Jon Pardi will try to scored his fifth No. 1 single with the release of “Ain’t Always the Cowboy,” which will impact country radio on March 16. Penned by Brandon Kinney and Josh Thompson, “Ain’t Always the Cowboy” is featured on Jon’s 2019 album, Heartache Medication.
After scoring four Top 5 singles—including three No. 1 hits—with his 2016 No. 1 album, California Sunrise, Jon topped the charts with Heartache Medication’s title track in February. Jon is also currently featured on Thomas Rhett’s new single, “Beer Can’t Fix.”
Carrie Underwood launched a new fitness app, fit52, in conjunction with the release of her new book, Find Your Path: Honor Your Body, Fuel Your Soul and Get Strong With the Fit52 Life, which goes on sale on March 3.
According to a press release, the new app is a “holistic wellness platform designed to encourage and support you on your personal wellness journey and make it easier for you to find your path to a stronger, healthier you.”
“Fitness is a true passion for me,” says Carrie. “The fit52 app incorporates what I’ve been doing myself for years, and we’ve made it easy and totally accessible for anyone that wants help to work in working out. We worked really hard to create a high-quality, user-friendly app that is designed for busy people and their busy lives. fit52 meets you wherever you are on your health journey, and I’m so proud of it.”
In the upcoming book, which goes on sale on March 3, Carrie “share secrets for fitting diet and exercise into a packed routine, which is based on her own active lifestyle, diet and workouts.”
“I want to be healthy and fit 52 weeks of the year, but that doesn’t mean I have to be perfect every day,” says Carrie. “This philosophy is a year-round, common-sense approach to health and fitness that involves doing your best most of the time—and by that I don’t mean being naughty for three days and good for four. I mean doing your absolute best most of the time during every week, 52 weeks of the year.”
Jimmie and fiancée Alexis Gale welcomed a baby girl—Naomi Bettie Allen—to their family on March 1, the same day Jimmie got news that he scored his second consecutive No. 1 single with “Make Me Want To,” which topped the Mediabase chart this week.
Jimmie called morning show co-hosts Chuck Wicks and Trisha “T.J.” Jenkins on March 2 to share the great news.
“I though getting a number one [single] was going to be the best part of my day, but then my daughter, Naomi, was born yesterday,” says Jimmie.”The baby’s middle name is Bettie, we named her after my grandma [who passed away in 2014], so her initials are NBA, go figure. And my grandma’s birthday was actually March 13, my mom’s birthday is March 7 and Naomi’s birthday is March 1. And [fiancee] Lexi is laying right here looking awesome.”
Jimmie has a slate of tour dates in Europe and Australia on the docket in March.
“Thursday, we head out of the country for about three-and-a-half weeks,” says Jimmie. “It’s been a good day, definitely thankful for it, and thankful for you guys’ support.”
Listen to Jimmie talk with Chuck and T.J.
Jimmie also has a five-year-old son from a previous relationship. Congrats to the happy family.
Auburn, Ala. – Junior Rennia Davis tallied a double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds, and freshman Jordan Horston hit a runner in the lane with 0.6 seconds left on the clock to lift Tennessee to a crucial 56-55 win at Auburn to close out the regular season on Sunday afternoon.
The victory improved the Lady Vols’ record to 20-9 overall and 10-6 in the SEC, earning them a four-way tie for third place in the SEC regular season with Texas A&M, Kentucky and Arkansas. Based on the tie-breaking format, UT earns the No. 6 seed for next week’s SEC Tournament and will play at 8:30 p.m. ET on Thursday at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C. The Lady Vols will meet the winner of Wednesday’s contest between No. 11 Missouri and No. 14 Ole Miss.
The double-double was the 29th of Davis’ career (11th this season), tying Bashaara Graves for 10th all-time among Lady Vols. Redshirt senior Lou Brown was Tennessee’s next highest scorer, posting nine points off three-of-six shooting from behind the arc.
Auburn (10-17, 4-12 SEC) was paced by senior Daisa Alexander, who finished with 15 points, followed by sophomore Robyn Benton who had 11.
Lou Brown scored the first points of the game, knocking down a baseline three just under two minutes into the first quarter. Benton answered for Auburn, hitting a jumper on the other end to pull the score to 3-2, but Davis and Rae Burrell combined for six unanswered points to give UT a 9-2 lead by the 6:21 mark. After an AU timeout, Jazmine Massengill stretched UT’s cushion to nine before Unique Thompson converted on a pair of free throws to set off a 7-0 Tigers run that put them within two with two and a half minutes left in the frame. Brown, Davis and Jessie Rennie combined for four-straight 3-pointers in the closing minutes, building UT’s lead to nine before Morgan Robinson-Nwagwu hit two free throws just before the quarter’s end to close within 23-16 to start the second period.
