Tennessee
Everything Tennessee basketball’s Jahmai Mashack said after being drafted
On Thursday night, Tennessee basketball senior Jahmai Mashack heard his named called as the final pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.
Now with the Memphis Grizzlies, Mashack met with the media with his new team for the first time.
Here’s what he said.
TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM
On what he knows about the Grizzlies
“Tony Allen is a guy I’ve always watched since I was little. It might not be the most popular person to watch for a lot of people, but for me, it was still something special. Just knowing that those times and also being at Rocky Top its huge for the state of Tennessee and all the fans there. But I’m excited cause I’ve always been about winning and I’ve always wanted to be and strived to be a winner and I think that fits what they’re trying to do, as well.”
On the Grizzlies saying they wanted to draft players that are dogs
“It’s something that I’ve always done. It’s not something that a coach asked me to do and I decided to buy into that. It’s something that I’ve been doing since I was 12, 13, 14 years old when I told my dad that I want to become a great basketball player. He sat me down and he told me, it’s not going to be through making the most points or having the flashiest passes or looking at highlights, it’s going to be being the hardest working dog that you can be. I’ve embraced that ever since I was in high school and college and I don’t plan on doing nothing different now. I know what got me here. I know what works as far as winning and I know how to improve my game. And I know being a dog is No. 1 on that list. There’s no reason to change it now. It’s the formula I’ve always worked with and I feel like if I can grow that and mold that to something special, I can end up being a great winner in this league and help Memphis continue to evolve.”
On his first impression of joining the franchise
“Being a Cali kid, too, but actually being in Tennessee for four years, getting to know a lot of the people today and getting to talk to them, it was very family-oriented. I think that’s important for me. It’s not transactional. That’s a big deal in player development, not just on the court, but off the court, as well. I think all three of us can improve if we have that connection off the court, as well, and we know that they’re bought in to our development. I think the sky is the limit for guys like us. I’m getting to know these guys a little bit more, I know for me personally, I’ll run through the wall for anyone that has my back and they know I will 100% have theirs. Getting to know these people, getting to know their character and what they’re about has been special. Growing up, sounds wild, but I watched Memphis a lot growing up. I can tell just from the mentality and how they went about things, they’re about business, they’re about winning, but they’re also about team camaraderie and having your teammate’s back and that’s something that I’ve pride my self on ever since I was little. It’s going to be easy to buy into something that they’ve been doing for a while.”
On going from east to west Tennessee, unifying the two sides
“That’s what I’ve been hearing, I’ve been hearing that’s my job, I guess. It’s always great to have a rivalry like that. I think it’s healthy. I think it provides competition and I obviously don’t shy away from any type of competition. Playing for both sides, it is kind of wild and kind of weird but all I’ve gotten is love and support and they want me to go out there and be successful no matter where I was. And for them to see that I’m staying in Tennessee, it just gives them that much more passion and love for me and what I’m going to do. Everybody there, they know what I’m about, they know what type of human I am, what type of basketball player I am, they know what I represent and they know my values. And I think that’s what I really wanted to take it away from. Being a kid from Cali and going to Tennessee and creating a name like that and being known as a Mr. Tennessee type guy. It’s not something that happens very often. I definitely wear that proudly. They know that I’ve come from not being the most highly-ranked and not being the guy that’s going to put up 45, 50 points. They’re already calling me Mr. Irrelevant cause I was the last pick of the draft. I love it, man. That’s what creates my passion, that’s what creates my drive. I love when people feel like I can’t do something and I go out and do it anyway and prove them wrong and wrong and prove myself right. I love that feeling, man. I feel like that’s something I’m going to do there and I think if you ask a lot of people that know me and have seen my journey through Tennessee, they have no doubt in their mind that I’m going to do whatever I can to be successful and be the winner I know I can be.”
On the most underrated part of his game
“For myself, and it may be a surprise to a lot of people, but I’ve put a ton and ton of hours in that and I feel confident in it is probably my shooting. I think a lot of people look at the amount of shots I had at Tennessee and kind of put that on the value of my shooting, but I think when you see me in a different system, in a different light, in a different setting, you can kind of see a lot of those hours that I’ve been putting in going to show. Honestly, I think for me was the attempts and being that I didn’t have a lot of attempts and a lot of volume, but I know what I’m capable of. I know that I’m a solid shooter and I know that I’m growing to be even better and I know if I can get that to my game, I’m going to be able to be a great and complete player in this league. Just focus on my shooting, but like I said, I feel like it’s underrated, but it’s something that I’m definitely looking to grow even more.”
OKLAHOMA CITY — Tennessee softball’s opponent for the Women’s College World Series semifinals is set.
The No. 7 seed Lady Volunteers (49-10) will face No. 2 Texas (49-12) at Devon Park on June 1 (noon ET, ESPN). Tennessee and Texas played each other in their WCWS opener on May 28. Tennessee won 6-3.
In the previous matchup, Tennessee used both of its top two pitchers, Karlyn Pickens (15-7, 1.58 ERA) and Sage Mardjetko (16-2, 1.06 ERA). Mardjetko started and allowed just one hit in the first four innings. Pickens finished the game, allowing four hits and three runs but still recording the save.
“Knowing we’ve got to make quicker adjustments, we’ve seen them already,” Texas infielder Katie Stewart said of potentially facing Pickens and Mardjetko again. “Still knowing they’re a really good pitching staff and they’re going to bring it. Just being ready for that. I think just going back, watching film, looking at how we got out and building off that.”
Stewart, the SEC Player of the Year and Texas’ leader in batting average, home runs and RBIs, went 0-for-3 in that first game.
