizona, Texas and either North Carolina or Purdue.

Unfortunately for Vols fans, those two facts really won't intertwine.

Only Tennessee's showdown against Arizona on Dec. 22 will take place in Knoxville, with the Dec. 18 pairing with Memphis scheduled for Nashville's Bridgestone Arena and the rest of the marquee matchups scheduled for outside of the Volunteer State. Tennessee's games against Villanova and North Carolina or Purdue on Nov. 20-21 will be at the Hall of Fame Tipoff Tournament in Connecticut, while the Dec. 7 contest against Texas Tech is at the Jimmy V Classic in New York City.

Tennessee's matchups with Colorado on Dec. 4 and Texas on Jan. 29 will be true road games, with the Vols and Texas vying as part of the annual Big 12/SEC Challenge.

Coming to Thompson-Boling for the nonconference portion of Tennessee's schedule — in addition to Arizona — are UT-Martin (Nov. 9), East Tennessee State (Nov. 14), Tennessee Tech (Nov. 26) and Presbyterian (Nov. 30). The Vols also have a home game on Dec. 14 against a nonconference foe that will be announced later, and the league portion of Tennessee's 2021-22 schedule will be released this summer.

Thompson-Boling Arena has a capacity of 21,678 but was maxed out at 4,191 last season due to COVID-19 guidelines.

Tennessee is coming off an 18-9 season that ended with a lethargic 70-56 loss to Oregon State in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The Vols return a nucleus of Victor Bailey, John Fulkerson, Josiah-Jordan James and Santiago Vescovi, and they added former Auburn guard Justin Powell through the NCAA transfer portal and a signing class that is ranked No. 3 nationally by 247Sports.com.

Headlining the signees are five-star point guard Kennedy Chandler, five-star power forward Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, four-star center Jonas Aidoo and four-star small forward Jahmai Mashack.

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.