Tennessee men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes spoke with the media in a group session on Friday ahead of Saturday’s game at Kentucky.
Video: Rick Barnes previews Top 5 match-up with Kentucky
Mike Jackson to be Honored as Tennessee’s SEC Legend
Former All-SEC performer Mike Jackson has been selected as Tennessee’s Allstate SEC Basketball Legend and will represent the Volunteers at the SEC Tournament next month in his hometown of Nashville.
He will be recognized by SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey at midcourt during halftime of Tennessee’s first game at the SEC Tournament. The tournament takes place March 13-17 at Bridgestone Arena.
Jackson starred in the Tennessee frontcourt for head coach Ray Mears from 1973-77. He was a co-captain and starter—as well as the third-leading scorer, behind the legendary duo of Bernard King and Ernie Grunfeld—on the Vols’ 1977 SEC Championship Team.
Jackson was a second-team All-SEC selection during that senior campaign, and he finished his four-year career as the program’s eighth all-time leading scorer with 1,243 points.
He averaged 14.3 points and 3.7 rebounds while shooting .482 from the field in 87 career games. As a junior in 1975-76, he averaged a career-best 16.7 points per game. His best career scoring performance was a 33-point effort in a neutral-site win over Seton Hall on Dec. 11, 1976.
This honor for Jackson makes for what is believed to be a “first” in SEC history, as each member of Tennessee’s 1976-77 starting five has now been selected as an SEC Legend. Reggie Johnson was Tennessee’s Legend in 1999, Grunfeld was honored in 2001, King in 2008 and Johnny Darden in 2015.
Joining Jackson in this year’s Legends class is Erwin Dudley (Alabama, 2000-03), Corey Beck,(Arkansas, 1992-95), Mike Mitchell (Auburn, 1975-78), Livingston Chatman (Florida, 1987-91), Jumaine Jones (Georgia, 1997-99), Johnny Cox (Kentucky, 1957-59), Wayde Sims (LSU, 2016-18), Justin Reed (Ole Miss, 2001-04), Lawrence Roberts (Mississippi State, 2003-05), Melvin Booker (Missouri, 1991-94), Carlos Powell (South Carolina, 2001-05), Antoine Wright (Texas A&M, 2002-05) and Derrick Byars (Vanderbilt, 2005-07).
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
UT Athletics
Jerrod Niemann & Morgan Petek Divorce After 4 Years of Marriage
Nash Country Daily has confirmed that Jerrod Niemann and Morgan Petek have divorced after more than four years of marriage.
Morgan filed for divorce on June 18, 2018, citing “irreconcilable differences.”
The divorce became final on December 17, 2018.
According to the final divorce decree, Jerrod paid his wife a “$170,000 cash lump sum.” Both parties retained their personal cars, while Morgan assumed total possession of a Nashville house she paid the mortgage on. Jerrod was awarded assets in a family trust, including a Nashville property. Neither party is entitled to alimony or spousal support. Jerrod retained complete ownership of the two LLCs related to his music career.
The couple, which married in October 2014 in Puerto Rico, do not have any children together.
Jerrod released his most recent album, This Ride, in 2017. He has scored a trio of Top 10 hits over the last decade, including “Lover, Lover,” “What Do You Want” and “Drink to That All Night.”
photo by Curtis Hilbun, AFF-USA.com
![Trisha Yearwood Hosts “Let’s Be Frank” Album Release Party in NYC [Photo Gallery]](https://cdn.socast.io/6616/sites/1446/2019/02/15083205/Trisha-Yearwood-AFF.jpg#aqua_resizer_image_not_local)
Trisha Yearwood Hosts “Let’s Be Frank” Album Release Party in NYC [Photo Gallery]
Trisha Yearwood released her first full-length studio album in more than 10 years on Feb. 15 with Let’s Be Frank, a collection of tune made famous by Frank Sinatra.
Trisha recorded 11 of Sinatra’s tracks live with a 55 piece orchestra at the iconic Capitol Records building in Hollywood using Sinatra’s microphone and sitting on the same stool where he sat while recording the originals.
With a recording career that spanned more than 50 years—and 59 albums—Sinatra’s catalog of work is formidable, but, as Trisha says, she went with her instincts when creating her collection.
“I went through and kind of highlighted classic Frank songs that you have to do—and then my favorite songs that I have to do,” says Trisha. “And I remember the first sit-down meeting with [producer] Don Was, and he said, ‘Ok, right now, just write down 12 songs. If you had to pick 12, what would they be?’ And, honestly, this album turned out to be 11 of the 12! And the twelfth song ended up being an original song [“For the Last Time”] that I wrote with Garth, which I never intended to be on the record. It just kind of found its way because it seemed to fit.”
To celebrate the release of the new album, Trisha hosted a signing party at William Sonoma in New York City on Feb. 14, performed at NYC’s Rainbow Room and stopped by Live With Kelly & Ryan on Feb. 15.
