Vols beat Florida 65-54, earn No. 4 seed in SEC tourney
Tyree Appleby had 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting and Colin Castleton added 11 points for Florida (13-9, 9-7). 13 seed Vanderbilt in Thursday's second round. After being outrebounded 18-16 in the first half, Tennessee was plus-11 on the glass in the second. Florida had just 21 points after the break, its lowest-scoring half of the season. The Gators went into the game leading the SEC in free-throw percentage (.760, 37th NCAA), field-goal percentage (.472, 42nd NCAA) and 3-point field-goal percentage (.359, 78th NCAA).
AP Top 25 Podcast: College football's biggest underachievers
Nebraskaโs search for an identity in a changing college football landscape. On the latest AP Top 25 College Football Podcast, Steven Godfrey of Banner Society joins the APโs Ralph Russo to take on the task of finding each conferenceโs most egregious underachiever. And how USC being unable to maximize its potential hurts all of college football. Plus, new Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea joins the show and shares his vision for transforming the Commodores. ___Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP and listen at https://westwoodonepodcasts.com/pods/ap-top-25-college-football-podcast/Ad___More AP college football: https://apnews.com/Collegefootball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25
The Latest: Texas A&M men's hoops has 7th postponement
Itโs the seventh consecutive postponement for A&M, which hasnโt played since beating Kansas State 68-61 on Jan. 30 in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. The SEC has built in March 5-7 to make up games postponed because of COVID-19 protocols, but no makeup date has been determined. Kentuckyโs Dec. 29 SEC game against South Carolina was also postponed. The school said Saturday that the Tar Heels will host Marquette on Wednesday, which comes after they had a fourth game postponed in Atlantic Coast Conference play. AdLast week the school added a nonconference game against Northeastern two days ahead of time after a game against No.
Pons scores 17 as No. 18 Tennessee beats No. 15 Kansas 80-61
18 Tennessee never trailed Saturday in beating 15th-ranked Kansas 80-61 in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. This was just Tennessee's second win all-time against Kansas in six games. David McCormack led the Jayhawks with 17 points, Marcus Garrett added 15 and Jalen Wilson had 10. Kansas shot only 7 of 26 through the first 20 minutes and kept from being blown out by hitting 11 of 12 at the free throw line. Tennessee: The Vols have proven they can play stingy defense, and they dominated on the boards 38-23, scoring 14 second-chance points.
NCAA probe is 'speed bump' to Vols' new coach Josh Heupel
New Tennessee NCAA college football head coach Josh Heupel, left, shakes hands with University of Tennessee athletics director Danny White after being presented a jersey speaks during an introductory press conference at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn., Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021. (Caitie McLekin/Knoxville News Sentinel via AP, Pool)Josh Heupel believes he can win quickly at Tennessee and position the football program for long-term success. Heupel was introduced Wednesday as the program's 27th head coach and fifth, not counting interim or acting coaches, since the end of the 2008 season. New athletic director Danny White said Tennessee ran an โexhaustive nationwide searchโ led by the same search firm that helped land White. White was hired last week to replace the retiring Phillip Fulmer and hiring a new coach was his first task.
Tennessee fires Pruitt, 9 others for 'serious' NCAA issues
FILE - In this Oct. 19, 2019, file photo, Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt yells at the officials during an NCAA college football game against Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Tennessee fired Pruitt Monday, Jan. 18, 2021. โWhile the investigation is continuing the information provided to us indicates serious violations of NCAA rules,โ Plowman said. The chancellor said the potential NCAA issues involved Level I and II violations with a number of people and incidents. Fulmer, 70, will be retiring, and Tennessee is retaining Parker Executive Search to help hire a new athletic director. Pruitt ends a tenure that started after a tumultuous coaching search highlighted by Tennessee replacing John Currie as athletic director with Fulmer.
Alabama stuns No. 7 Tennessee 71-63 in physical battle
The Crimson Tide (7-3, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) turned a one-point halftime lead into a double-digit advantage midway through the second behind Pettyโs trio of 3s and two more long-range makes by Joshua Primo. Primo and Herbert Jones finished with 11 points, and Jahvon Quinerly scored 10. Tennessee (7-1, 1-1) struggled from the field the entire game, hitting 21 of 66 shots (32%). Alabama's 31-29 lead at the break happened with the Crimson Tide shooting 39% (12 of 31), while Tennessee struggled shooting 33% (11 of 33). UP NEXTAlabama: The Crimson Tide will be home Tuesday to face Florida, which beat LSU on Saturday.
CFP: Alabama-Notre Dame, Clemson-Ohio St as Aggies left out
Notre Dame was picked Sunday over Texas A&M for the final spot, ending what little drama there had been. Alabama, Notre Dame, Clemson and Ohio State have also held the first four spots in the AP Top 25 since Oct. 25. The Atlantic Coast Conference is the second league to have two teams in the playoff, joining the SEC in 2017. After sitting second in the CFP rankings for a month, Notre Dame was blown out 34-10 by Clemson in the ACC championship. Barta said the disparate number of games played by contenders โ along with far fewer cross-conference games than usual โ- was a challenge for the committee all season.
No. 5 Texas A&M makes last CFP case in 34-13 win over Vols
5 Texas A&M closed its case for inclusion in the College Football Playoff by mauling Tennessee by three touchdowns. Texas A&M, ranked third in the nation in third-down conversion percentage (55%), didn't punt in the first half. Texas A&M's advantage went to 17-7 when the Aggies turned a Bailey fumble into a 23-yard field goal by Seth Small. Tennessee: After the second game of the season, the Vols were tied with Notre Dame for the longest winning streak among FBS teams. A victory over winless Vanderbilt ended the skid, but the loss to Texas A&M ended the regular season on a sour note.
Alabama's Jaylen Waddle out for season with broken ankle
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. โ Alabama coach Nick Saban said junior wide receiver Jaylen Waddle is out for the rest of the season after breaking his right ankle on the opening kickoff Saturday against Tennessee. โItโs a shame because the guyโs a great player,โ Saban told CBS at halftime. Waddle has been one of the nation's top punt returners the past two years and has seldom had the ball kicked his way this year. Waddle currently leads all Crimson Tide returners averaging 19.3 yards per punt return in his career, nearly six years better than second place. Waddle opened this season with at least 120 yards receiving in each of the first four games and led Alabama with 557 yards on just 25 catches.