KPD investigators are asking for help to find a man suspected of fraud.
Police say the man is part of an ongoing fraud investigation. On Decemer 14 of last year, he made an over $2,500 purchase at the West Town Mall using someone else’s credit card information.
Anyone with information, is asked to call East Tennessee Valley Crime Stoppers at 865-215-7165.
Box Score (PDF) | Highlights | Puckett/Harper/Jackson Presser
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Tennessee used an 8-0 run over the last minute and a half to erase a five-point deficit and seize a 68-65 win over Missouri on Sunday afternoon at Mizzou Arena, keeping its conference record perfect at 8-0 and winning its ninth-straight game.
The 8-0 record in league play is UT’s best start to the SEC schedule since the Lady Vols opened at 13-0 in 2014-15 en route to a 15-1 league record and regular-season title.
Sophomore Sara Puckett was 7-of-9 on the day in Mizzou Arena and went a perfect 3-for-3 from behind the arc, hitting a game-tying trey with 40 seconds on the clock to finish with a season-high 17 points for Tennessee (16-6, 8-0 SEC). Senior Rickea Jackson was also in double figures with 15 on the day, pushing her team ahead with a second left by scoring inside, drawing a foul and sinking the free throw for the final margin.
Missouri (14-6, 3-4 SEC) was led by Hayley Frank, who posted a game-high 26 points and Jayla Kelly who finished with 14.
Jackson won the tip and wasted no time getting UT on the board, sinking a three just seconds into the game. She went on to start the contest 3-of-3 from the floor to propel UT to an 11-6 lead by the midway point of the first. Following the media timeout, Jasmine Franklin scored five points over two possessions to put the Lady Vols up by 10 at the 3:30 mark. Frank converted on a three-point play on Mizzou’s next possession, and Ashton Judd knocked down a trey on the next play to narrow the score to 16-12 just over a minute later. Puckett responded with a 3-pointer on the other end, and Jillian Hollingshead followed it up with back-to-back buckets to put the Lady Vols up by 11 before MU closed out the quarter with a pair of free throws to send the game into the second period with UT leading 23-14.
The Tigers opened the second quarter with five straight points to pull within four with 8:57 left in the half. A jumper by Karoline Striplin on the next play gave UT a six-point advantage, and the teams traded buckets through the 3:48 mark when Darby and Striplin scored on consecutive possessions to put the Lady Vols up 33-25. Frank answered with a jumper at the 1:50 mark and neither team was able to score in the closing seconds, making the halftime score 33-27.
Frank hit a jumper 16 seconds into the second half and went on to score eight points of a 10-2 Missouri run spanning two and a half minutes that gave the Tigers their first lead of the game at 37-35. Jackson ended the skid for UT, floating through the lane to hit a six-foot jumper and tie the game at 37-all. Mizzou went on to lead by as many as seven before an 11-0 Tennessee scoring streak contributed to by five different Lady Vols had the Big Orange leading 51-47 by the end of the quarter.
MU put together an 8-2 run to open the fourth, reclaiming the lead at 55-53 with 7:34 left in the game. Puckett responded with a three from the top of the arc in what would be the first of four lead changes over the next three minutes before Frank drained a trey with 3:28 on the clock to put the Tigers up 62-58. Franklin drove into the lane and went up strong to hit a layup with 1:46 left in the contest, but a 3-pointer by Frank on the other end gave Missouri a five-point advantage with 1:25 to go. Jordan Walker came up with a steal under UT’s basket and converted on the layup, and Puckett banked in her third trey of the game with 40 seconds remaining to even the score at 65. Tennessee’s defense got the stop on the next possession as Puckett came up with the rebound, and Jasmine Powell found Jackson in the lane who hit a turnaround jumper and drew the foul with 1.1 seconds left on the clock, converting on the free throw to put the Lady Vols up by three. Missouri was able to heave a three up at the buzzer, but it clanked off the backboard, and the Lady Vols claimed a 68-65 win in Mizzou Arena.
UP NEXT: The Lady Vols will return home to host No. 5 UConn at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday in a contest that will be broadcast on ESPN. ESPN’s College GameDay Covered by State Farm will be on site for the event, going live from inside Thompson-Boling Arena beginning at 7 p.m. ET.
1K FOR FRANKLIN: With 2:17 left in the game against Missouri, Jasmine Franklin pulled down an offensive rebound to bring her career total to 1,000. She closed out the day with four rebounds, moving her total to 1,001.
