It’s been a rough week for the Tennessee Vols, and that continued on Tuesday night. Geno Auriemma surpassed Pat Summitt on the all-time wins list, and the men’s basketball team suffered a humiliating defeat. Oh, by the way, there’s also an AD and football coaching search.
Funny enough, though, our morning update on Rocky Top doesn’t have any more news on those two searches. Everything reported on Tuesday really involved just rumors. As a result, today, we are focusing on the men’s and women’s basketball programs.
Update on the baseball schedule, a win in men’s tennis and recognition in swimming and diving are all on the slate too, so there are plenty of sports to cover beyond football. Let’s start with the basketball programs.
Rick Barnes discusses 75-49 loss to Florida – Rob Lewis, VolQuest
In a shocker, the No. 6 ranked Tennessee Vols basketball team was blown out at the Florida Gators. UT falls to 10-2 on the year and 4-2 in the SEC, and Florida improves to 7-4 and 4-3. Rick Barnes spoke to the media after the game. Players did as well, which you can see here. This is a bit of what Barnes said.
"“There’s not one guy that started the game that was productive. Then we go to the bench, and not great production there either obviously. We got exactly what we deserved. We knew they would come out with a lot of emotion. We knew they were going to play hard. We knew they were going to drive the ball hard. We knew they were going to put us in spread pick-and-roll, a lot. We knew that, but the rebounding to start the game, that’s where John (Fulkerson), Yves (Pons), Josiah (James), and those guys (got beat). They just crushed us on the boards.”"
Lady Vols replace Vanderbilt with Kentucky – Ken Lay, VolsWire.com
On Sunday, Tennessee women’s basketball team will host the No. 13 ranked Kentucky Wildcats. This is a make-up game, as their initial matchup was set for Sunday, Jan. 3.
"The No. 25 Lady Vols were scheduled to take on Vanderbilt at Memorial Gymnasium, but that game was canceled when the Commodores opted to end their 2020-21 season early due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to Monday, Vanderbilt had had multiple postponements and cancellations due to the pandemic."
Kellie Harper previews week – Maria M. Cornelius, GoVols247
Adding Kentucky to the slate means the Tennessee Lady Vols have back to back top 25 games this week, as they face the No. 3 ranked UConn Huskies Thursday. Head coach Kellie Harper addressed the week Tuesday in her weekly media session. Here’s a bit of what she said about it being “We Back Pat” week.
"“Well, this is a really important week for women’s basketball and for us to remember Pat’s legacy and to honor her legacy and to continue to raise awareness for the (Pat Summitt) Foundation. And to have this game for nationwide viewership really enhances that.”"
Baseball release schedule – UT Daily Beacon
Ranked No. 19 nationally, the Tennessee Vols baseball team will take the diamond again for the first time in nearly a year on Feb. 19. On that day, they’ll begin a three-game series with the Georgia Southern Eagles. This was announced on Tuesday, when their schedule was released.
"Tennessee’s 2021 season holds four-non conference weekend series and 10 SEC weekend series. The Vols are slated to play at least 18 games against ranked opponents, including 12 against teams inside the top 10."
Men’s tennis sweeps ETSU – UTSports
Replacing the Wake Forest Demon Deacons in a match that was initially canceled, the ETSU Bucs came to town Tuesday night for a men’s tennis matchup. The No. 13 ranked Tennessee Vols dominated 7-0 to move to 3-0.
"The Vols opened the scoring in doubles with the tandem of freshman Johannus Monday and junior Martim Prata rolling to a 6-2 victory on court one and the senior duo of Andrew Rogers and Mark Wallner claiming a 6-3 win at No. 3 to give UT the early 1-0 advantage.In singles, UT continued to dominate, as graduate student Giles Hussey took down Dimitri Badra, 6-1, 6-1 at No. 3 to increase the UT lead to 2-0. The win improved Hussey to 3-0 in dual action and 13-1 on the year."
Mona McSharry earns SEC Freshman of the Week – SECSports.com
After three wins, including two individual wins against the No. 10 ranked Kentucky Wildcats this past weekend, the Southeastern Conference recognized freshman Mona McSharry out of Dublin, Ireland. The UT freshman won her first conference award.
"In the 100 breaststroke, McSharry won the event and broke the meet record with a time of 59.91, besting the old meet record set by Olympian and Tennessee alumna Molly Hannis. She also touched the wall first in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:12.27."