With 18 pets of her own (five horses, two mini-horses, seven dogs and four cats), it’s no secret Miranda Lambert has a soft spot in her heart for fury, four-legged friends.
That’s why in 2009, Miranda and her mom, Bev, started the MuttNation Foundation, an organization with the mission of ending animal suffering and homelessness on every front. The foundation has successfully raised millions of dollars to aid organizations, government institutions and entities that build animal shelters for better care and increased pet adoption.
Miranda and Bev’s latest undertaking was providing more than 50 vetted animal shelters across the country with grants ranging from $3,000–$5,000, for a total contribution of $189,000, as part of their Mutts Across America program. The shelters were selected based on criteria that included adoption rate, volunteerism, fiscal responsibility, community presence and more. Mutts Across America has awarded 200-plus shelters more than $775,000 since being founded.
“I am amazed and humbled by the great work these shelters do, and so honored to be able to support their critical efforts on behalf of rescue animals,” said Miranda.
In January, Dierks Bentley opened his fourth Whiskey Row location—the first outside his home state of Arizona—on Nashville’s Lower Broadway.
The three-floor building, formerly the home of Gruhn’s Guitars, features full bars and dining menus, as well as plenty of live music.
The allure of the location on Lower Broadway—among the bars and honky-tonks where Dierks got his start—compelled the Arizona native to open the venue in Music City.
“I love Lower Broadway,” says Dierks to Kix Brooks of American Country Countdown. “I got my start really playing those bars, and I was listening, first and foremost, going down there and hearing bands like BR549 and Jamie Hartford Band. I just love that part of town. It’s such a special part, unique part of Nashville, and even more so now with the way Music Row has kind of fallen off the map. [Lower Broadway] is the heart and soul . . . the pulse of Nashville’s down there, and there’s nowhere else like it.”
Whiskey Row Nashville is open Monday–Friday, 11 a.m.–3 a.m., and Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m.–3 a.m.
Former Tennessee guard Scotty Hopson has signed a 10-day contract with the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks.
A 2011 first-team All-SEC performer who scored 1,305 points during his three seasons at Tennessee (2008-11), Hopson previously appeared in two NBA games with the Cleveland Cavaliers during the 2013-14 season.
Prior to signing with the Mavericks, the 28-year-old Hopson was starring for Turkish club Galatasaray, averaging 10.7 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 19.6 minutes per game. Among his teammates with Galatasaray were former Belmont star Alex Renfroe and former Alabama standout Richard Hendrix.
A native of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, Hopson came to Tennessee as a McDonald’s All-American and five-star prospect (ranked fifth overall by Rivals in the class of 2008). He helped guide the Vols to three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, including a run to the Elite Eight in 2010.
He appeared in 103 collegiate games, with 98 starts, and averaged 12.7 points and 3.1 rebounds while shooting .354 from 3-point range with 151 makes from beyond the arc.
Hopson will wear No. 32 with the Mavs, just like he did at Tennessee.
With Hopson’s signing, Tennessee now has three active players in the NBA. Tobias Harris (18.3 ppg, 5.4 rpg) and Josh Richardson (13.3 ppg, 3.4 rpg) are starters for the Los Angeles Clippers and Miami Heat, respectively. Two other VFLs hold front office roles, with Ernie Grunfeldserving as president of the Washington Wizards, and Allan Houston holding the title of assistant general manager of the New York Knicks. Houston also is the GM of the Knicks’ G-League affiliate, the Westchester Knicks.
Chris Darrington – Vols Guard / Credit: UT Athletics
STARKVILLE, Miss. — No. 16 Tennessee heads to Humphrey Coliseum to face one of the hottest teams in the SEC in Mississippi State on Tuesday night. The game will tip at 7 p.m. ET and will be televised live on SEC Network and streamed online via WatchESPN.
The Vols (21-7, 11-5 SEC) are coming off a pair of wins last week over Florida and Ole Miss. Admiral Schofield was named Co-SEC Player of the Week after averaging 20.5 points 7.5 rebounds and three assists in the wins. His week was highlighted by a dominant performance in Oxford during which he scored a career-high 25 points on an efficient 9-of-14 shooting en route to a 73-65 win over the Rebels. On the season, he ranks second on the team in scoring (12.8 ppg) and first in rebounding (6.9 rpg).
In his third season at the helm, veteran coach Ben Howland has done an incredible job leading the Bulldogs (21-8, 9-7 SEC) this season. Mississippi State is 7-2 over the last month, and between its men’s (18-1) and women’s (16-0) teams, MSU basketball owns a combined record of 34-1 at Humphrey Coliseum this season. Junior All-SEC performer Quinndary Weatherspoon has been State’s best player this season, averaging 14.7 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 3.7 apg and 1.5 spg.