CLEANING UP THE PAINT: After being out-rebounded on the offensive glass 8-2 and giving up 10 second-chance points in the first half, the Lady Vols flipped the script, winning the offensive rebounding battle 8-2 in the second half without giving up a single second-chance point.
-UT Athletics
BOX SCORE | HIGHLIGHTS | PHOTOS | JAMES ON ESPN | BARNES POSTGAME | ZEIGLER POSTGAME | JAMES POSTGAME
BATON ROUGE, La. – A season-high 22 points from Josiah-Jordan James and a second-career double-double from Zakai Zeigler spearheaded No. 9 Tennessee’s blowout road win Saturday, as the Vols cruised by LSU, 77-56.
After leading by 17 points at halftime, Tennessee never led by fewer than 15 in the second half and built its lead to as many 27.
As a team, Tennessee scored 33 points off of turnovers, while LSU had just seven. The Vols also hit 12 3-pointers—tied for a team-high in SEC play—while limiting the Tigers to just four makes from beyond the arc.
On a day in which Tennessee had four players score in double figures, James led the way with a season-high and game-high 22 points on 9-of-16 shooting with four made threes. It marked his third-career game of 20 or more points. The senior also recorded a team-high-tying seven rebounds and three steals.
Zeigler, the SEC’s assists leader in conference play, compiled a 12-point, 10-assist performance while making his second consecutive start.
Julian Phillips and Tyreke Key each scored 10 points and both hit a pair of threes. Key also pulled down a season-high seven rebounds.
In 20 minutes off the bench, Jonas Aidoo scored eight points and had seven rebounds.
Tennessee took control of Saturday’s game early on and never ceased control. In a first half where it shot just 39 percent from the field, the Vols still took a 17-point lead into the break at 39-22.
After LSU made its first three shot attempts and took a 7-6 lead less than two minutes into the game, the Vols held the Tigers without a field goal for more than nine minutes of game time—pulling in front 16-9 in the process.
LSU briefly pulled within three points at 16-13 after scoring on back-to-back possessions, but then Tennessee took a stranglehold on the game with a quick 11-4 run that featured threes from Santiago Vescovi, Phillips and James.
The Tigers stopped the bleeding with a 3-pointer—one of just four on the day for LSU—but the Vols answered with another run to close out the half, this time a 12-2 spurt capped by a mid-range jumper from James six seconds before halftime.
Tennessee made a total of 13 shots in the first half—eight of which were 3-point baskets.
James led the way for Tennessee in the first half with 10 points and two made threes, while Phillips also made two threes and had eight points despite playing just seven minutes in the opening period. Zeigler had six assist and no turnovers to go along with five points.
UP NEXT: Tennessee is back inside Thompson-Boling Arena for a pair of home games next week—first against Georgia on Wednesday. Tip off is set for 7 p.m. ET on SEC Network.
SUCCESS WHILE SHORTHANDED: Tennessee owns an .842 winning percentage and is rated No. 2 nationally in most analytics-based metrics despite being regularly shorthanded this season. At least one scholarship rotation player has been unavailable for 13 of UT’s 19 games, with five Vols combining to miss 15 games.
STREAK SNAPPED: Saturday’s win in Pete Maravich Assembly Center marked Tennessee’s first win in Baton Rouge since 2015. The Vols had previously lost four straight games at LSU.
NEW LOOK STARTING FIVE: For the first time this season, Tennessee trotted out a starting lineup of Zakai Zeigler, Santiago Vescovi, Julian Phillips, Josiah-Jordan James and Olivier Nkamhoua.
-UT Athletics
ARENA GATES MAP | CAMPUS PARKING MAP
ESPN has announced that College GameDay Covered by State Farm® will originate live from Thompson-Boling Arena Saturday in advance of Tennessee’s sold-out SEC/Big 12 Challenge clash with Texas.
The show—featuring hosts Rece Davis, Jay Bilas, LaPhonso Ellis and Seth Greenberg—airs live on ESPN from 11-noon ET. Live hits also will take place in the morning advance of the show.
Fans can begin lining up to be part of the live audience starting at 7 a.m. ET. UT students are asked to lineup at the student gate, while general fans will enter at Gate D. Both gates will open at 9:30 a.m. ET, and game tickets are not required to take part in Saturday morning’s in-arena festivities. Free parking will be available in the G10 garage, directly east of the arena. Vehicles must be cleared from the garage by 1 p.m. ET, with digital parking permits required for re-entry.