Texas coach Mike White is hopeful that the Longhorns’ familiarity with Pickens and Mardjetko from just a few days prior will help them “pick up where they left off.”
All three of Texas’ runs came in the later part of the game, with the Longhorns scoring off a throwing error and a two-run homer hit by Leighann Goode.
However, he also noted that Tennessee has another talented pitcher in Erin Nuwer (15-1, 0.99 ERA), whom the Longhorns could face for the first time.
“Well, it won’t help us if they throw Nuwer at us,” White said. “They have another one that’s out there that’s pretty good. We’re not forgetting her as well.”
Nuwer hasn’t pitched since Game 2 of the super regionals against Georgia, when she allowed two hits, two hit-by-pitches but no runs in 1⅓ innings. Nuwer’s last start was a complete game against Northern Kentucky in regionals on May 15.
“They have the luxury of us having to beat them twice,” White said. “These pitchers are so good now, they’re able to study what we did, what they did. It becomes that cat-and-mouse game of strategy. That’s what we love about the game, is all the strategy, kind of pitching nuances of the game. It’s going to be a fun matchup.”
Tia Reid covers Jackson State sports for the Clarion Ledger. Email her at treid@usatodayco.com and follow her on X @tiareid65.
Tennessee
Nashville’s Eastpoint Neighborhood groundbreaking marks largest affordable housing project in Tennessee
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Nashville’s newest neighborhood is starting to take shape. The Fallon Company broke ground on the Eastpoint Neighborhood, which developers say is the largest affordable housing project and investment in Tennessee right now.
Mayor Freddie O’Connell says the mixed-use development is designed to benefit all families, accommodating incomes from $20,000 to $80,000 a year. In addition to housing, the development will include upgraded parks and green space, on-site childcare, and retail space.
“This is gonna be how we build Nashville’s next great neighborhood,” O’Connell said.
“We’ll have upgraded parks and green space, it will literally have on-site childcare here,” O’Connell said. “Basically all the ingredients that happen in a great neighborhood are going to be here.”
The development comes as many Nashville families struggle to make ends meet.
“They’re working jobs that are $10, $12 an hour jobs and they cannot afford basic living expenses,” Tony Turntine said.
Turntine and his family are success stories of UpRise Nashville’s free career training program. Through that experience, he has seen firsthand how getting to a better life requires studying, working, mentorship — and help with housing.
“The affordable housing that gives them an opportunity to come out of some of the really lower income neighborhoods they’ve been in and have better, quieter, more wholesome places to live,” Turntine said.
“If people can afford a better opportunity, we see everyone blossom from it. It’s a great day,” Al Brady with UpRise said.
Turntine says the tough choices Nashville families face are real.
“Whether I’m gonna pay the car out or whether I’m gonna get food for the kids,” Turntine said.
Now living and thriving in a new opportunity, Turntine has made it his mission to help others get there too.
“We’re living in a better neighborhood now — we actually just moved last weekend to a house twice the house of what we were in before,” Turntine said. “When you make different choices in life, that gives you different opportunities.”
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at Amanda.Roberts@NewsChannel5.com
This story was reported on-air by Amanda Roberts and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
101st Airborne veterans get Purple Hearts years after an insider attack
As we honor those who have served our country and made the ultimate sacrifice, it is also heartening to see the military right a wrong. Chris Davis brings us the moving story of a Purple Heart ceremony two decades in the making. It’s worth a watch.
A heartfelt thanks to all who bravely serve.
– Carrie Sharp
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — A new Tennessee law aimed at protecting utility customers from the growing energy demands of data centers will take effect in July.
The legislation comes as more than 60 data centers power artificial intelligence and other cyber operations across the state, with about one-third located in the greater Nashville area. As the race to build and power AI infrastructure accelerates nationwide and globally, Tennessee lawmakers say they’re working to ensure ratepayers are not saddled with the added costs of serving these massive facilities.
“We want to have data centers. But we want to put guardrails around that to protect our ratepayers,” said state Rep. Ed Butler, R-Rickman, during a legislative committee hearing in March.
Under the new law, data centers must pay for any new infrastructure required to support their operations, including substations and other power-related upgrades. Utilities are prohibited from passing those costs on to residential and business customers.
“In the rural areas they’re putting a lot of these. And we have had a lot of increased utility bills,” said state Rep. Dennis Powers, R-Jacksboro, during the same March committee hearing on the legislation.
Powers questioned if data centers could be contributing to ratepayer costs. That question wasn’t clearly answered. Regardless, legislators voted the measure through, and Gov. Bill Lee signed it into law to help prevent that from happening.
“If there was a substation that was needed to be put in to provide power for this data center, then the data center would pay for the substation,” Butler said during the hearing.
As communities across Tennessee consider proposals for new data centers, and new laws to regulate (or contain) them, some local leaders remain opposed to bringing the facilities to their areas.
“I don’t think they fit in Robertson County, and definitely not in my community,” said Cedar Hill Mayor John Edwards, who is proposing a two-year moratorium on data centers in his city.
Electric providers and utilities are also preparing for future demand. The Tennessee Valley Authority reports data centers currently account for about 18% of its industrial power load, a figure that’s predicted to potentially double by 2030.
The new law also allows utilities, including TVA, to establish a separate customer or rate class specifically for data centers, providing an additional safeguard against shifting costs to other customers.
As energy demand continues to surge, state lawmakers say the goal is to ensure Tennessee stays competitive, while families and businesses do not see higher electric bills because of data center expansion.
Data center advocates, meanwhile, say many facilities generate much of their own power on-site and use advanced cooling systems that require little or no water.
If TVA moves forward with creating a separate customer or rate class for data centers, FOX17 will continue to follow those developments.
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