Tennessee basketball season recap: Vols awards for 2019-2020 year

Most improved player of the year

John Fulkerson

Forward; Redshirt junior; 6’9″ 212 pounds

This was a close contest, but John Fulkerson got the advantage. Here was a guy who, at the end of 2018, was blamed for costing Tennessee basketball in its second round upset loss in the NCAA Tournament after Kyle Alexander was hurt. He then saw limited improvement in 2018-2019, averaging just over three points and two and a half rebounds in 12 minutes a game.

Well, this year, his production increased dramatically. With Alexander, Admiral Schofield and Grant Williams gone, Fulkerson stepped in at the beginning of the year as the only true post player. He did not let his opportunity go to waste, and in over 30 minutes a game, he averaged 13.7 points and just under six rebounds.

It’s worth noting that Fulkerson’s free throw shooting improved from 64.4 percent to 74.8 percent, and his efficiency from the field improved from 58.3 percent to 61.2 percent. Also, he improved as the season went on, upping his averages per game for every month, and his five highest scoring games were all after February. That has to qualify as most-improved as much as anything.

MIP runner-up: Yves Pons;

Guard/Forward; Junior; 6’6″ 215 pounds

The only reason Yves Pons didn’t win the award is because John Fulkerson actually got better throughout the year. But his improvement was as dramatic. He upped his averages from just over two points to just under 11 points a game, jumped from 15 blocks last year to 73 this year, and went from just under two rebounds to nearly five and a half a game.