No. 13 Tennessee will play away from Food City Center again Saturday. This time, staying in state for a neutral-site matchup in Nashville against No. 14 Illinois.
The Vols opened their road swing the way they wanted to play. Wins over Rutgers and Houston showed Tennessee’s identity at its best: tough, physical, and connected.
The next two outings, against Kansas and Syracuse, didn’t.
After Tennessee’s final Player’s Era game in Las Vegas, Felix Okpara said focus would be key going into the Syracuse matchup.
“I would say just executing, not being sloppy, we weren’t locked in as we were in the first half in the second half. We weren’t playing team defense. After we watched the film, we saw our mistakes,” Okpara said.
Tennessee still fell short.
JaKobi Gillespie pointed to the same issue after the Vols’ 62-60 loss to Syracuse in New York.
“We’ve been here since June, just practicing together, learning each other, so I feel like we should be there right now,” Gillespie said. “We just got to kind of play with a purpose more and just play harder together.”
Now 7-2, Tennessee gets a chance to respond in a Top 15 showdown with the Illini.
“The purpose is to get better every game, to be the hardest playing team in the country. I think you just got to lock in on that on a day to day basis,” Tennessee’s Associate Head Coach, Justin Gainey said.
Before Tennessee dives into the scouting report, the emphasis is on what it can control: effort, execution, and playing together.
The Vols are still shaping an identity for this 2025-26 group. The staff believes the bumps are part of the process.
“I think for this team, you know, going through these tough times, these tough moments, adversity, is good for, and within that, they’ll find who they are as individuals, and who they are as a team. And so for me, as a coach, I think we’ve been clear with the communication and a purpose,” Gainey said.
One area Tennessee has liked recently is the emergence of Jaylen Carey.
The Vanderbilt transfer has elevated his role starting with the Player’s Era Championship. Since the Houston game, he’s averaging more than 20 minutes a night and shooting 50% from the floor.
“We need them to keep playing like that. It’s hard for other teams to call them. So we just got to keep feeding on the ball, and Jalen just got to keep making the right place,” Gillespie said.
Carey’s 46 points over the last three games have provided a needed boost.
Tennessee saw the potential when he was across the state with Vanderbilt. Gainey said it was only a matter of time before it showed up consistently.
“Jay is a very quiet guy. But he absorbs everything, he takes in everything, and he’s real with himself,” Gainey said.
“The great thing about Coach (Rick Barnes) is that he’s not going to compromise like you got to get to the standard, you got to get to the level. And Jaylen appreciated that, and that’s why Jaylen wanted to be here,” Gainey said.
Now the next step is sustaining it.
“Now he’s got to keep it going, you know, and maintain that level of consistency, which we know he can’t. And you know, it’s not just game to game. It’s day to day, practice to practice every single day, bringing it. And if he does that, he’ll be the player that he wants to be and that we all need,” Gainey said.
Saturday brings another measuring stick.
For Tennessee, it is less about venue and more about returning to its standard: purpose, toughness and team defense for 40 minutes.
