This Week in UT Sports History is a weekly series written by RTI columnist Lexie Little
The No. 12 Tennessee men’s basketball team improved to 2-0 on the young season with wins against Colorado (2-1) and Cincinnati (2-2). Kingsport native John Fulkerson picked up a double-double to carry the Vols to a win against the Bearcats with 15 points and 12 rebounds. However, the Vols struggled overall on offense, shooting just 32 percent from the field. They will look to sink more shots against Appalachian State (4-1) tomorrow night in Knoxville.
Meanwhile in Nashville, Jeremy Pruitt and the football Vols found their third win of the season against winless Vanderbilt. Commodore kicker Sarah Fuller became the first woman to score in a Power Five football game with an extra point in the first quarter. Ultimately, it would be Tennessee putting the most points on the board, easily handling the in-state rivals 42-17.
Word broke with just more than one hour to tipoff that the Lady Vols would not face No. 23 Texas on Sunday. The Longhorns disclosed COVID-19 contact tracing problems within the program. Kellie Harper’s team will face Jackson State this Sunday in Knoxville at noon.
As fans await this week’s games, including the last football game of the 2020 season, Rocky Top Insider takes a look back at moments from previous Decembers this week in UT sports history:
Dec. 25, 2005
They had gone where no Tennessee volleyball team had gone before: to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament. Rob Patrick’s Lady Vols faced No. 3 Washington in the program’s first Final Four appearance, one thought unlikely after a slower start to the season than the previous year. Though they lost to the Huskies (who held a 30-1 record) in a 3-0 sweep, their history making run translated to pride in and around Knoxville.
Defeating six ranked teams (four top-10), Tennessee won 14 of its last 16 games on the way to the penultimate matchup before the national championship. The Lady Huskies proved too much despite a commendable effort from Tennessee in the first set. The final score stood at 3-0: 30-25, 30-19, 30-21. Still, Tennessee captured its highest ranking as No. 6 in the final national polls.
“I felt our team played very hard and never gave up,” Patrick said. “I’m very proud of these young ladies for how they represented the University of Tennessee this year, and for their careers and as individuals, and how they carried themselves through their careers.”
The 2005 senior class finished with a career record of 97-32 (.752), the best in school history. That season, they held a perfect 13-0 record at home. Patrick expressed pride for his seniors, saying they built the program to run with the national elite in a winning tradition.
“I think that we have really set a tradition for volleyball as far as being one of the top programs in the country,” Third-Team All-American Amy Morris said. “We started this push last year, we are doing it this year, and hopefully the years after they can keep doing it.”
Tennessee has continued to find success on the court, with seven subsequent NCAA Tournament appearances. The 2020 team finished the abbreviated fall conference season 4-4.
Dec. 20, 1971
The Arkansas Razorbacks led 13-7 late in the fourth quarter. The margin would have been even larger had it not been for a penalty-negated field goal. On their next series, a fumble around Arkansas’ 36-yard line gave the Vols one last chance to win the 1971 Liberty Bowl.
Letterman quarterback Jim Maxwell connected with Gary Theiler, a strong tight end, to drive to the 19. Enter: Curt Watson. Watson took the ball, ran, and continued to run all the way to the endzone. Score: 13-13.
The game came down to kicker George Hunt. With Hunt’s extra point, the Vols took a one-point 14-13 lead. But time remained on the clock. The Hogs would have another possession to try to win the game. Tennessee thwarted the drive. A Big Orange interception clinched the Liberty Bowl win, 14-13.
That season, the Vols earned a record of 9-2 overall with the only regular-season losses coming against Auburn at home in the second week of the season and at Alabama in week five. Tennessee lost to Auburn by a margin of only one point, 10-9. One season prior, Tennessee held a record of 10-1. The only loss on that season also came in week two against Auburn, 36-23 on the Plains.
The Vols finished the 1971 season No. 9 in the country following the Liberty Bowl win. They would repeat their record again in 1972 with the two losses again coming against Auburn and Alabama.
Dec. 18-20, 1997
With back-to-back-to-back games slated for Pat Summitt’s defending champions in a December tournament, the Lady Vols looked to extend a 10-game win streak. They made quick work of Akron on Thursday, Dec. 18, winning 98-63. After narrowly missing the century mark, they hit it with commanding offense the next day. Tennessee exhausted Texas A&M, running the Aggies ragged on both ends of the court in a 105-81 win. Then, Summitt and company finished off the weekend with an 87-66 victory against Wisconsin, a Christmas gift to end the 1997 portion of the winter season.
Those games marked three of 12 neutral site wins in the 1997-98 season. The Lady Vols did not lose a neutral site game that season. They did not lose a game, period.
The Lady Vols captured 39 wins in 1998, extending their victory streak, which dated back to March 15, 1997, to 45. They reached the pinnacle of women’s basketball with a perfect season, one still revered by basketball fans across the country.
The national championship win against Old Dominion in March of 1998 gave the Lady Vols their third consecutive national title on Summitt’s unprecedented run with the likes of current head coach Kellie Harper on the court. Harper, of course, played point guard for the late legend and served as a vocal leader through the three championship seasons.
Harper’s Lady Vols earned a record of 21-10 in her first season at the helm in 2019-20. However, the COVID-19 global pandemic soiled postseason hopes. Fans now await Harper’s NCAA Tournament debut as head coach of her alma mater. The Lady Vols currently hold a record of 3-1, the one loss coming on the road against West Virginia on Dec. 6. They anticipate a matchup with Jackson State at home this weekend. Tipoff is set for Sunday at noon on the SEC Network.
