Vols men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes spoke with the media on Friday to preview UT’s big home game Saturday night at 9pm vs, Kentucky.
Watch Chris Janson Perform “Drunk Girl” on “Today”
Dapperly dressed Chris Janson stopped by the Today show (Jan. 5) to perform his new single, “Drunk Girl.”
The tune—which was co-penned by Chris, Tom Douglas and Scooter Carusoe, is the second single from Chris’ 2017 sophomore album, Everybody.
“Both of my co-writers are legendary,” said Chris to Nash Country Daily. “They certainly didn’t need me in the room. I can tell you that ‘Drunk Girl’ basically wrote itself. We were just stewards of the ship. And I say that in regard to, sometimes songs happen like that. You can’t really twist and turn ’em. If you try, you mess ’em up. If you let them lead, they lead. We wrote ‘Drunk Girl’ from a father’s perspective. We are all dads. I would hope after hearing the lyrics, if my daughter was in that situation, I hope someone would take care of her. Being a husband, being a dad of girls, I have such a great respect for women in general. I think this song needed to be said.”
Watch Chris’ performance below.
photo by Tammie Arroyo, AFF-USA.com
Mickey Gilley Fractures Ankle and Shoulder in Auto Accident
Mickey Gilley, 81, is recovering after fracturing his left ankle and right shoulder in an automobile accident on Jan. 3.
Mickey and his son were on their way back to Branson, Mo., after an event in Texas when the accident occurred. Mickey’s son also sustained minor injuries and is on the mend.
“I had an accident yesterday,” said Mickey in a video post on Facebook. “We rolled a car about three times over. I have a fractured left ankle and a fractured right shoulder. I am having a hard time walking because I have a big boot on my left leg. But other than that I’m doing pretty good. To be 81 years old and put myself through what I’ve been through it’s kinda tough sometimes on the old man but I don’t intend to retire. I will be out there on the road and I’ll see you real soon.”
Mickey will reschedule his Jan. 6 show in Greenville, Texas. He expects to resume his touring schedule on Jan. 20 in Weirsdale, Fla.
Mickey achieve success on the country charts in the 1970s and 1980s with a string of No. 1 hits, including “Room Full of Roses,” “Stand By Me,” ″Window Up Above,” “Don’t the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time” and more. His namesake Texas honky-tonk, Gilley’s, was the central location for the 1980 movie, Urban Cowboy.
photo courtesy Mickey Gilley Enterprises
Alison Krauss, Ricky Skaggs, Jamey Johnson & More to Take Part in Public Memorial for Mel Tillis on Jan. 31
A public memorial will be held for Mel Tillis at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium on Wednesday, Jan. 31, 10 a.m. CT.
Mel, one of country music’s most versatile artists, died on Nov. 19, 2017, of respiratory failure at age 85. Mel battled intestinal issues since early 2016 and never fully recovered.
Those scheduled to take the stage at the memorial service include Ricky Skaggs, Ray Stevens, Larry Gatlin & the Gatlin Brothers, Brenda Lee, Alison Krauss with the Street Corner Symphony, Jamey Johnson, Collin Raye, Daryle Singletary, Lorrie Morgan, Ira Dean, Pam Tillis, Sonny Tillis, and Carrie April Tillis. The Statesiders, Mel’s band, will accompany select performances.
The event is free and open to the public.
Mel won the CMA Entertainer of the Year award in 1976 and was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2007.
photo courtesy Mel Tillis Enterprises
Video: Holly Warlick postgame after Lady Vols win over Auburn
Tennessee Lady Vols coach Holly Warlick spoke with the media in the postgame after UT’s 70-59 win at home over Auburn.
Video: Lady Vols/Auburn postgame – Nared, Westbrook and Hayes
Tennessee Lady Vols players Jaime Nared, Evina Westbrook and Anastasia Hayes spoke with the media in the postgame after their 70-59 win at home over Auburn.
No. 7 Lady Vols stave off Tigers 70-59, now 14-0, 2-0 SEC
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Senior Jaime Nared recorded a double-double with 19 points and 11 rebounds to lead No. 7/7 Tennessee to a 70-59 victory over Auburn (10-4, 1-1 SEC) on Thursday night at Thompson-Boling Arena. The win snapped a seven-game win streak for the Tigers and moved Tennessee to 14-0 for only the fifth time in school history.
Freshman Evina Westbrook chipped in a career-high 18 points and a game-high six assists, while senior Mercedes Russell added 10 points and four blocks on the night for Tennessee as the Lady Vols improved to 8-0 at home this season.
