No. 10: 2015-16
Head Coach: Rick Barnes
Record: 15-19 (6-12, SEC)
Best win(s): vs. No. 20 Kentucky
Key players: Kevin Punter, Armani Moore
Tennessee was reeling at the start of the 2015-16 campaign. After being fired by Texas following a 17-year run in Austin, Rick Barnes came to Knoxville hoping to inject life into a program that was playing under its third head coach in as many seasons. Leading scorer Josh Richardson had graduated and moved on to the NBA, and the Vols did not have much hope for the immediate future.
Hovering around the .500 mark for most of the season, Tennessee showed signs of life, particularly with a home win over No. 20 Kentucky early on in the SEC slate. Although things fell apart for the Vols as they ended the regular season losing six of their last seven games, the start of the SEC tournament did bring a spark as the No. 12 seed. A blowout win over Auburn in the first round was followed by a thrilling 67-65 win over Vanderbilt in the second round. The season came to an end after an 84-75 loss to LSU in the quarterfinals.
The story of the season was the turnaround of senior guard Kevin Punter. Under Barnes’ tutelage, Punter led the team in scoring with 22 points per game and landed on the All-SEC second team. After graduating, Punter began a successful professional basketball career in Europe that is still in progress.
NEXT: Tennessee’s basketball teams from the past decade