“We can’t wait for Vol Nation to show up and show out for College GameDay,” Vols senior Josiah-Jordan James said. “We already know Tennessee has the best fanbase on the planet. Saturday is going to be an awesome opportunity to showcase that.”
The arena will be cleared when College GameDay signs off to prepare for the 6:05 p.m. ET tipoff against Texas. The game also will air on ESPN, with Dave O’Brien, Dick Vitale and Kris Budden calling the action. A sold-out crowd of 21,678 is expected for what projects to be a top-10 showdown.
In a unique twist, the women’s hoops edition of College GameDay is broadcasting from Thompson-Boling Arena two days earlier to highlight the Lady Vols’ clash with UConn Thursday. The show begins at 7 p.m. ET, followed by the game at 8 p.m. ET—both on ESPN.
Tennessee is the only school to have hosted ESPN College GameDay for football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball.
@Vol_Football – Hosted 11 times
@Vol_Hoops – Hosted three times (after Saturday)
@LadyVol_Hoops – Hosted two times (after Thursday)
Tennessee previously hosted College GameDay basketball shows on Jan. 31, 2009 (79-63 win over Florida) and Jan. 15, 2011 (67-64 win over Vanderbilt). The 2011 show preceded a Vols/Lady Vols doubleheader—both games wins over Vanderbilt.
The Volunteers are 3-3 all-time in basketball games for which College GameDay is on-site, having played in four featured road games (at Memphis, at Kentucky twice and at Kansas).
This past fall, Tennessee twice hosted College GameDay’s football show on the Ayres Hall lawn outside of Neyland Stadium.
-UT Athletics
ARENA GATES MAP | CAMPUS PARKING MAP
ESPN has announced that College GameDay Covered by State Farm® will originate live from Thompson-Boling Arena Saturday in advance of Tennessee’s sold-out SEC/Big 12 Challenge clash with Texas.
The show—featuring hosts Rece Davis, Jay Bilas, LaPhonso Ellis and Seth Greenberg—airs live on ESPN from 11-noon ET. Live hits also will take place in the morning advance of the show.
Fans can begin lining up to be part of the live audience starting at 7 a.m. ET. UT students are asked to lineup at the student gate, while general fans will enter at Gate D. Both gates will open at 9:30 a.m. ET, and game tickets are not required to take part in Saturday morning’s in-arena festivities. Free parking will be available in the G10 garage, directly east of the arena. Vehicles must be cleared from the garage by 1 p.m. ET, with digital parking permits required for re-entry.
“We can’t wait for Vol Nation to show up and show out for College GameDay,” Vols senior Josiah-Jordan James said. “We already know Tennessee has the best fanbase on the planet. Saturday is going to be an awesome opportunity to showcase that.”
The arena will be cleared when College GameDay signs off to prepare for the 6:05 p.m. ET tipoff against Texas. The game also will air on ESPN, with Dave O’Brien, Dick Vitale and Kris Budden calling the action. A sold-out crowd of 21,678 is expected for what projects to be a top-10 showdown.
In a unique twist, the women’s hoops edition of College GameDay is broadcasting from Thompson-Boling Arena two days earlier to highlight the Lady Vols’ clash with UConn Thursday. The show begins at 7 p.m. ET, followed by the game at 8 p.m. ET—both on ESPN.
Tennessee is the only school to have hosted ESPN College GameDay for football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball.
@Vol_Football – Hosted 11 times
@Vol_Hoops – Hosted three times (after Saturday)
@LadyVol_Hoops – Hosted two times (after Thursday)
Tennessee previously hosted College GameDay basketball shows on Jan. 31, 2009 (79-63 win over Florida) and Jan. 15, 2011 (67-64 win over Vanderbilt). The 2011 show preceded a Vols/Lady Vols doubleheader—both games wins over Vanderbilt.
The Volunteers are 3-3 all-time in basketball games for which College GameDay is on-site, having played in four featured road games (at Memphis, at Kentucky twice and at Kansas).
This past fall, Tennessee twice hosted College GameDay’s football show on the Ayres Hall lawn outside of Neyland Stadium.
-UT Athletics
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Having hosted its own “We Back Pat” game on Thursday evening in Knoxville, RV/RV Tennessee (15-6, 7-0 SEC) will travel to Columbia to face off at 2:02 p.m. CT (3:02 p.m. ET) on Sunday vs. Missouri (14-5, 3-3 SEC) in the Tigers’ home event during the SEC’s 12th celebration of “We Back Pat” Week.
UT and MU will meet for the 17th time in a series that dates back to 1978, with the Lady Vols holding a 13-3 advantage and winning the past five meetings between the programs.
