Who Will Tennessee Basketball Play Against in Their Players Era Finale?

Tennessee will play against this team in the Players Era finale.

Nov 25, 2025; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Tennessee Volunteers guard Amaree Abram (77) and guard Bishop Boswell (3) react in a 2025 Players Era Festival group play game against the Houston Cougars during the first half at MGM Grand Garden Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images | Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

The Tennessee Volunteers have done a great job to start this season, as they have won all of their games up to this point. This includes their two games to start the Players Era event in Las Vegas.

The Tennessee Volunteers played their first game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, which was an overall blowout, after two great performances that made national headlines. The two that made national headlines were Nate Ament and Ja'Kobi Gillespie.

Ament finished the contest with a total of 20 points, which was a solid night, as he had an exceptional night on the ball, but saw some off-ball action as well. The real MVP of that contest was Gillespie, who finished the game with a career-high total of 32 points. Gillespie is one of the better players when scoring, and he did a great job off the ball, but similar to Ament, he is very good on the ball too. He had the hot hand, and it seemed like he couldn't miss. This led to the Vols winning the contest 85-60.

That led them to play their next contest, which is arguably the toughest contest on the slate, as they played against the Houston Cougars. The Vols won that game, which was poetry in motion after being eliminated from the Elite Eight by the Cougars last season. The Vols' best player was arguably Gillespie, but my pick for MVP of that game was Bishop Boswell. Boswell is one of the better defenders in the nation, and it showed as he finished the contest with 10 points, 3 steals, and 1 block.

Who Will Tennessee Basketball Play Against in Their Players Era Finale?

Nov 25, 2025; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Tennessee Volunteers guard Ja'Kobi Gillespie (0) reacts in a 2025 Players Era Festival group play game against the Houston Cougars during the second half at MGM Grand Garden Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images | Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

The Vols winning that game has set the tone for the remainder of the season, as they will be back in action on Wednesday when they play in the Players Era finale. But that isn't the Players Era championship despite them defeating the best team in the tournament and defeating Rutgers by a lot. The reason the two teams that were picked over them is because they had a better differential. This championship will be one that is worth winning, as the prize for this is an additional $1,000,000, which is double to what they are making for just playing. So, Tennessee not being in this game is a bit devastating, which has many upset at the format after they upset the Cougars.

Tennessee's final game of the event will be against a blue blood, as they will take on the Kansas Jayhawks. Kansas is currently 5-2 and the Vols are the favorites in this game, but you can never count Tennessee out.

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