Happy Thanksgiving!
It’s been a mostly good last 365 days for Tennessee athletics across the board. Let’s take a look at five moments to be thankful for from Tennessee athletics over the last calendar year.
Lady Vols Basketball Upsets LSU In SEC Tournament
Tennessee handed LSU its last loss of the 2022-23 season when they upset the fourth-ranked Tigers in the SEC Tournament semifinals.
The Lady Vols trailed by 17 points in the first half before completely flipping the tide of the game and upsetting the eventual national champion behind Rickea Jackson’s 26 points.
Tennessee fell to South Carolina in the championship game the next day before making it to the Sweet 16 for the second straight year. But in a season where the Lady Vols were mostly uncompetitive against the sport’s top teams, the comeback win over LSU was its shining moment.
Tennessee Men’s Basketball Returns To The Sweet 16
“Everybody thought we were dead,” Rick Barnes told his team in the bowels of the Amway Center in Orlando. “But we’re alive and kicking, baby!”
No one thought the Zakai Zeigler-less Vols would beat the red-hot Duke Blue Devils in the Round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament. Duke was a popular Final Four pick. Tennessee was living on borrowed time after Zeigler’s injury.
But Tennessee played stout defense, Santiago Vescovi scored 15 points and Olivier Nkamhoua couldn’t miss in the second half on his way to a game-high 27 points as the Vols earned a 65-52 win.
The victory pushed Tennessee to the Sweet 16 for the second time in Barnes’ tenure and the ninth time in program history. Getting there by defeating a storied brand like Duke made it one of the Vols’ best ever NCAA Tournament wins.
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The Entire Tennessee Softball Season
Limiting this to just one moment from the season would be unfair because of how special the Lady Vols’ 2023 season was.
Tennessee won the SEC Regular Season, SEC Tournament and returned to the Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City. Karen Weekly’s team was a model of excellence as they proved to be the Southeastern Conference’s best team.
Ashley Rogers was dominant on the mound and Kiki Milloy totaled a remarkable 25 home runs as Tennessee posted a 51-10 record.
Tennessee Baseball Wins First Game At College World Series Since 2001
While Tennessee softball’s season looked destined for greatness very early on, Vol baseball’s looked like it might be headed for disaster.
But Tennessee went 11-4 in the back half of SEC play after going 5-10 in the first half to make the NCAA Tournament. The Vols then went on the road and won a crazy regional semifinals game against Clemson and came from down 1-0 to win the Hattiesburg Super Regional.
Tennessee returned to the College World Series for the sixth time in program history and the second time of the Tony Vitello era. The Vols didn’t produce a deep run in Omaha but they did earn their first win at the CWS since 2001 when they knocked off Stanford.
The Vols had too many weaknesses to make a deep run in Omaha. But Tennessee miraculously found a way to get there and got in the win column when they did.
Tennessee Football Gets Revenge Against South Carolina
It’s been a turbulent year for Tennessee football but there’s at least been a few moments to celebrate. Chief amongst them is the Vols getting revenge for last season’s loss at South Carolina.
The Gamecocks ended Tennessee’s College Football Playoff hopes a season ago. This year, Tennessee took control of the game late in the first half and cruised to a 41-20 win.
After torching Tennessee a year prior, Spencer Rattler was running for his life all night and threw for just 169 yards. His lone touchdown was a Tennessee touched as Kamal Hadden got his revenge with a pick six.
Kamal takes it himself! #GBO 🍊 pic.twitter.com/TEQOU94qrN
— Tennessee Football (@Vol_Football) October 1, 2023
