Tennessee men's basketball has added another exhibition game to its preseason schedule. The Vols will host Xavier on Oct. 15 at Food City Center, the program announced on Aug. 7.
Tip-off time and any television details and ticketing options against Xavier will be announced at a later date.
This scrimmage against Xavier will mark the unofficial start of basketball season and a challenging out of conference schedule for the Vols. Five days later, they will travel to Durham, North Carolina, to take on Duke in an exhibition ahead of the start of the regular season.
The Vols are 12-5 all-time against Xavier and 7-1 at home, but these two programs haven't met since the 2013-14 season. The Vols opened that campaign with a 67-64 loss to the Musketeers
on the road, but avenged the defeat less than three weeks later with a 15-point win in the second round of the 2013 Battle 4 Atlantis.
Xavier went 15-18 and finished 10th in the Big East last season, its first year under the direction of coach Richard Pitino, the son of St. John's coach Rick Pitino. He remade the roster with seven transfers and three high school signees this offseason.
Meanwhile, the Vols have national championship aspirations after assembling the sport's second-best transfer class, according to 247Sports. Guards Juke Harris and Terrence Hill Jr. headline the nine-player strong group of incoming transfers that will make up the bulk of the Vols' rotation this season.
The Vols finalized their roster with the addition of Vanderbilt transfer Jalen Washington on Aug. 5.
Tennessee will play a 14-game nonconference schedule beginning at home against Wofford on Nov. 3 and their first real test of the regular season will come on Nov. 15 when Michigan State visits Knoxville.
The Vols will participate in the Players Era Tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada, the week of Thanksgiving, but three of their remaining four nonconference games against power conference opponents will be played in Tennessee. The lone exception will be a true road game at Purdue on Dec. 11.
The SEC slate is bookended by a home-and-home series with Vanderbilt. Kentucky and Missouri were also paired with he Vols for two games this coming season. Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina and Mississippi State will also visit Food City Center and the Vols will travel to Auburn, LSU, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Ole Miss and Texas.
Stephen Thompson covers Tennessee Volunteers men's basketball. Email him at stephen.thompson@knoxnews.com and follow him on X @stephenethom.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee basketball adds home game vs Xavier to exhibition schedule
