Tennessee Basketball Faces the Most Important Exhibition Before They Begin the Season

The Tennessee Volunteers are set for an exhibition game on the road, as they take on the Duke Blue Devils, 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.

It is no secret that things didn't go the way the Vols wanted them to in the first go-around, which is something that Barnes detailed, as he explained to the media that the mood has remained good.

Rick Barnes on the Mood Ahead of the Game vs. Duke

“I think everything’s good. I mean, we know that we’ve 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’re gonna shoot the ball and think that’s gonna be good enough."

"We knew that would rear its head at some point in time; we knew that. That’s why I love these exhibition games, because you get a chance to let those things happen. And then, obviously, we’ve got a good group of guys. They wanna learn, but they don’t know what they don’t know right now. There’s some elementary things that we feel like that they should, but that’s not their fault, because we’re learning a whole new system and some of that we’ve got to do better jobs as coaches to teach them some of these things."

"But their attitudes have been good. I know they wanna be a good basketball team. But we haven’t been able to put the whole team together yet. Obviously, with Tyler (Lundblade), I don’t think he’ll play again tomorrow, but he’s making progress. And Jalen (Washington’s) status, we don’t know. But with that, we’re still trying to figure out a lot of things with this group. But we will figure it out,” Barnes said.

There Will Be a Lot to Learn

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

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.

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.

Send your questions, comments, and hot takes to our email tennesseeonsi@gmail.com for the chance to be featured in an article!

Follow Our Social Media Accounts

• Follow Vols on SI on X (Click HERE)
• Follow Vols on SI on Facebook (Click HERE)
• Follow Vols on SI on Instagram (Click HERE)
• Subscribe to Vols on SI on YouTube (Click HERE)

Add us as a preferred source on Google