LEXINGTON, Ky. – A career-high 27 points from junior John Fulkerson, a massive 29-9 second-half run and a dominant defensive effort in the final 20 minutes propelled Tennessee to an 81-73 comeback victory over sixth-ranked Kentucky on Tuesday at Rupp Arena.

The win was Tennessee’s second in its last three trips to Lexington and made Rick Barnes the first Tennessee coach ever to win multiple games at Rupp Arena.

“Our guys were confident,” Barnes said. “Even when we were down, and I would walk into the timeout, they were talking to each other about ‘Hey we just can’t keep making those turnovers and mistakes that we’re making.’ They were great at driving the ball and we really said, ‘Hey we’re going to get into those gaps and they’re going to have to make some jump shots.’ And we actually made some plays in the gap where we knocked it through, got out in transition and got some baskets like that. We also tried to speed the tempo up some. But, when we got into a dead ball situation, we knew we were going to play through Fulky.”

The Vols (17-13, 9-8 SEC) trailed by as many as 17 points, marking the second time this season UT has come back to win when trailing by 15 or more. Tennessee’s 51 second-half points were the most the Vols have scored in a half this season.

Prior to Tuesday night, the last time Kentucky blew a lead of 17 or more points was when Barnes’ Vols erased a 21-point deficit to post an 84-77 triumph in Knoxville on Feb. 2, 2016.

Fulkerson’s 27 points Tuesday came on a career-high-tying 10 made field goals and a perfect 7-of-7 effort from the foul line. His scoring output marked his fourth 20-point performance in UT’s last nine games and enhanced his standing as an All-SEC candidate.

“I just think what we’ve been talking about is doing whatever it takes to win,” Fulkerson said. “And Jordan Bone once said, ‘We never want to walk off the court and say that the other team wanted it more than us.’ So, every time we leave the court, we want to want it more than them. We never want to have regret or say they wanted it more. That’s something that we pride ourselves on, just playing hard and doing what it takes to win and just wanting it.”

Freshman Josiah-Jordan James also was huge for the Vols, scoring all of his season-high 16 points in the second half. James finished the night 5-of-9 from the field and 2-of-4 from 3-point range while also pulling in seven rebounds and dishing off a game-high-tying five assists.

SEC Defensive Player of the Year candidate Yves Pons delivered a clutch performance on the offensive end, scoring 12 of his 15 points in the second half. Pons concluded the night 6-of-9 from the field and drilled all three of his 3-point attempts.

Junior Jalen Johnson came off the bench to help keep UT within striking distance in the first half, knocking down two 3-pointers to cut UK’s early 13-point lead to seven.

A balanced opening eight minutes had Kentucky holding a slim 14-11 lead at the under-12 media timeout. Fulkerson was on fire for the Vols, knocking down each of his first four field goal attempts and scoring nine points.

Down the stretch of the opening half, the Wildcats (24-6, 14-3 SEC) briefly took control, increasing their lead to 42-31 at the halftime break.

Kentucky continued to pour it on to begin the second half, stretching its advantage to 51-34 just three minutes in.

The Vols then responded with a 9-0 run, spearheaded by five points and an assist from James to cut the Wildcat lead to just eight points with 13:57 remaining.

Over the next seven minutes, the Vols expanded their run to 29-9 during a 10-minute stretch with balanced scoring and a number of defensive stops to take a 63-60 advantage, which was their first lead since the 15:53 mark of the first half.

In the game’s final four minutes, the Wildcats never regained the lead, as multiple late stops and a 7-of-8 mark from the charity stripe sealed the Vols’ impressive road triumph.

What a Stat: Prior to Tuesday night, Kentucky was 129-0 over the last 10 seasons when it led by double digits at halftime. The Wildcats led by 11 points, 42-31, on Tuesday before Tennessee’s impressive rally.

Bowden Passes Schofield: Senior Jordan Bowden’s lone 3-point field goal moved him into sole possession of seventh place on UT’s career list for 3-point makes with 185.