Through seven games, UT remains tied atop the SEC standings along with South Carolina and LSU, while Missouri is tied for seventh with Mississippi State. Kellie Harper‘s squad enters on an eight-game winning streak and has been victorious in 13 of its past 15 contests, with its only two losses coming vs. (then) No. 9/9 Virginia Tech (59-56) on Dec. 4 and at No. 2/2 Stanford on Dec. 18 (77-70).
A UT win vs. MU would push the Big Orange to 8-0 in league play and stand alone as the best league start since the Lady Vols opened at 13-0 in 2014-15 en route to a 15-1 league record and regular-season title. The current 7-0 start matches last year’s opening run.
On Thursday in Knoxville, Tennessee remained perfect in SEC play by defeating Florida by 18, 74-58, with the dynamic duo of Rickea Jackson (16 pts, 7 rebs.) and Jordan Horston (14 pts., 10 rebs.) leading the charge. UT outscored UF 18-4 in points off turnovers, 44-26 in the paint, 42-5 in bench points and 20-11 in second-chance points to improve to 11-2 at home this season, including 4-0 in league games.
Following an 11-1 start this season in non-conference action, Missouri has lost three in a row and four of its last seven games, with the losses all coming against ranked teams (#21/23 Illinois, RV/22 Arkansas, #3/4 LSU, #1/1 South Carolina). The Tigers had the night off on Thursday after falling last Sunday to No. 1 South Carolina, 81-50, in front of 15,444 fans at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, S.C.
We Back Pat Week
Broadcast Information
Looking Back At The Florida Game
Heating Up After Half
Closing In On 1K
Double-Double For Jordy
Flipping The Script On Turnovers
Taking Advantage Of Second Chances
Getting Tougher Defensively
Defense Setting The Tone Early
A Look At The Tigers
Missouri’s Last Game
Tennessee/Mizzou Notes
Last Meeting Between UT, MU
Last Visit To Columbia
Upcoming Games
ESPN College Gameday At UT Next Thursday
-UT Athletics
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a fatal shooting in Talbott.
Deputies were called to Ingram Road after a man called 911 saying he had shot his wife Wednesday night.
52 year-old Kenneth Belcher was found inside pickup in the rear parking lot of a school on E. Dumplin Valley Road. A weapon was laying on the passenger seat of the truck.
Police arrived at the home on Ingram Road and found 41 year-old Jennifer Belcher dead.
Investigators say that Kenneth had shot his wife following a domestic dispute. He was arrested for 1st Degree Murder.
Knoxville Police Chief Paul Noel recapped his first seven months on the job Thursday.
Paul Noel was announced as the new chief at the end of April 2022. He is a 25-year veteran of the New Orleans Police Department and replaced former-Chief Eve Thomas.
In a press briefing, Noel recapped the changes he made and the initiatives he started to improve the department. Included in that was a major department restructuring, an review that revealed employee complaints of internal discrimination and strides to improve transparency and ethical policing.
Early on, Noel said the New Orleans department was previously known for its corruption, now, however, it is a bastion for policing ethics. That passion for transparency and ethical policing is something Noel has tried to bring to Knoxville.
Early into his tenure, Noel had the department join the Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement (ABLE) Project. KPD was the first agency in Tennessee to join ABLE, and training is set to be implemented in 2023.
Another addition was the establishment of the Use of Force Review Board. The board will review serious instances of use of force from a policy, procedural and training perspective. That board also makes recommendations to improve policy and training concerning use of force. The Use of Force Review Board isn’t the only new body in KPD, however.
The Crash Review Board is another new body, which is aimed at making discipline and corrective action recommendations surrounding crashes involving KPD vehicles. That board is also designed to make recommendations on policy and training.
Internally, Noel moved the internal affairs department under the day-to-day supervision of the assistant chief. After that move, several internal affairs cases that were opened during Thomas’ administration, most notably, a case investigating racist behavior among officers.
Additionally, Noel has initiated the development of a new position: the deputy chief of professional standards. The position is set to be a non-sworn, executive level job that will focus on police, practices and procedures. That same person would also be in charge of the department’s efforts to increase diversity, equity and inclusion.
That change came after Noel initiated an internal evaluation by 21CP Solutions. In that evaluation, KPD officers and employees voiced concerns about fairness, racism and sexist discrimination within the department.
Noel also oversaw one of the largest reorganizations in the department’s history. That restructuring re-established the Central District, increasing police districts from two to three.
