Tennessee Vols morning report: SEC awards, Jeremy Pruitt interview
Tennessee Vols men’s basketball SEC award winners and a 247 interview with Jeremy Pruitt lead our Volunteers news for Wednesday, March 13, 2019.
The SEC Tournament is set to begin today, and today’s games will have an impact on Tennessee basketball. But with the Vols not set to play until Friday, that’s not the men’s basketball news that leads our report today.
Our morning update on Rocky Top does continue with men’s basketball news, though. We have more awards and recognition to discuss for individuals, one on a regional basis and the other on a conference basis. Football is still in the picture as well, even if it’s taking a back seat this week.
Outside of that, a baseball recap and preview, a softball recap, a tennis preview and a diving recap are all part of today’s news. Let’s start with the men’s basketball news though that just keeps coming in ahead of the start of the tournament.
Two Vols make first team Coaches All-SEC – SECSports
After the AP named Tennessee Vols basketball forward Grant Williams SEC Player of the Year and first-team All-SEC while naming Admiral Schofield second-team All-SEC, the men’s basketball SEC Coaches awards came in. On that front, Williams was once again SEC Player of the year and first-team All-SEC. This time, Schofield made first-team All-SEC as well. Meanwhile, Jordan Bone made second-team All-SEC.
"First-team and second-team All-SEC honorees, All-Freshman team, All-Defensive team, along with Player, Coach and Freshman, Defensive, Sixth-Man and Scholar-Athlete of the Year were chosen by the league’s 14 coaches. Ties were not broken."
Rick Barnes, three Vols win USBWA District IV Awards – USBWA.com
The U.S. Basketball Writers Association named Grant Williams Player of the Year and Rick Barnes Coach of the Year for District IV, which covers teams and players in Kentucky, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia and Florida. In addition to Williams and Barnes, Jordan Bone and Admiral Schofield made the All-District team.
"For each of the nine geographic districts, ten players are selected (11 in the case of ties in the voting) as well as a player and coach of the year. Five schools – Vermont (Anthony Lamb and coach John Becker), Hoftstra (Justin Wright-Foreman and coach Joe Mihalich), Tennessee (Grant Williams and coach Rick Barnes), Texas Tech(Jarrett Culver and coach Chris Beard) and Gonzaga (Rui Hachimura and coach Mark Few) – earned both the Player of the Year and Coach of the Year honors. Nevada’s Caleb Martin is a repeat District Player of the Year selection while Barnes, Beard and Few are all repeat District Coach of the Year selections."
Jeremy Pruitt talks Tennessee football staff – Wes Rucker, GoVols247
Parts of an exclusive interview with GoVols247 given by Tennessee football head coach Jeremy Pruitt are going to be released throughout the week. This morning, it was about the staff. Pruitt touted the his staff and their diverse abilities. Here’s a bit of what he said.
"“You probably could look at our staff, and on both sides of the ball you’ve got guys with the potential to be coordinators, head coaches, and they could probably coach the other side of the ball just as well. I think that’s part of being a football coach.”"
Tennessee baseball defeats UNC Asheville – Noah Taylor, VolsWire.com
After losing their first game of the year on Sunday, the No. 21 ranked Tennessee Vols baseball team improved to 16-1 with an 8-4 win over UNC Asheville, who fell to 5-10, Tuesday. The two will meet again in Knoxville at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Tennessee’s last game before it begins SEC play with a weekend series at the No. 15 ranked Auburn Tigers.
"The Vols had five different pitchers take the mound over the course of the game, with sophomore RHP Sean Hunley (4-0) getting the start. In over three innings of work, Hunley recorded four strikeouts while allowing just two hits and three runs."
Tennessee softball defeats Middle Tennessee – Sports Radio WNML.com
The No. 5/6 ranked Tennessee Lady Vols softball team shutout the MTSU Blue Raiders 8-0 in Columbia, Tenn. Tuesday. With the win, they improved to 19-3 overall while MTSU fell to 13-12.
"Freshman righthander Ashley Rogers threw her fourth shutout of the season to improve her record to 7-0. She gave up just two hits while striking out nine of her 21 batters faced."
Third Vols diver qualifies for NCAAs – Jared Anderson, SwimSwam.com
With the second day of NCAA Zone B Diving Championships in the books, Tennessee is sending three divers to the NCAA Swimming and Diving National Championships on the men’s side. Matthew Wade qualified by finishing fifth in the men’s 3-meter springboard with a score of 754.15.
"His teammate Colin Zeng won the event, topping last night’s 1-meter winner Briadam Herrera of Miami. Wade and Zeng are both into NCAAs along with Will Hallam, and all three divers can compete in both 1-meter and 3-meter."
Men’s tennis to face TCU – UTSports
The No. 22 ranked Tennessee Vols men’s tennis team will host the No. 12 ranked TCU Horned Frogs at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday. UT will be looking to improve its overall record to 11-3.
"Wednesday’s match with the Horned Frogs kicks off a three-match homestand which includes hosting SEC rivals No. 24 South Carolina and No. 8 Florida. TCU is the first of five-straight ranked opponents coming up on the Vols schedule."