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Tennessee basketball: Lamonte Turner’s career with Vols one of perseverance, fight

By Caleb Calhoun

KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE - FEBRUARY 09: Lamonte Turner #1 of the Tennessee Volunteers shoots the ball against the Florida Gators at Thompson-Boling Arena on February 09, 2019 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE - FEBRUARY 09: Lamonte Turner #1 of the Tennessee Volunteers shoots the ball against the Florida Gators at Thompson-Boling Arena on February 09, 2019 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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On Saturday, Lamonte Turner played his last game with Tennessee basketball. His career with the Volunteers has been marked by fight and resolve.

It’s sad to know that Lamonte Turner’s career with Tennessee basketball ended due to injuries he just couldn’t shake. Turner played his last game with UT in Rick Barnes’ 700th win against the Jacksonville State Gamecocks and then announced that he would be having season-ending shoulder surgery afterward.

In true Turner fashion, he marked his final game with UT by being unselfish, hitting all but two of his shot attempts and dropping 11 assists in the process. Fighting through injuries, transitions and attrition has marked Turner’s career on Rocky Top, and Saturday was no different.

Remember, Turner joined Barnes’ first recruiting class and was ruled ineligible to play in 2015-2016. So he immediately had to deal with a setback. In 2016-2017, he was a regular backup, averaging over eight points a game.

By his sophomore season, he had expectations of starting as a combo guard. However, Barnes moved him to the bench and started Jordan Bone and Jordan Bowden. How did Turner respond? He became the SEC’s Sixth-Man of the Year and averaged nearly 11 points a game.

The next season, with high expectations for Tennessee basketball, Turner had another setback, missing the early part of the season due to injury. All he did was come back and then actually win the starting job back, spelling Bone as the other point guard and spending half the other time as the shooting guard

That year, Turner averaged 11 points and nearly four assists and was critical to the Vols achieving a three-week long reign ranked No. 1 in the nation. Then came this year, and it was the year he would have to take over the point guard duties with Bone gone.

However, offseason shoulder surgery bothered him from the start. It killed his efficiency, as he shot below 30 percent from the field. But that didn’t stop him from finding other ways to be effective, averaging over seven assists a game and hitting a game-winner to beat the VCU Rams.

Thanks to Turner, Tennessee basketball already has two quality wins on the year. His final game against Jacksonville State was a continuation of that perseverance: Fighting through injury, overcoming setbacks, and still delivering for Rocky Top.

This is why Turner still managed to etch his name into UT history, crossing the 1,000-point threshold with Jordan Bowden earlier in the year. His resolve is worthy of tons of praise, and that’s how he should be remembered.

Whatever happens the rest of the way, Turner is one of the foundational players who helped Barnes rebuild the men’s Tennessee basketball program. Nobody can take that away from him, and it’s a major part of his legacy.

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