Another change was the establishment of a Next of Kin program that meets quarterly with the families of homicide victims. The goal of the meetings is to improve communications with the families and offer grief support.
KPD is looking to grow under Noel as well. Under the new chief, the department has started a recruitment campaign including advertisements and changes to the hiring process aimed at increasing applicants and removing barriers to employment.
Under Noel, the department is also working with the City of Knoxville and the Violence Reduction Center. Led by national violence reduction expert Thomas Abt out of the University of Maryland, the partnership is aimed at involving community-members in the reduction of violent crime, like gun violence.
Noel said KPD is planning to enhance recruiting efforts with a focus on improving diversity. KPD is also planning to work with Fulton High School’s criminal justice program to fill out cadet ranks.
Additionally, Noel set a department goal of reducing murders by 10% in 2023. This as part of an initiative to reduce violent crime in Knoxville. As part of the crim-reduction initiative, Noel said that KPD plans to improve its data analytics capabilities. That includes making public dashboards available to the Knoxville community.
Finally, Noel also said he wants to improve KPD’s technological infrastructure. That will include a new records management system.
Story courtesy of WVLT
By Jimmy Hyams
Danny White stood on the make-shift stage on the field at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
The Tennessee athletics director was celebrating the Vols’ Orange Bowl win with coach Josh Heupel, bowl MVP Joe Milton, Chancellor Donde Plowman and others.
The field was littered with several hundred Tennessee fans, enjoying the aftermath of UT’s 31-14 victory over Clemson.
You could not have imagined this scene 23 months ago.
In January of 2021, Tennessee’s football fortunes were an unfortunate mess. The Vols fired coach Jeremy Pruitt for multiple recruiting violations, nudged athletic director Phillip Fulmer into retirement, and braced to face a battle with the NCAA over embarrassing compliance issues.
Into that firestorm walked Danny White, the successful athletic director at Central Florida who was willing to accept a monumental challenge.
After interviewing several candidates, White hired Heupel to rebuild a once proud program. Heupel would be without 45 players who left over a six-month period to enter the transfer portal, retire or get released from their National Letter of Intent.
Less than two years later, with regular-season victories over Pitt, Florida, Alabama and LSU, Tennessee was the toast of the town in Miami on the night of Dec. 30.
It capped one of the most remarkable college football turnarounds ever.
And it was one of the most satisfying nights in Tennessee football in over 20 years.
“It was a special experience,’’ White said earlier this week during an interview on SportsTalk 99.1 The Sports Animal. “It was a really cool moment.
“Our fan base was so great and so supportive. It didn’t surprise me at all that so many found their way on the field to celebrate with the team. … I think it was a proud moment for a lot of people.’’
White and UT hope to parlay that 11-2 record and No. 6 ranking into increased season-ticket sales.
Deadline for season-ticket renewals is Feb. 24. In the past, it was April 30. An earlier deadline gives fans more time frame to make payments.
“I’ll be surprised if we’re not sold out on a season-ticket basis for next season,’’ White said. “We’re tracking really well; don’t have many tickets left to sell. Obviously, we still have to go through renewals. We’re expecting our renewal rate to be incredibly high with the momentum we have and how well the team played this year and the direction the program is going under Josh’s leadership.
“I really can’t wait to make that announcement, that we’ve sold out Neyland for the season. And I expect we’ll be in position to do that.
“It speaks to the power of the fan base.’’
White said he marvels at how “passionate’’ and “powerful’’ the UT fan base is.
“So many (athletic directors) in my position across the country are talking about reducing the size of their stadium and struggling to fill it,’’ White said. “And we’re sitting here with one of biggest stadiums in America and we’re talking about selling it out. … We have a phenomenal, phenomenal fan base.’’
Tennessee sold 61,407 season tickets last year. The typical renewal rate is 90% but that figure figures to increase based on UT’s success last season.
The maximum number of season tickets UT can see is about 68,000. It used to be about 72,500 but stadium renovation, student allotment, opposing ticket allotment, campus groups and recruiting tickets have reduced that number.
Sponsored by Big Kahuna Wings: The wings that changed it all
The victim from the fatal drag racing crash on Magnolia Avenue is identified.
65 year-old Michael Williams of New Market died as a result of his injuries in Tuesday’s crash. His two grandchildren, aged 5 and 11, remain in critical but stable condition according to officials with the Knoxville Police Department.
The two suspects are charged with felony reckless endangerment and drag racing.
The investigation into the crash remains ongoing.