After Saturday’s showdown, the Vols return home for their regular-season finale and senior night in a rematch against Georgia on March 3 at 6 p.m. The game will be televised on SEC Network.
THE SERIES
• Overall: UT leads, 81-43
• In Knoxville: UT leads, 45-11
• In Starkville: UT leads, 29-28
• Neutral Sites: UT leads, 7-4
• Current Streak: Mississippi State has won one
• Last Meeting: MSU won, 64-59, in Starkville, 2/4/17
• Rick Barnes vs. Mississippi State: 5-1
• Rick Barnes vs. Ben Howland: Barnes leads, 5-2
RIGHT NOW
• The Vols are rated No. 12 in the NCAA RPI. MSU is No. 62.
• Co-SEC Player of the Week Admiral Schofield averaged 20.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists in UT’s two wins last week.
• The Vols are shooting .353 from 3-point range in SEC road games and average 6.8 makes.
• KenPom.com rates Tennessee’s strength-of-schedule fourth nationally.
• True freshman forward Derrick Walker posted an outstanding +26 plus-minus rating in Saturday’s win at Ole Miss. He played 22 minutes off the bench.
A WIN WOULD…
• Give the Vols 12 SEC victories for the first time since 2007-08.
• Give the Vols at least six victories during the month of February for the first time since 2013.
• Give Tennessee four wins in their last five trips to Starkville.
• Be Tennessee’s 10th regular-season win away from Knoxville; that would be the most for the Vols since 2007-08 (11).
ABOUT MISSISSIPPI STATE
• In his third season at the helm, veteran coach Ben Howland has done an incredible job leading the Bulldogs (21-8, 9-7 SEC) this season. Considered one of the hottest teams in the SEC right now, Mississippi State is 7-2 over the last month.
• During that stretch, the Bulldogs have won games against Alabama, Georgia, Missouri and Texas A&M.
• Junior All-SEC performer Quinndary Weatherspoon has been State’s best player this season, averaging 14.7 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 3.7 apg and 1.5 spg. The 6-4 guard ranks third in the SEC this season in shooting percentage (.495) and fifth in steals (44).
• Quinndary and his younger brother, Nick Weatherspoon, are the only two players to start every game for the Bulldogs this season. Nick is posting 11.1 ppg while shooting 48 percent overall.
• Mississippi State boasts one of the tallest squads in the league this season, anchored by 6-11 forward Abdul Ado (8.1 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 2.0 bpg) and 6-10 forward Aric Holman (10.9 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 1.5 bpg) in the frontcourt.
• MSU ranks second in the SEC in scoring defense (67.1 ppg), trailing Tennessee’s 66.9 points allowed, and third in field-goal percentage (.470).
• In their last outing, the Bulldogs erased a 13-point deficit to force overtime at home against South Carolina on Saturday. MSU never trailed in overtime en route to a 72-68 win. Lamar Peters led the way with 19 points, five assists, four boards and four steals.
• Between its men’s (18-1) and women’s (16-0) teams, Mississippi State basketball owns a combined record of 34-1 at Humphrey Coliseum this season.
LAST MEETING WITH MSU
• Poor free-throw shooting and a sluggish second half spelled trouble for Tennessee as Mississippi State snapped the Vols’ four-game winning streak with a 64-59 victory on Feb. 4, 2017, at Humphrey Coliseum.
• Tennessee was led by 13 points from freshman Jordan Bone—his first game scoring in double figures since Jan. 14. Bone also notched a team- and season-high eight rebounds.
• Fellow freshman Grant Williams was the only other Vol in double figures, finishing with 11 points.
• UT led by as many as 19 in the first half, but saw the lead slip away in the second period as MSU took control inside. The Bulldogs finished the game with 28 points in the paint, 22 of which came in the second half. MSU also controlled the glass, out-rebounding the Vols by a 55-45 margin, including a 31-17 edge in the second half.
• The Vols, who shot a season-worst 45.5 percent (10-of-22) from the foul line had difficulty weathering Mississippi State’s second half runs. Chipping away at the deficit, MSU got to within single digits with 11:26 to play after Schnider Herard hit two free throws. Tennessee answered with a Williams jumper and two free throws from Jordan Bowden, but the Bulldogs countered with a 12-1 run that tied the score at 51-51 with 6:10 on the clock.
• Over a minute later, Bone broke the deadlock on a drive to the basket, but MSU knocked down threes on its next two possessions to take a 57-53 lead it would never surrender.
• Tennessee controlled the first half, racing out to a 17-2 lead. The Vols would lead by double figures for the remainder of the frame, pushing the advantage to 29-10 at the 4:50 mark.
