Coaches and players speaking after the Tennessee Vols men’s basketball loss to to the Memphis Tigers leads our Volunteers news for Monday, Dec. 16, 2019.
We’ve reached the midway point of December, and that means the 2019 season has almost drawn to a close. However, as we begin another week in this month, it comes on the heels of not a lot of great news surrounding the Tennessee Vols.
There weren’t a lot of events over the weekend, but a men’s basketball matchup resulted in a tough loss to a bitter rival. In our morning update on Rocky Top, we have to recap more of what happened there. However, it’s not all bad news, as football bowl preparations are a story to talk about as well.
A time change for a women’s basketball game and then a swimming event are the other two stories for us to cover. But let’s start with more of the aftermath from the tough loss for the Vol basketball program.
Coaches, players recap basketball loss to Memphis – UTSports
A 51-47 loss to the Memphis Tigers snapped the Tennessee Vols men’s basketball team’s 31-game home winning streak. Both teams were ranked No. 17 in the Coaches Poll while UT was No. 19 in the AP Poll and Memphis, still without James Wiseman, was No. 13. Rick Barnes, Josiah-Jordan James and Penny Hardaway all spoke after the game. Here’s a bit of what Barnes said.
"“It was really the kind of game we thought it would be. We had nine turnovers and weren’t able to take advantage early in the second half. When we had advantage basketball, we didn’t take advantage of it. We were content just getting the ball across and not attacking the way we had talked about.”"
Bowl preparations began – Ryan Callahan, GoVols247
On Friday, the Tennessee Vols football team began its first practice in preparation for the Jan. 2 Gator Bowl against the Indiana Hoosiers. Here’s a bit of what Jeremy Pruitt said to kickoff the preparations that are underway.
"“We’ll spend the first five days just focusing on us. We’ll go back like camp practice or spring practice — whatever you want to call it — and just kind of go back and go through our initial, five-day install and get back to kind of the basics and get everybody lots of opportunity. We won’t even start working on our opponent until the sixth practice. “"
Time changed for Lady Vols SEC Opener – WVLT
Due to Tennessee football playing in the Gator Bowl at 7 p.m. ET on Jan. 2, the Tennessee women’s basketball team’s SEC opener at home against the Missouri Tigers has been rescheduled that day. It was initially scheduled for 7 p.m. as well but has moved up two hours.
"UT administrators said they inquired about the time shift with the coaching staff and administration at the University of Missouri who agreed to the change. The Lady Vols game against Mizzou can be seen live on SECN+ at 5 p.m. on Jan. 2. SECN+ games are online broadcasts and are available only on WatchEPSN."
Vols to compete at Auburn Diving Invitational – DiveMeets
Monday marks the beginning of the four-day Auburn Diving Invitational, which the Tennessee Vols diving team will be competing in to close out 2019. The events start at noon today and then 11 a.m. each of the next three days.