Benton hit a free throw to pull AU within six at the start of the second, but Kamera Harris put in a layup on the other end, sparking a 7-0 UT run that stretched the lead to 30-17 with six minutes to go in the quarter. UT went cold offensively following the break, while AU rallied within five points off a 10-2 run to trail just 32-27 at the half.
Tamari Key scored her first points of the game at the start of the second half, hitting a layup off a Davis assist to stretch UT’s lead to seven. Davis then added three quick points herself to put the Lady Vols up 37-27 three minutes in. Auburn’s full-court press began causing problems for UT, though, and the Tigers converted Tennessee turnovers into points, pulling within three off a pair of layups and a Benton 3-pointer before Davis stopped the surge with a layup of her own. The five-point deficit held until the 3:00 mark when Benton hit a free throw to pull AU within four. UT responded, closing out the period with a 6-0 run fueled by Jaiden McCoy, Horston and Davis to give the Lady Vols a 48-38 lead heading into the final stanza.
Auburn came out swinging on its first possession of the fourth, cutting UT’s lead to seven off an Alexander trey. Alexander struck again on the next play, hitting a layup to pull AU within six. The deficit remained at six points until Annie Hughes hit a baseline jumper with 6:37 to play that pulled the score to 50-47. Burrell hit the second of a pair of free throws to lift UT back up by four, but Hughes hit another jumper to cut it to two with just over four minutes remaining in the game. Auburn then forced a shot clock violation, and Thompson hit two free throws on the other end to tie the game at 51-all with three minutes left. Kasiyanah Kushkituah responded with a layup on the other end, and UT came up with a pair of defensive stops before Horston hit a free throw with 13 seconds left in the game to stretch the Lady Vols’ lead to three. With 3.8 seconds remaining Alexander was fouled by Horston behind the arc, and in her last game in Auburn Arena, the senior hit all three shots to tie the game at 54-all. But Horston would redeem herself on the next possession, driving through the lane to score on a six-foot runner to give UT a two-point lead with .6 second left in the game. Before the ball was inbounded, a foul was called on UT to send Alexander to the line. She knocked down her first one, but her second free throw came up short and Tennessee escaped with a 56-55 victory.
Up Next: The Lady Vols will travel to the SEC Tournament in Greenville, S.C., beginning play on Thursday. They will face the winner of the No. 11 vs. No. 14 match-up at 8:30 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network and on Lady Vol Network radio stations.
Keeping Thompson In Check: Auburn junior Unique Thompson entered the game averaging 16.6 ppg. and 11.6 rpg. and was fresh off recording her 41st career double-double against Missouri. Tennessee managed to hold her to just six points and five rebounds on the day.
20+ Davis: With 22 points against Auburn, Rennia Davis recorded her sixth 20+ game of the season and the 13th of her career, putting her at ninth all-time among Lady Vols.
Dominating The Boards: The Lady Vols out-rebounded the Tigers by a commanding 50-26 margin. UT has now out-rebounded 21 of 29 opponents on the season and boasts a +11.4 rebounding margin.
20-Win Season: With the victory over Auburn, UT claimed its 20th win of the season. Tennessee has now posted 20-win seasons in 43 of the last 44 years.
Team Effort: Every Tennessee player who saw action against AU contributed at least two points to the victory, and UT’s bench outscored Auburn’s 15-9.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee had to dig itself out of an early hole to earn a hard-fought 7-3 win over George Washington on a sunny Saturday afternoon at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
The Vols (11-0) fell behind 2-0 in the top of the first inning and found themselves trailing 3-0 heading into the bottom of the third before freshman center fielder Drew Gilbert sparked the offense with a solo home run.
Gilbert went 4-for-5 on the day, adding a double and three runs while batting leadoff for the Big Orange. Alerick Soularie and Pete Derkay also had two hits each on the day to chip in offensively.
It was Derkay’s two-run single with the bases loaded in the fifth inning that tied the game at three before Luc Lipcius drove in Soularie with an RBI groundout to give the Vols a 4-3 lead.
Soularie led off the seventh with a solo homer – his second of the year – to give UT a little breathing room.
Redmond Walsh earned his first win of the year after tossing five shutout innings in relief of starter Chase Wallace, who was able to rebound from a rocky start to strike out four batters in four innings of work.