Le Streak is the Big Three-Oh: Yves Pons blocked one shot Tuesday, marking his 30th consecutive game with at least one block. He upped his season blocks total to 71 and is just three blocks away from breaking UT’s single-season record.

Up Next: The Vols return home to close the regular season in a Saturday matchup with No. 17 Auburn. Tipoff between the Vols and the Tigers is set for noon ET. Seniors Jordan Bowden and Lamonte Turner will be honored prior to the game. Tickets remain available at AllVols.com.

-UT Athletics

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee head coach Kellie Harper and junior forward Rennia Davis met with members of the media on Tuesday prior to the team’s departure for the SEC Tournament in Greenville, S.C.

This week, Davis received national player of the week honors from the U.S. Basketball Writers Association and both Southeastern Conference and College Sports Madness SEC Player of the Week accolades following back-to-back double-doubles against Ole Miss (19 pts./11 rbs.) and Auburn (22 pts./10 rbs.). She also was announced as a member of the Coaches’ All-SEC First Team on Tuesday. Davis answered questions about her recent honors and shared her thoughts on the Lady Vol squad as it heads into postseason play.

Harper discussed Tennessee’s potential matchups in the SEC Tournament as well as Davis and freshman Jordan Horston (SEC All-Freshman Team) receiving league recognition.

The sixth-seeded Lady Vols will face the winner of #14 Ole Miss vs. #11 Missouri on Thursday. The game will tip off 25 minutes following the conclusion of the 6 p.m. contest and is estimated to begin at 8:30 p.m. ET. The matchup will be televised by the SEC Network and broadcast on Lady Vol Network radio stations as well as on SiriusXM SEC Radio.

Head Coach Kellie Harper

On Rennia Davis racking up honors recently:
“Well, first off, I am happy for her. She has been a competitive and a consistent basketball player for us all year. I think night in and night out she has come to play. We have needed that from her, and it has been good to see.”

On Jordan Horston being named to the SEC All-Freshman Team:
“She is competitive, and she can make plays. She can guard; she can rebound. She can do a lot of things on the court. She had a lot on her. Being a freshman, she had a big load. She did a really good job, and I am really happy for her.”

On the message to the team for the postseason:
“Right before the Auburn game, we talked about making it feel like a tournament game. At this point you have to scrap, claw, fight and find a way to win and advance. It doesn’t matter what it looks like. It doesn’t matter how many points you win by. If you advance, you keep moving. For us, we just have been talking about the little things that we need to do. It’s the execution, intensity and the urgency you have to play with in the tournament. We will keep hammering home those messages.”

On if winning three consecutive games brings confidence to the team entering the SEC Tournament:
“We had to grit out three wins. We didn’t have blowout wins. I think you can look at it a couple of different ways. I think these teams are better. I think we still found a way to win. I think we knew they were going to be tough to get. I’m proud of our team for getting them. That might actually help us more than a blowout win would have.”

On facing either Missouri or Ole Miss and if one is more favorable than the other:
“No. At this point, I think everybody is going to be good. I think the things that those two teams could do similarly in their attack against us is shoot threes. I think Ole Miss’ approach for us, in this last game we had with them, was to shoot the ball behind the 3-point line. Looking back, obviously it’s been a while since we played Mizzou, they shot 29 threes. So, I think with either team we’re going to have to guard behind the 3-point line. We’re coming off a game where our post players defended terrifically on the block. Either of these matchups doesn’t really warrant that type of play. We’ve got to be able to get out on the perimeter and guard one-on-one.”

On “trusting the process” and where she feels like she’s at in her first season with the team:
“It takes time and everybody gets there at a different spot or a different time. Everybody improves, and your team moves. I think we’ve grown a lot. There are a lot of areas where our offense has grown this season, throughout the season. That’s been great to see. Our defense has grown throughout the season. I still think there are some things out there that we could be better at. I think we hit a dry spell there rebounding-wise and got back on the right end of that recently and have done a good job on the boards. I just think there are some things that we’ve done well. It just takes some time. I think it takes some adversity to be able to push you to a point where you’re challenged and you’re tested and you question. Then, you’re able to get through that. I’m hoping that the team, because of all those things, is in a good place going over to Greenville.”

