The team played their home games at the Thompson–Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tennessee as a member of the Southeastern Conference.

Frustrations grew shortly after Tennessee inexplicably dropped a game to a sub-100 RPI UTEP squad during the Battle for Atlantis tournament in November.

A bubble team throughout the season, Tennessee ultimately nabbed a bid to the NCAA Tournament (despite the earlier loss to UTEP and suffering a sweep at the hands of a sub-100 RPI Texas A&M).

The Vols faced Michigan and came within one basket of making what would have been only their second Elite 8 appearance but fell to the Wolverines, 73-71, thanks to a controversial charge called on Jarnell Stokes.

Despite the late season surge and performance in the tourney (the latter accomplishment arguably the fruit of a favorable tournament draw and a Mercer upset of Duke), Cuonzo Martin would leave Tennessee at season's end to take the head coaching job at the University of California-Berkeley.