MEMORABLE VOL PERFORMANCES AGAINST MISSISSIPPI STATE
• Junior Dale Ellis grabbed a school-record seven steals as the Vols defeated the Bulldogs 54-44 at “The Hump” in Starkville on Jan. 20, 1982.
• Bill Justus’s two game-winning free throws in the third overtime in Starkville on March 6, 1967, gave the Vols the outright SEC regular-season title. Justus scored 14 in the contest. Interestingly, Justus is serving as the Vol Network radio color analyst for Tuesday’s game.
• While Justus earned the credit for sealing the win in Starkville in 1967, the Vols would not have contended for the win without 35 points from Knoxville native Ron Widby, who went on to be a Pro Bowl punter for the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.
• Ernie Grunfeld scored 37 and Bernard King added 30 as the “Ernie & Bernie Show” rolled to a 97-87 win in Starkville. on Jan. 25, 1975.
MISSISSIPPI LETTERMEN UNCOMMON
• Incredibly, Tennessee has had just one all-time letterman from the state of Mississippi. Sardis, Mississippi, native Torrey Harris played for the Vols from 1995-99.
CURRENT VOLS’ CAREER STATS VS. MISSISSIPPI STATE
• In his two career games against Mississippi State, point guard Jordan Bone averages 10.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 26.5 minutes per game.
• In his two career games against Mississippi State, Jordan Bowden averages 10.4 points and 4.0 rebounds in 27.5 minutes per game.
• Admiral Schofield has played three previous games against the Bulldogs, averaging 7.7 points and 5.0 rebounds while shooting .615 percent overall and .500 from 3-point range.
• In two previous games against MSU, Grant Williams averages 14.0 points and 3.5 rebounds in 23.5 minutes per game.
TENNESSEE WAS PICKED 13TH IN SEC
• Tennessee was predicted to finish 13th in the 2018 SEC race by an SEC and national media voting panel.
• The Volunteers also were picked 13th last season before posting an 8-10 SEC record to finish ninth.
• The Vols have outperformed their preseason SEC projection every season under head coach Rick Barnes.
TENNESSEE HAS BEEN A BIG DRAW ON THE ROAD THIS SEASON
• Tennessee has played in front of four road sellouts this season. Three of those came in SEC play (Missouri, South Carolina and Alabama), while the other came at Iowa State in the Big 12/SEC Challenge.
• While UT’s game at Kentucky wasn’t technically a “sellout,” the crowd of 23,332 filled Rupp Arena to 99.3 percent capacity.
• Through Tennessee’s 11 true road games this season, the crowd has been at an average capacity of 91.9 percent.
• Tennessee’s average true road game attendance this season: 13,856 (21.5 percent increase from last season’s 11,402 per game average)
21 WINS AND COUNTING
• With 21 triumphs thus far, Tennessee has well exceeded last season’s total of 16 wins, and the Vols still have two regular-season games remaining.
• Tennessee has logged its 26th all-time 20-win season and its first since 2013-14, when the Vols finished with 24 victories and advanced to their seventh Sweet Sixteen.
• Tennessee also recorded 21 regular-season victories for the first time since 2009-10 (23).
• In 31 seasons as a Division I head coach, Rick Barnes has now led his teams to 20 or more wins 20 times.
KENPOM RANKS VOLS FOURTH IN NATION IN DEFENSIVE EFFICIENCY
• Respected statistical analyst Ken Pomeroy of KenPom.com rates Tennessee fourth in the nation in defensive efficiency, which is the number of points allowed per 100 possessions.
• There are only about 70 possessions for each team in the average college basketball game, so these numbers are higher than the “ppg” statistics commonly used by media.
THREE VOLS COULD MAKE 50+ 3-POINTERS
• Tennessee could boast three players with 50 or more made 3-pointers for the first time since the 1999-2000 season.
• Lamonté Turner already has 55 made triples, while Admiral Schofield has 48, and Jordan Bowden has 47.
• In 1999-2000, the three Vols who accomplished that feat were: Tony Harris (73), Jon Higgins (53) and Vincent Yarbrough (53).
• That 1999-2000 squad finished with a 26-7 (12-4 SEC) record, won a share of the SEC regular-season championship and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen before falling to North Carolina in Austin, Texas.
A post shared by Brett Young (@brettyoungmusic) on
Brett and Taylor have known each other for more than 10 years.
Love has been a constant theme for Brett since releasing his self-titled debut album in February 2017. The 12-track offering—of which Brett co-wrote 11 songs—is a give-and-take mix of love songs and heartbreak ballads, sans any obligatory “party” anthems that usually pepper a first project in today’s country-radio-friendly-first atmosphere.