Daisa Alexander paced Auburn in scoring with 16 points, while Tiffany Lewis and Janiah McKay each added 10.
After a largely back-and-forth affair that included 16 lead changes, the Lady Vols (14-0, 2-0 SEC) ended the game on a 19-4 run, and overcome a season-high 28 turnovers to earn the win. With the victory, UT improves to 14-0 for the first time since the 2005-06 season when it won its first 18 games.
Both teams traded baskets over the first quarter, with six points from Russell leading the way for the Lady Vols. Westbrook recorded five assists in the frame, including one on each of Tennessee’s first four field goals. After holding Auburn to 5-for-24 shooting from the floor, UT used a 5-0 run at the end of the quarter to take an 18-13 lead.
Auburn’s full-court press proved to have an effect in the early stages of the second quarter, as Tennessee committed six turnovers over the first three minutes. The Tigers were able to grab the lead by way of an 8-0 run highlighted by two Alexander 3-pointers. Alexander finished the half with 12 points to lead Auburn, and Nared recorded nine points and seven rebounds for the Lady Vols as both squads battled to a 30-30 deadlock at the intermission.
The teams continued to fight down the stretch, and Auburn’s aggressive defense kept forcing the Lady Vols into offensive mishaps. After going into the fourth quarter tied at 44, a pair of steals coming 10 seconds apart gave the Tigers a three-point advantage with under five minutes left in the game.
Anastasia Hayes stepped up offensively in the fourth quarter, scoring six of her nine points in the final eight minutes. With 1:15 remaining, Hayes converted on a layup-and-one to put the Lady Vols ahead by five. UT used a strong defensive effort and hit six free throws over the last two minutes to gain a double-digit lead and put the game away.
While Tennessee held the overall edge in rebounding for the 13th time this season, Auburn was able to come away with a 20-11 advantage on the offensive glass, and scored 30 of its points in the paint. The Lady Vols did hold the Tigers to 31 percent shooting for the game, with Nared recording a career-high four blocks to help anchor the defense.
Up Next: The Lady Vols host Vanderbilt at noon in Thompson-Boling Arena on Sunday. The game will be televised by the SEC Network.
Assist Machine: Freshman guard Evina Westbrook had six assists on the night, notching assists on each of UT’s first four buckets. She’s averaging 5.1 assists per game on the season and her career high of 12 (Troy, Dec. 6) ties the record for single-game assists by any Lady Vol freshman.
Sharpshooting Westbrook: Westbrook went 5-of-7 from the floor and 4-of-5 from behind the arc while hitting all four of her free throws to set a new career high of 18 points. Westbrook has upped her career high in three of the last five games, scoring in double figures in all of them.
Good Company: With the win the Lady Vols open a season 14-0 for only the fifth time in program history. They are currently one of only four undefeated teams remaining in NCAA Division I basketball. The other squads are Mississippi State, Connecticut and Louisville.
Balanced Offense: Seven of the eight Lady Vols who saw action against Auburn contributed at least four points to the win, and Nared, Westbrook and Russell each finished the night in double figures. Tennessee has had at least three players score in double-digits in every game this season.
-UT Athletics
Chris Stapleton Will Be Featured on Justin Timberlake’s New Album
No one’s stock in country music has increased more in the past couple of years than Chris Stapleton’s.
The Kentucky native became the darling of the 2015 CMA Awards, winning three trophies, while putting on a show-stopping performance with Justin Timberlake during their collaborations on “Tennessee Whiskey” and “Drink You Away.”
Grammys Awards, ACM Awards and more CMA Awards have followed for Chris, as well as two albums, From A Room: Vol. 1 and Vol. 2.
Perhaps in an effort to return the favor to the man who helped shine the spotlight on him, Chris will be lending his talents to a track on Justin Timberlake’s new album, Man of the Woods, which is set to drop on Feb. 2.
The song will be the the tandem’s first official recording together.
Justin’s new album will also include collaborations with Alicia Keys, Pharrell Williams and Timbaland.
photo by Jason Simanek
In Your Face! Thomas Rhett Is the Best-Mannered Artist in Country Music Says National League of Junior Cotillions
Thomas Rhett can claim he has the best manners in country music—although that would be rude—thanks to a new list compiled by the National League of Junior Cotillions.
TR landed at No. 8 on the NLJC’s annual Best Mannered People of 2017 list, which also included celebs Selena Gomez, Meghan Markle, David Beckham and more.