Tyler Hix, Domenic Boselli and Noah Levin all drove in runs for the Colonials (6-4) to give them an early advantage but starting pitcher Justin Solt and the bullpen were unable to contain the Tennessee bats later in the game.
The Vols will go for the series sweep tomorrow afternoon with first pitch slated for 1 p.m. Fans can also watch the game on SEC Network+ and the ESPN app.
Notable Rally Vols
Entering this weekend’s series, Tennessee had scored first in every game this season and had trailed just once. However, George Washington has jumped out to leads in both games this weekend and the Vols have had to rally for wins. From the fifth inning on, the Big Orange have outscored the Colonials 13-0 in the series.
Gilbert Providing a Spark
In both games this weekend, Gilbert has provided the Vols with a spark offensively. The freshman from Minnesota had a pair of hits and scored two runs – including the game-winning run – in yesterday’s victory and topped that performance with a career day on Saturday.
Gilbert set career highs with four hits and three runs scored. He also hit his first-career home run to get the Vols on the board in the third inning. For the series, Gilbert is batting .750 with six hits and five runs.
Vols F John Fulkerson / Credit: 99.1 The Sports Animal
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – A game-high 22 points on 10-of-15 shooting from John Fulkerson led the way as Tennessee defeated Florida for the fourth consecutive time. The win also marks the Vols’ 50th regular-season SEC victory under fifth-year head coach Rick Barnes.
Vols freshman Josiah-Jordan James stuffed the stat sheet, recording 12 points, eight rebounds and six assists in 40 minutes.
The Vols began the contest red hot from the floor, connecting on eight of 14 field goals and forcing the Gators into six turnovers by the 8:00 media timeout.
James connected on his first two 3-point attempts and led the Vols with eight points through the game’s opening 10 minutes.
At the six-minute mark of the first half, UT senior Jordan Bowden nailed a 3-point shot, his first of 10 points on the afternoon. Then, a block by James on the defensive end, followed by a made triple by Santiago Vescovi extended the Tennessee lead to 26-14 and forced a Florida timeout .
The Vols’ defense was suffocating in the opening stanza, holding the Gators to zero made field goals in the final 9:48 of the first half.
Freshman Davonte Gaines got in on the defensive action, maintaining Tennessee’s momentum with a big block in the half’s final minute.
Tennessee held a 32-17 advantage at halftime, shooting at a 48 percent clip (14-29) in the opening 20 minutes, with James leading all scorers with 10 points at the break.
The Vols also dished out nine assists and forced 11 Florida turnovers in the first half. The Gators’ 17 points were their season-low for any half this season, with their previous low being 20 points in the first half against UConn.
The Florida field-goal drought extended to 10:42 to start the second half.
An alley-oop from Vescovi to Fulkerson snapped a quick 5-0 Florida run. Then, with just under 12 minutes remaining in the game, Fulkerson threw down a two-handed slam to increase the Vols’ run to 8-0 and give them a 48-29 advantage.
A 14-2 run by the Gators narrowed their deficit to just seven points with under eight minutes to go.
Fulkerson made a much-needed jumper with the shot clock winding down, before Vescovi blocked a 3-point attempt with just under six minutes to go.
Leading 55-54 with under 2:30 left in the contest, the Vols in-bounded the ball with two seconds remaining on the shot clock, before Fulkerson buried his first career 3-point field goal. The momentum from that sequence carried Tennessee to victory.
To seal the win, Fulkerson grabbed an offensive rebound and authoritatively made another dunk, further energizing a Thompson-Boling Arena packed with 19,743 fans.
Moving Up: Jordan Bowden’s two made triples moved him to seventh on Tennessee’s all-time 3-point makes list, with 184 career made 3-pointers. He is tied with VFL and current Washington Wizards rookie, Admiral Schofield.
Leap Day for Air Pons: SEC Defensive Player of the Year candidate Yves Pons finished the afternoon with two blocks. He increased his season total to 70 blocks and is now just four rejections away from breaking UT’s single season blocks record with two regular-season games left to play.
Homecourt Advantage: The five-point win marked Tennessee’s 13th home victory over Florida over the past 16 meetings between the two foes in Knoxville, dating to 2003.
Up Next: The Vols travel north to Lexington as they face the Kentucky Wildcats in their final road game of the season. Tipoff is slated for 9 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Tennessee guard Santiago Vescovi was surprised by his family in the pregame, who traveled from Uruguay to see him. See the video of the surprise and then the family speaking to the media afterwards.
We're not crying, you're crying 😭🤗
Santiago Vescovi's family travels from Uruguay to Knoxville for the first time to surprise him ✈️
