Tennessee basketball: Omar Payne apologizes to John Fulkerson

Nearly 24 hours after Florida Gators forward Omar Payne injured Tennessee basketball senior forward John Fulkerson, both have spoken out. Fulkerson updated his status and said Payne reached out to him, and Payne issued an apology.

The incident happened in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals matchup between these two schools, which the Vols won 78-66. Early in the second half, Payne was ejected after two elbows to the 6’9″ 215-pound fifth-year senior’s face.

Although Payne, a 6’10” 230-pound sophomore, was ejected, Fulkerson was knocked out of the entire SEC Tournament with a concussion and a facial fracture, according to Grant Ramey of GoVols247. Here is video footage of the foul.

At the time of the foul, Fulkerson had eight points, one rebound and a blocked shot, and Tennessee basketball was up 35-26 with 17:10 to go in the second half. Payne, meanwhile, had two points, two steals and two rebounds. Here is video of the foul.

Later that evening, Fulkerson released a video updating his status. Saturday morning, Payne tweeted out an apology to Fulkerson on Twitter. Fulkerson then tweeted out that Payne had reached out to him and was remorseful. Here is the video and those two tweets in the order that they were released.

Obviously, this is a much bigger loss for Tennessee basketball than it is for Florida, depending on how long Fulkerson is out or Payne is suspended. Fulkerson is the Vols’ top offensive player in the post. Payne, meanwhile, is averaging just over three and a half points and just over three rebounds a game, although he is averaging nearly one and a half blocks a game.

At the same time, regardless of how people feel about the foul and what people think of the intent, if Payne has apologized and Fulkerson has accepted the apology, it’ll be time to move on if Fulkerson makes a full recovery and is ready for the NCAA Tournament. Of course, if he doesn’t, then the wounds may last a bit longer.