Duck Dynasty‘s Sadie Robertson, who starred in Brett Eldredge’s recent “The Long Way” video, cracked the list at No. 5.
The National League of Junior Cotillions forms the list each year after students and directors nationwide nominate people with “commitment to honor, dignity, and mannerly conduct.”
Congrats, Thomas Rhett, you are a gentleman in every sense of the word.
Check out the full list below.
photo by Jason Simanek
Jimmy’s blog: Barnes rips Vols for being `immature’ after Auburn loss
By Jimmy Hyams
Say this for Tennessee coach Rick Barnes: He says what he thinks.
And what he said after Tennessee blew a 14-point first half lead and lost to Auburn 94-84 Tuesday night was not complimentary.
In fact, Barnes sounded like he was describing the 13th best in the SEC – which is where the media picked the Vols in a preseason poll.
Barnes said UT players had too much “ego’’ and played “casual’’ and didn’t “play their roles’’ and played “awful’’ on defense and were “immature’’ and “guys don’t listen’’ and didn’t practice well.
Was he describing a middle-school team? Or a team ranked as high as No. 4 in one RPI just one week ago?
“We didn’t deserve to win,’’ Barnes said twice after the Auburn defeat.
Barnes was certainly disappointed with the Vols getting outrebounded on the offensive boards by the smaller – but quicker – Auburn Tigers, 22-14. Auburn had a 22-11 edge until the final two minutes. Auburn also took 18 more shots – it had taken 22 more until the final minutes, when UT was fouling and jacking up shots.
Barnes said his team was “outworked’’ on the boards by Auburn.
“We played like it didn’t mean anything,’’ Barnes said of the Vols (9-4, 0-2 SEC).
Barnes felt when his team bolted to a 14-point lead, his players thought: “Hey, this is gonna be easy.’’
It was anything but easy.
“Fool’s gold,’’ Barnes called UT’s early lead.
Asked about the ego comment, Grant Williams, Tennessee’s best player, said: “He’s absolutely right.’’
Williams added: “I’m immature. I need to grow up fast.’’
Williams said Auburn “bullied us’’ on the boards.
Williams’ post game comments sounded mature. Maybe he’s being too hard on himself. Or maybe he handles the media better than he handles issues on the court when things don’t go his way.
Nonetheless, Williams did agree once again with his coach that UT doesn’t practice well and hasn’t all season – which is hard to believe for a team that started 9-2, beat Purdue and pushed Villanova and North Carolina.
“We’re not a good practice team,’’ Williams said. “We don’t compete like we should.’’
While practice is one issue, rebounding is another.
UT assistant Michael Schwartz said rebounding was a UT concern before the season. And he certainly felt it would be a key against Auburn.
As UT was visiting with the ESPNU crew that called the UT-Auburn game, Schwartz said Auburn’s offensive rebounding and UT’s defensive rebounding would be a key.
“It’s been an Achilles’ Heel for us,’’ Schwartz said. “We knew going into the year it’d be a little bit of a challenge.’’
UT allowed 22 offensive rebounds to Auburn and North Carolina, two key reasons why the Vols lost those games. Auburn’s 22 offensive rebounds came off 44 missed shots, thus the Tigers rebounded 50% of their misses.
“It’s something we can’t allow to keep happening and we’re going to fix it,’’ Schwartz said.
Tennessee’s goal this season was to get 30 defensive rebounds per game. UT is averaging 25.
“That’s minus five from where we need to be,’’ Schwartz said.
Schwartz also said UT must do a better job of finishing games and finishing possessions.
Defensively, Schwartz said UT ranks among the top 25 in the nation in forcing turnovers (16.7 per game) and field goal defense (40%).
Tennessee’s perimeter defense has struggled lately. UT’s guards haven’t been able to guard Arkansas’ or Auburn’s guards. And that is a major concern. Arkansas’ top two guards combined for 61 points. Auburn’s trio of starting guards scored 52 combined points and drove around UT’s guards at will.
“I don’t think it’s a concern of, if we can guard them,’’ Schwartz said. “We’ve got to make sure we’re executing our game plan. … Team defense is a big piece of it.’’
UT seeks its first SEC win Saturday night, hosting Kentucky. If the Wildcats guards have their way against the Vols, then Barnes might once again rip into his team.
And if he uses the words “casual’’ and “ego’’ and “awful’’ and “immature’’ in his post game comments, then you know it’s been another long night on Rocky Top.
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