Let’s Be Frank Track List
- “Witchcraft”
- “Drinking Again”
- “All the Way”
- “Come Fly With Me”
- “Over the Rainbow”
- “One for My Baby”
- “They All Laughed”
- “If I Loved You”
- “The Man That Got Away”
- “The Lady Is a Tramp”
- “For the Last Time”
- “I’ll Be Seeing You”
Kacey Musgraves Shares How Ruston Kelly Opened Her Heart: “He Made Me Laugh Again”
During her Grammy acceptance speech for Best Country Album for Golden Hour on Feb. 10, Kacey Musgraves shared some heartfelt sentiments about her singer/songwriter husband, Ruston Kelly.
“My sweet husband is down here, Ruston—I love you,” said Kacey from the stage. “I really believe I wouldn’t have this album if I hadn’t met you and you didn’t open my heart like you did, so thank you so much.”
The future lovebirds initially met at Nashville’s Bluebird Cafe in March 2016, after one of Ruston’s shows. A few months later, they got together for a songwriting session—and the rest is history. Kacey and Ruston got engaged in December 2016, before tying the knot in October 2017.
If you were wondering how Ruston helped “open” her heart, Kacey recently shared the sweet details with Blair Garner of the Blair Garner Show.
“First of all, it was his songs,” says Kacey. “This is such a Nashville story, but it was February, early March 2016, and I had nothing to do one night and I was randomly in town. I had just taken time off the road to just stay in town and write and start getting creative again, kind of get back to my creative center. This one night in particular, I didn’t have any plans. A friend was playing a songwriter round at the Bluebird and they were like, ‘You should come.’ So I went alone and sat at a table. Ruston was playing in the songwriting round and I had no idea who he was. But he played these songs, and they just really got to me. They floored me. I was kind of in a sad headspace around this time. I had just gotten out of a relationship and creatively was kind of lost. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do and I just felt kind of weird.
“Anyways, his songs really spoke to me and I loved them so much. After the show, I went up to him and I said, ‘Hey, I never do this, but I really love your songs. Here’s my number. We should write sometime.’ That’s not like me to really step out on a limb like that. I definitely wasn’t even thinking in romantic terms. I just was really intrigued by his songs and his brain. I said we should write. So a few months went by and he would try to text me every now and then. I’d be like, delete. Whatever. I wasn’t looking for anything.
“But May 11th rolled around, 2016. I remember the date, May 11th. And he was coming to my house to write. The second he walked in my door, it was like just Dorothy walking into the colorful side of Wizard of Oz. He made me laugh again. I hadn’t laughed in what felt like forever. We made drinks, and we didn’t even get to writing because we were just talking about life and ourselves into the night. Just really hit it off. It just felt like, ‘Whoa, who is this? This is my best friend. Where have you been? Who are you?’ I wasn’t trying to get into any kind of relationship. I was like, ‘Damnit.’ But this is awesome. And then we dated for eight or nine months, got engaged. We were engaged for another nine months, and then we got married in October.”
photo by Tammie Arroyo, AFF-USA.com
Watch Brothers Osborne’s Gritty New Video for “I Don’t Remember Me (Before You)”
The Brothers Osborne—John and TJ—released a new video for their single, “I Don’t Remember Me (Before You),” which is currently No. 52 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart after 13 weeks.
The new tune, which was penned by John, TJ, Matt Dragstrem and Shane McAnally, is the second single from the duo’s 2018 album, Port Saint Joe, following lead single, “Shoot Me Straight.”
The new video centers around a professional bull rider who struggles to get his life back on track as he battles substance abuse. Once again, Brothers Osborne teamed with directors Wes Edwards and Ryan Silver (“It Ain’t My Fault” and “Shoot Me Straight”) for the new video.
“We’re very excited to release this emotional example of someone’s life being changed by another,” says John. “We’re never truly ourselves without the ones we love.”
“Wes and Ryan knocked this video out of the park,” says TJ. “We’re beyond proud of this one.”
Watch the new video below.
photo by Tammie Arroyo, AFF-USA.com
Photo Gallery: Blake Shelton Honored as Dan + Shay, Cole Swindell, Ashley McBryde & More Perform at CRS Lunch
A number of country stars in the Warner Music Nashville stable took the stage at Omni’s Broadway Ballroom for the WMN Lunch at Country Radio Seminar in Nashville on Feb. 13. Country Radio Seminar (CRS) is Nashville’s annual gathering of radio programmers, music executives, media and more.
Performers at the inaugural event included Blake Shelton, Dan + Shay, Devin Dawson, Morgan Evans, Cody Johnson, Ashley McBryde, Chris Janson and Cole Swindell.