“I think, for me, love songs and heartbreak songs are the easiest songs to write because it’s just straight from personal experience,” said Brett to Nash Country Daily. “I think everybody’s felt both of those. Everybody’s been in love, everybody’s had heartbreak. We noticed that when we put it together, the 12 songs that would make the record that we liked, there’s not a party song on this record. I’ve written a ton of party songs, and not that there’s anything wrong with that. I think, in trying to tell my story and let people get to know me, it seemed like we should talk about things that I’ve lived.”
Admiral Scofield – Vols Forward / Credit: UT Athletics
Tennessee basketball standout Admiral Schofield has been named SEC Co-Player of the Week after averaging a team-best 20.5 points while powering the Volunteers to wins over Florida and Ole Miss.
The junior from Zion, Illinois, shares this week’s SEC honor with Mississippi State guard Lamar Peters. Tennessee and MSU square off tomorrow in Starkville at 7 p.m. ET (SEC Network).
Schofield also paced the Vols in rebounding (7.5 rpg) and field-goal percentage (.516) last week. His week was highlighted by a dominant performance in Oxford during which he scored a career-high 25 points on an efficient 9-of-14 shooting. It was the fifth 20-point performance of his career and his fourth of the season.
His two 3-pointers against the Rebels marked the 18th time this season that he has made multiple triples in a game. They also raised his season total to 48 makes from beyond the arc—exceeding his total from his first two seasons as a Vol (46).
In SEC play this season, Schofield ranks fifth in the league in total rebounding (6.9 rpg), seventh in defensive rebounding (5.0 drpg) and 10th in FG percentage (.463). All this while playing a new position (the wing) after spending his first two seasons as a frontcourt player.
Schofield is the second Vol to earn an SEC Player of the Week award this season. Sophomore forward Grant Williams received the honor on Jan. 15.
Lady Antebellum is appealing to the creative community—to the tune of $20,000—to create new videos for their current single, “Heart Break.”
Lady A has teamed with Genero, a software platform that sources video content, for the campaign and is offering $10,000 for the standout video and $2,000 to five runner-ups.
Lady A will hand-pick the winners and support the standout video on its social media channels.
To learn more about the competition, visit Genero.com.
Following the chart-topping success of “Losing Sleep,” Chris Young announced that his new single will be “Hangin’ On.”
Co-penned by Chris, Corey Crowder and Josh Hoge, “Hangin’ On” is the second single from Chris’ 2017 album, Losing Sleep.
Chris dropped a new video for the mid-tempo tune that features a couple enjoying a fun-in-the-sun vacation in Clearwater Beach, Fla., that caps with one of his concerts.
Chris recently concluded the first leg of his Losing Sleep World Tour, which will pick back up on April 19.
Reba McEntire will appear on CBS This Morning on March 1 at 8 a.m. ET to announce some of the nominees for the 53rd ACM Awards.
Reba will also appear live via her Facebook page prior to CBS This Morning to announce the nominees for Song of the Year. Additional nominees will be announced on ETonline.com at 8:50 a.m. ET.
The ACM Awards will air live from MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, April 15, 2018 at 8 p.m. ET. on CBS.
The Academy of Country Music announced its roster of performers for the events surrounding ACM Awards weekend in Las Vegas on April 12–15. More than 40 country artists—including Thomas Rhett, Kelsea Ballerini, Kip Moore, Midland, Old Dominion and more—are scheduled to take the stage at various Vegas venues for the 6th annual Party for a Cause events.
Almost seven years after winning Season 10 of American Idol, Scotty McCreery has scored his first No. 1 single as “Five More Minutes” ascended to the top of both the Mediabase and Billboard Country Airplay charts.
Scotty co-penned the deeply personal tune with Frank Rogers and Monty Criswell two weeks after the death of his grandfather in 2015.
“There was a time I thought this song would never see the light of day,” says Scotty. “Seeing this song, inspired by my Granddaddy Bill, go gold and then become my first number one means the world to me! After writing it with Frank Rogers and Monty Criswell, I tweeted out that ‘I think I just wrote my favorite song I’ve ever written,’ and that still holds true today. Thank you to my fans, country radio, Triple 8 Management, Triple Tigers Records, my band and crew, and everyone on my team.”
“Five More Minutes” is the lead single from Scotty’s upcoming third album, Seasons Change, which will drop on March 16. The 11-song offering will be Scotty’s first album since 2013’s See You Tonight.
“In the last five years, I have grown from a teenager to a man, moved out on my own, lost my grandfather, proposed to the love of my life and learned more about myself than I could have imagined,” says Scotty. “This all shows up in the 11 songs on Seasons Change, and I cannot wait to share this music with my fans after such a long time between releases.”
![Chris Young Releases Beachy Video for New Single, “Hangin’ On” [Watch]](https://cdn.socast.io/6616/sites/1446/2018/02/05104644/Chris-Young.jpg#aqua_resizer_image_not_local)
