Basketball Vols ready for Battle 4 Atlantis opener

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - The 22nd-ranked Tennessee men’s basketball heads to the Bahamas this week for the Battle 4 Atlantis, set to take on Butler in their opening game on Wednesday around 7:30 p.m. ET.

Fans can catch Wednesday’s game on ESPN2 and online or on any mobile device through WatchESPN. WatchESPN can be accessed through the ESPN App, or online at espn.com/watch. Kevin Fitzgerald (play-by-play) and Carolyn Peck (analyst) will have the call.

Fans can also listen live on their local Vol Network affiliate to hear Brian Rice and Bert Bertelkamp describing the action.

Tennessee (2-1) is coming off an 81-50 home win over Florida Gulf Coast. Seniors Josiah-Jordan James and Olivier Nkamhoua led the Vols with 18 points apiece, while defensively, the Vols limited Florida Gulf Coast to 30.4 percent shooting from the field.

This week marks Tennessee’s third time participating in the Battle 4 Atlantis, as the Vols took home a fifth-place finish in 2013 and a third-place finish in 2017. The Vols are 4-2 overall in the event.

Depending on the result of Wednesday’s opening game in the Bahamas, Tennessee will face either BYU or USC on Thursday. In result of a win, tip-off will be at 1:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2. If Butler wins Wednesday, Tennessee will play at 6:30 p.m. ET on ESPN3.

Tennessee trails its all-time series with Butler, 2-3, dating to 1958. The programs have met twice previously at neutral sites, with Butler winning in New York City in 2006 and UT winning in the 2008 NCAA Tournament in Birmingham, Alabama.

In its first four games of the season, Butler (3-1) picked up three home wins over mid-major opponents (New Orleans, Saint Francis and The Citadel), while falling on the road at Penn State last week, 68-62.

Former longtime Ohio State head coach Thad Matta is in his first season at the helm of the Butler program. Matta, who was the head coach at Ohio State from 2004-17, is a 1990 graduate of Butler University and previously was the program’s head coach during the 2000-01 season.