It’s getting very close to basketball time in Tennessee.
With just under three weeks until both the men’s and women’s basketball teams are set to tip off their respective seasons, the Vols and Lady Vols were in action on Friday night.
Well, sort of.
Thompson-Boling Arena hosted the Rocky Top Tip Off event on Friday, a fan-oriented evening with general prizes, contests and inflatables.
The doors opened at 6 p.m., with an already respectable crowd lined up early so they could get on the court for the meet and greet session.
At 6:30 p.m., players and coaches took their places at a set of tables to sign autographs for a large crowd of fans. Tennessee women’s basketball head coach Holly Warlick neglected to sit at the table and instead spent her time among the crowd, posing for pictures with children and signing autographs for anyone that asked.
At 7:15 p.m., the squads were introduced. Rick Barnes’ squad might be the most physically imposing team he has had during his career at Tennessee, with power players all over the court like freshman Derrick Walker and Admiral Schofield.
On the women’s side, 6-foot-6 senior Mercedes Russell towers over all of the other Lady Vols and even quite a few of the male players. The Lady Vols will field plenty of returning players this season plus a fresh batch of newcomers that comprised 2017’s No. 1-ranked recruiting class.
Vols’ sophomore guard Jordan Bowden and Lady Vols’ freshman guard Evina Westbrook got the night’s main event festivities kicked off with a dance competition against a few fans, in which the fans took the victory.
Jamie Nared and Russell spoke about their trip to Japan to represent Team USA in the Women’s World Championships.
“I loved the culture and the food and everything,” Russell said
Admiral Schofield and Kasiyahna Kushkitua then took on two fans in a game of “around-the-world.”
The catch?
The ball players had to wear foam fingers. Once again, the fans were victorious.
Next, the players took part in a 3-point contest. It was comprised of four teams with two players each. The first team, Jacob Fleschman and Kortney Dunbar, faced off against the team of Brad Woodson and Meme Jackson.
Jackson and Woodson both performed well, edging out Fleschman and Dunbar 17-12.
Team two consisted of Rennia Davis and James Daniel III. They faced off against Jamie Nared and Lamonte Turner. Nared and Turner defeated Davis and Daniel 13-12 to earn the privilege to face Jackson and Woodson.
The two teams tied and went to an overtime round. Turner and Nared took the final victory 9-6.
Then came the dunk contest. Yves Pons, Schofield, Jordan Bone and Lucas Campbell were the contestants. Pons made an impressive dunk from the free throw line and won the competition, eliciting cheers from both the men’s and women’s teams.
“He’s different; he’s an amazing athlete,” Schofield said. “I’ve never seen him do that before.”
Nared had a commendable performance in the 3-point contest. In the last round, she shot 4-for-4.
“It’s a fun event, I had fun,” Nared said. “It’s really cool because we never get to meet the fans and they never get to meet us.”
The men’s team will play an exhibition match on Nov. 2., facing off against Carson-Newman at Thompson-Boling Arena. The Lady Vols will also battle the Eagles in an exhibition match on Nov. 7.
