Indiana basketball to play at Tennessee for Charity Exhibition

Per an Indiana basketball release, Indiana will be traveling to Tennessee to face the Volunteers at the Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center in Knoxville for a charity exhibition game.

This will be the unofficial start to the Indiana basketball season.  The Volunteers finished the 2023-24 season with a 27-9 record and a trip to the NCAA Elite Eight.

Below is the full release. 

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Indiana men’s basketball program will open the 2024-25 season with a charity exhibition game on Sunday, Oct. 27 at the Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center in Knoxville against the Tennessee Volunteers.

NCAA rules mandate that for an exhibition game between two Division I teams, the host school must sell tickets and donate the proceeds to a designated charity. Tennessee and Indiana have jointly agreed to support the John McLendon Foundation.

The general public on-sale date is Sept. 16 via allvols.com. The tip time and TV network will be announced at a later date.

“We are excited to be able to play such a good, well-coached team in Tennessee to get us ready for the season,” head coach Mike Woodson said. “We wanted to test ourselves away from our home floor early in the season and this will be a great experience to learn where we are as a ball club.

“We are also honored to play for such a wonderful cause in the McLendon Foundation. The work that they do is truly special, and it is a credit to John McLendon and his legacy.”

Named for the esteemed Naismith Memorial Basketball of Fame member, the John McLendon Foundation offers scholarships for minority students who intend to pursue a postgraduate degree in athletics administration.

It is also home to the McLendon Minority Leadership Initiative, a new coach-driven program to create access to and opportunity for meaningful employment experience for minority candidates known as Future Leaders.

“On behalf of the McLendon Foundation, we are humbled by the continued support of Coach Barnes and Coach Woodson,” McLendon Foundation director Adrien Harraway said. “This game between the University of Tennessee and Indiana University demonstrates how sports can bring us together to inspire the next generation of sports leaders.”

Indiana, with fourth-year head coach Mike Woodson on the sidelines, returned four players that started at least 20 games last season in fifth-year senior guard Trey Galloway (10.6 points per game), junior forward Malik Reneau (15.4), sophomore wing Mackenzie Mgbako (12.2), and sophomore guard Gabe Cupps (2.6). The Hoosiers also brought in the second-ranked transfer portal class according to 247Sports. The six-player class includes sixth-year senior center Oumar Ballo (12.9 points per game, transfer from Arizona), fifth-year senior center Dallas James (0.8, South Carolina State), senior wing Luke Goode (5.7, Illinois), senior center Langdon Hatton (10.5, Bellarmine), redshirt sophomore guard Myles Rice (14.8, Washington State), and sophomore guard Kanaan Carlyle (11.5, Stanford). IU also earned a commitment from McDonald’s All-American Bryson Tucker, a consensus top-25 national recruit, out of Bowie, Md.

The Volunteers finished the 2023-24 seasons with a 27-9 record and a trip to the NCAA Elite Eight. Tennessee lost six players from their regular rotation from a season ago, including first-round draft pick Dalton Knecht. Head coach Rick Barnes, a 38-year college basketball veteran, reloaded with the 14th-ranked transfer portal class according to 247Sports.

SEE ALSO: Trey Galloway shares which Indiana Basketball teammate he wishes he could play with again

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