Tennessee basketball and Vanderbilt play Saturday in Nashville for the first meeting since Mark Byington was hired as the Commodores coach.

Here's what Mark Byington said about Vols coach Rick Barnes and the rivalry before the Vanderbilt basketball game vs Tennessee on Saturday

Rick Barnes has dominated his in-state SEC rival as Tennessee's coach. He's now 0-1 against Mark Byington at Vanderbilt.

Rick Barnes picked up a habit in 1988 ... Barnes adopted that practice, which led him to call Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington after he was hired in March. "That always meant something to me ...

Mark Byington feels like he's supposed to hate Rick Barnes. After all, Byington coaches Vanderbilt basketball and Barnes coaches Tennessee. The two teams are hated rivals. But when Byington first ...

Bruce Pearl has one of the nation's best programs at Auburn, and that'd sting Tennessee a lot more if the Vols didn't have one of the best, too.

Nine players departed after Stackhouse’s firing. That prompted Byington to bring in 11 transfers, including Michigan State guard AJ Hoggard, North Texas’ leading scorer Jason Edwards, Virginia Tech sharpshooter Tyler Nickel and James Madison sophomore center Jaylen Carey.

Mark Pope says it’s a “fun” and “awesome” aspect of playing in the SEC, but it’s something that will be a challenge for the Cats on a game-to-game basis.

Rick Barnes' first remark to the Tennessee basketball team was positive Tuesday. The coach told his players that its 30-point loss at Florida would ultimately be good for the No. 1 Vols.

On the court, Golden and the Gators are a national championship contender. They opened the season with 13 straight wins, then pummeled a then-undefeated and top-ranked Tennessee by 30 points in early January. They were ranked No. 21 in the preseason AP poll, but Golden supplemented five key returnees with Florida Atlantic transfer Alijah Martin.

No offense in kenpom.com 's history has ever eclipsed an adjusted 130 offensive rating. Auburn is sitting at 131.3 with February looming right around the corner. Bruce Pearl, offensive coordinator Mike Burgomaster and this Auburn staff are on the verge of some historic stuff. Pearl's willingness to change and evolve is at the epicenter of it.

That was news to coach Mark Byington when Edwards revealed it at the press conference after the Commodores beat No. 6 Tennessee, 76-75 at Memorial Gym. "We huddled up, like, look around ...