University of Tennessee Athletics
Tennessee Announces 2004-05 Basketball Slate
August 24, 2004 | Men's Basketball
Aug. 24, 2004
The University of Tennessee announced a challenging 2004-05 men's basketball schedule today that features potential contests against 18 teams that received postseason invitations last year, including 13 that participated in the NCAA Tournament.
"I think this is a very competitive non-conference schedule," fourth-year head coach Buzz Peterson said. "I wanted our guys to have a challenge outside of the conference to get us ready for the SEC. Starting the season at the Maui Invitational will be a good challenge for our team since we have a lot of people back from last year."
The 29-game schedule begins on the road when the Vols travel to Hawaii to participate in the eight-team EA SPORTS Maui Invitational. In the opening round on Nov. 22 Tennessee will meet a Stanford team that finished last season with a 30-2 record. The Vols will face either North Carolina or BYU in the second round. Texas, Louisville, Iowa and Chaminade are also competing in the tournament.
Tennessee will return to Knoxville to begin a four-game home stand that includes Wofford (Nov. 29), UT-Chattanooga (Dec. 5), 2004 Elite Eight participant Xavier (Dec. 11) and Alabama State (Dec. 14). The Vols will be renewing their rivalry with UT-Chattanooga for the first time since the 2000-01 season. On Dec. 18 the Vols will make their third appearance in The Pit in Albuquerque, N.M., and their second to play New Mexico. UT opened its 1998-99 season against Arizona in the BCA Classic.
A four-game home stand against Belmont (Dec. 20), Campbell (Dec. 23), Nebraska (Dec. 30) and Coastal Carolina (Jan. 2) will conclude the majority of Tennessee's non-conference schedule.
UT will open its 71st season of SEC competition when the Vols open league play at Georgia (Jan.5). Tennessee returns home to host Vanderbilt (Jan. 8) and Mississippi State (Jan. 12) before embarking on a tough three-game road trip. The Vols open the three-game stretch at South Carolina (Jan. 15) before traveling to Florida (Jan. 19). Tennessee will play its final non-conference game of the season when the Vols travel to Louisville (Jan. 22) to conclude the road trip.
Kentucky will visit Thompson-Boling Arena for a Tuesday night game (Jan. 25) before the Vols embark on another multi-game road trip. UT will travel to Auburn (Jan. 29) before concluding its regular season series at Vanderbilt (Feb. 2).
LSU (Feb. 5) will visit Knoxville to start Tennessee's longest conference home stand of the season. Alabama (Feb. 9) will come to Thompson-Boling Arena for a midweek contest and Alabama (Feb. 12) will visit for a Saturday affair.
After traveling to Mississippi (Feb. 19) over the weekend, the Vols return home to host South Carolina (Feb. 23). UT will travel to Arkansas (Feb. 26) and Kentucky (March 2) before completing the regular-season schedule at home against Georgia (March 5).
Postseason play will begin March 10-13 at the SEC Tournament in Atlanta.