In addition, Dierks Bentley presented Blake Shelton with the Country Radio Seminar Artist Humanitarian award, which was created in 1990 by the organization’s board to honor country music artists who have exhibited exceptional humanitarian efforts during their career. Past recipients of the annual award have included Dierks Bentley, Lady Antebellum, Carrie Underwood, Rascal Flatts, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, Trace Adkins, Randy Owen, Toby Keith, Brad Paisley, Brooks & Dunn, Reba, Vince Gill, Garth Brooks and Charlie Daniels, among others.
Blake’s recent philanthropic endeavors include raising money for children’s hospitals, tornado victims and flood victims.
“The cool thing about country artists is that I feel like we all step up anytime we get a chance,” Blake said. “We have the easy part. We get to make music and that helps to generate awareness for certain things, it generates money for things. [We] step up anytime we get a chance. I couldn’t be more honored.”
Check out our photo gallery from the event, courtesy of Tammie Arroyo, AFF-USA.com.
photo by Tammie Arroyo, AFF-USA.com
Top-Ranked Vols Complete Season Sweep of South Carolina, 85-73
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Fueled by five double-figure scorers, No. 1 Tennessee continued its winning ways Wednesday night, defeating the South Carolina Gamecocks, 85-73, in Thompson-Boling Arena.
The victory marked the ninth time in Southeastern Conference that play the Vols (23-1, 11-0 SEC) have won by double digits and the second time they have done so against South Carolina (12-12, 7-4 SEC).
National Player of the Year candidate Admiral Schofield led the way with a game-high 21-point performance while grabbing a team-high 10 boards for his fourth double-double of the season.
Tennessee extends its winning streak to a record 19 games while pushing its win streak in SEC regular-season games to 15. UT’s now has its best start in SEC play, starting 11-0 to best the 1976-77 team’s 10-0 conference start.
The Vols had a balanced offense throughout the game, as every player who played more than three minutes scored and had at least one assist. National Player of the Year candidate Grant Williams led the team with seven assists to go along with eight points and nine rebounds.
After taking a 13-point lead into the second half, the Vols maintained their double-digit lead throughout the rest of the game. Tennessee started out the second half on fire from the field, knocking down five of its first six shots to build the lead out to 62-46 at the 15:16 mark.
Schofield scored 16 of his 21 points in the second half, scoring eight of the team’s final 10 points in the game to put away the Gamecocks.
Both teams traded buckets to open the first seven minutes of action before Tennessee took control of the game. With UT trailing 15-12 at the 12:48 mark, a Lamonte Turner 3-pointer sparked a 27-6 run, putting the Vols firmly in control of the game.
In the midst of the run, UT knocked down all five of its attempts from behind the arc. Tennessee started the game 6-of-7 from deep with a trio of makes coming from SEC Sixth Man of the Year candidate Jordan Bowden.
The junior from Knoxville led the Vols in scoring in the opening stanza, contributing nine points.
After being up by as many as 18 points in the first 20 minutes, Tennessee took a 49-36 lead into halftime.
Sweeps Week: Over the past eight days, Tennessee has completed season sweeps of Missouri, Florida and South Carolina. The Vols will attempt to complete a season sweep of Vanderbilt next Tuesday at home.
Swat Team: With three blocks against South Carolina, Grant Williams moved into Tennessee’s top five in career blocks with a total of 143 blocked shots, surpassing Dyron Nix (142).
Williams joined teammate Kyle Alexander in the top five. Alexander, who ranks second all-time in Tennessee history, has 167 career blocks.
AD Double-Double: Admiral Schofield’s 21-point, 10-rebound outing against South Carolina was his ninth-career double-double and his fourth this season. Schofield’s double-double is the 15th this season by a Tennessee player. Grant Williams leads the Vols with five such performances this season.
Dimes a Dozen: Tennessee dished out 22 assists (on 34 made baskets) as a team against South Carolina, surpassing 20 assists for the 12th time this season. Entering Wednesday night, the Vols led the nation in assists with an average of 19.9 per game.
Williams’ World: Despite scoring just eight points, Grant Williams contributed to Tennessee’s win over South Carolina in other statistical categories. Williams finished the game with eight points, nine rebounds, seven assists and three blocks. His efficiency rating of 23 led all Tennessee players, and marked his 18th game this season with an efficiency rating of 20 or better.
Up Next: Tennessee travel to Lexington Kentucky, on Saturday for a top-five matchup with the Kentucky Wildcats. Tipoff at Rupp Arena is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.
-UT Athletics
Video: Kyle Alexander on not overlooking SC “I think we did do a good job of being focused on this one”
Tennessee forward Kyle Alexander spoke to the media in a group session after Tennessee’s 85-73 win over South Carolina Wednesday night in Knoxville.
Video: Rick Barnes postgame press conference after SC win
Tennessee men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes held his postgame press conference after Tennessee’s 85-73 win over South Carolina.
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