Tennessee Junior Forward Rennia Davis

On her play this season and what she is most proud of:
“I think I’ve been able to be a consistent player for this team and just give us a scoring option every night. So, I am most proud of that. I think the last couple years one of the things I have been working on most is being more consistent for this team, and this year I have been able to do that.”

On what element of her game has allowed her to be a consistent scorer:
“Just the mindset. Knowing every night that other teams are going to give me their best defensive game plan, but I still have to be able to produce for this team in order for us to be successful.”

On being named USBWA Player of the Week and what that means to her to have national recognition:
“It means a lot to me; all these recognitions and awards mean a lot. They are (the results of) things I have been working on and the things I have been doing to help this team.”

On the turnover issues for her team and how they can fix that heading into the postseason:
“The turnovers with this team have kind of been an issue all season, something we have been constantly working on. I do think the past few games we have been able to cut down on those turnovers, I think we had 12 and 14 turnovers in the two games before the Auburn game, which is pretty good for this team. I think we are taking care of the ball better than before, besides the Auburn game. Which, Auburn plays the defense where they get you to turn the ball over, so we just have to kind of look past that game and move forward as far as turnovers.”

On the potential matchups with Ole Miss or Missouri:
“Ole Miss and Missouri are both gritty and tough teams. I actually had one of my most fun games against Ole Miss when we played them here at home. I just thought it was fun playing against them. I know their coaching staff. They are all from Florida, and I used to play for a lot of them, so it was pretty fun playing against them.”

On the postseason and how she would describe playing in the SEC Tournament:
“Postseason basketball is fun to me. It’s one of the best parts. It’s one of the reasons you come to a school like Tennessee, to play in big postseason games. And every postseason game is big. Like I said before, everybody is 0-0, so I’m excited.”

On why consistency has been so important for her:
“I think it’s because in the past couple years I have been pretty inconsistent. I remember last year, I think there was a stretch where I averaged only like four or six points. And it’s not all about scoring; it’s being able to produce in some way every night. I may not shoot the ball well every night, but (I’m) consistently crashing the boards. (It’s) little things like that – communicating with my teammates, trying to consistently get defensive stops. It’s not just about scoring, it’s about the little things as well.”

-UT Athletics

Former Academic All-American Lang Wiseman has been selected as Tennessee’s Allstate SEC Basketball Legend and will represent the Volunteers at the SEC Tournament next month in Nashville.

Wiseman starred as a guard under Vols head coach Wade Houston from 1989-93. A native of Arlington, Tennessee, Wiseman finished his career as the program’s No. 24 all-time leading scorer, with 1,156 points, and now ranks 46th on Tennessee’s career scoring list.

A fantastic backcourt complement to the great Allan Houston, Wiseman averaged 9.4 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 123 career games. Wiseman logged 82 starts and shot .435 from the field and .358 from 3-point range during his career.

As a sophomore in 1990-91, he averaged a career-best 13.2 points and 3.2 assists while earning 30 starts and playing 30.1 minutes per game. He led the Vols in steals as both his sophomore and junior seasons.

Also a standout academically, he stands as the most decorated scholar athlete in Tennessee basketball history. He earned third-team Academic All-America honors in 1991, followed by second-team status in 1992 and first-team laurels in 1993.

Wiseman also was the Anson Mount National Scholar-Athlete of the Year and the H. Boyd McWhorter SEC Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year in 1993.

He received a bachelor’s degree in business from Tennessee and then earned a law degree from Harvard Law School, where he graduated cum laude.

A former member of the UT Board of Trustees, Wiseman now serves his home state as Deputy to the Governor and Chief Counsel.

