Where Tennessee basketball stands in the SEC and tournament pictures at the end of January

Tennessee basketball seems to be trending in the right direction as the month of January approach its end. After slumping to a 2-3 SEC start, the Vols have picked up a couple of massive road wins inside the last week. Tennessee went to Alabama, and even with professional player Charles Bediako on the floor, the Vols overcame it all in a 79-73 win.

On Wednesday night, the Vols picked up a second straight road win over a potential tourney team in Georgia, this time in overtime 86-85.

Tennessee’s outlook in the SEC was pretty bleak a week ago. Things are little bit better now. Here’s where things stand in SEC play going into Saturday night’s home game with Auburn.

The Vols are just a half game back of Vanderbilt, Auburn, and Kentucky for the fourth spot in the SEC, which is a very important one once the SEC tournament arrives. They face off against all three of them the remainder of the regular season, with two games left against the Commodores. And Tennessee currently has important tiebreakers over Georgia and Alabama, although they’ll face the Crimson Tide once more at home in late February.

In the national spectrum, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi bumped the Vols up from a 7 seed to a 6 in his latest bracketology released on Tuesday, paired against the winner of a play in game and in the same bracket as 3 seed Texas Tech. Of course, that was before the Vols picked up another big road win in Athens.

So, things are far better than they were a week ago, and big opportunities lie ahead, with games against Auburn at home and a return match at Kentucky the following Saturday. With Nate Ament starting to heat up, February could be a better month for the Vols’ prospects for landing a decent seed in postseason play.