Joining Wiseman in this year’s Legends class is Jerry Harper (Alabama, 1953-56), Derek Hood (Arkansas, 1996-99), Layton Johns (Auburn, 1960-63), Chris Richard (Florida, 2003-07), Rod Cole (Georgia, 1987-91), Vernon Hatton (Kentucky, 1956-58), Collis Temple III (LSU, 1999-2003), Eric Laird (Ole Miss, 1982-85), Jerry Jenkins (Mississippi State, 1973-75), Steve Stipanovich (Missouri, 1979-83), Tre’ Kelley (South Carolina, 2003-07), David Britton (Texas A&M, 1978-1980) and Butch Feher (Vanderbilt, 1973-76).

TENNESSEE’S ALL-TIME SEC LEGENDS
1999 – Reggie Johnson
2000 – A.W. Davis
2001 – Ernie Grunfeld
2002 – Tony White
2003 – Tom Boerwinkle
2004 – Dale Ellis
2005 – Ron Widby
2006 – Bill Justus
2007 – Allan Houston
2008 – Bernard King
2009 – Paul “Lefty” Walther
2010 – Don DeVoe
2011 – Jimmy England
2012 – Gene Tormohlen
2013 – Len Kosmalski
2014 – Ed Wiener
2015 – Johnny Darden
2016 – Vincent Yarbrough
2017 – Ron Slay
2018 – Howard Wood
2019 – Mike Jackson
2020 – Lang Wiseman

-UT Athletics

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Southeastern Conference women’s basketball coaches’ awards were announced on Tuesday, and University of Tennessee standouts Rennia Davis and Jordan Horston have been recognized for their performances during the 2019-20 season.

Davis, a 6-foot-2 junior forward from Jacksonville, Fla., was one of eight players chosen to the All-SEC First Team. Horston, a 6-2 freshman guard from Columbus, Ohio, was one of eight first-year performers chosen to SEC All-Freshman Team.

Davis, who began the year as a preseason All-SEC First Team player by the league’s coaches, appears on the postseason All-SEC First Team for the initial time. She was a second-team pick a year ago and made the SEC All-Freshman Team in 2017-18.

Tennessee’s leading scorer and rebounder, Davis is averaging career highs of 18.3 points and 8.3 rebounds this season, which rank third and sixth among conference players. That scoring average is the best by a Lady Vol since Candace Parker averaged 21.3 ppg. in 2007-08.

Davis is shooting 47.8 percent from the field (9th in SEC) and 81.0 percent from the free throw line (3rd in SEC), and she has hit a team-leading 33 three-pointers this season. Additionally, Davis is third on the team in assists (69) and steals (25).

A candidate for a bevy of postseason honors, including All-America accolades, Davis has recorded 11 double-doubles this season and six games of 20 or more points. Her double-double total ties her for seventh all-time among UT juniors, and her career total of 29 ties her for 10th in Lady Vol history. In terms of her games of 20+ points, Davis now has 13 for her career, which ties her for ninth in program history.

In her debut season as a Lady Vol, Horston has started 22 of 29 games for Tennessee, scoring in double figures 14 times and registering five or more assists on 17 occasions. She leads UT in assists (4.8 apg.) and steals (1.2 spg.) and ranks third in scoring (9.8 ppg.), rebounding (5.5 rpg.) and three-pointers made (23).

Horston has recorded the third-most assists ever by a Lady Vol freshman, dishing out 139. Only eight other players in program history have produced a season with that many dimes. Her average of 4.79, meanwhile, ranks second among all-time UT rookies behind only Ariel Massengale’s 4.91 effort in 2011-12.  That assist average ranks third among all players in the SEC this season, and Horston is the only league freshman ranked in the top 15 in that statistical category.

Both players have joined their teammates in helping the Lady Vols finish the regular season with a 20-9 overall record and 10-6 mark in the SEC, good for a tie for third place. That placement came despite UT having only one returning starter available this season. The team had been picked to finish sixth by the media and seventh by the coaches.

-UT Athletics