Tennessee
No. 7 Tennessee runs past UT Martin to remain unbeaten
It started like many of Tennessee‘s home non-conference games have through the first month of the season.
The No. 7 Vols never trailed in its first game since two stellar outings at the Baha Mar Championship and its lead was never in question, but another defensive masterclass turned their game against UT Martin into a second half rout, producing a 78-35 victory at Food City Center on Wednesday.
TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM
Tennessee (7-0) did it without the kind of shooting clinic it put on against Virginia and Baylor in the Bahamas last week, finishing less than 30% from three-point range. Chaz Lanier led the Vols in scoring with 16 points, while Zakai Zeigler scored 11 and Felix Okpara finished with 10 along with 11 rebounds for a double-double.
Tennessee held UT Martin (2-5) to 23% shooting from the field and allowed just 15 second half points from the Skyhawks, with their 35 total points the fewest allowed at Food City Center since it opened in 1987.
It started slow, then Zakai Zeigler hit a step-back 3-pointer nearly two minutes in.
UT Martin answered with a Matija Zuzic three to even the score before the Vols rattled off an 8-0 run that included 3-pointers from Igor Milicic Jr. and Chaz Lanier to open up an 11-3 lead with a little under 16 minutes left in the first half.
The Skyhawks evidently made the most of the first media timeout after the Vols’ early onslaught. Leading scorer Josue Grullon scored on back-to-back possessions, including an acrobatic three-point shot from the corner to trim Tennessee’s lead to 12-8.
The Vols clapped back with a score from Milicic and a put-back dunk from Cade Phillips, who was the first player off the bench alongside Jordan Gainey to extend the lead to 16-10 with 11:34 to go in the half.
On the defensive end, Tennessee held UT Martin scoreless for at two-plus minute stretch while Milicic and Lanier bolstered the Vols on offense before the Skyhawks ended their drought to cut the Vols lead to nine at 23-14 as the clock ticked inside of eight minutes.
Tennessee had its own stagnant stretch on offense with less than seven minutes left in the half, going cold from the field for a couple of minutes before Darlinstone Dubar, who has made an impact off of the bench since making his debut at the Baha Mar Championship last week, sunk a 3-pointer to up the Vols’ lead to 28-14.
UT Martin went nearly five minutes without a basket, the result of Tennessee getting hands on the ball and keeping it on the Skyhawks’ end of the floor. Grullon was fouled on a deep 3-pointer that fell through to again end a drought and narrow their deficit to 28-17.
Tennessee’s only points in a four-minute stretch late in the half came from a pair of free throws from Phillips and Stefano Faloppa made a 3-pointer to pull UT Martin within 10. But Felix Okpara gathered in a pass under the basket and finished with a dunk to send the Vols into the half up 35-20.
As sluggish as Tennessee’s ending to the first half was, the Vols grabbed their largest lead quickly in the second half after Zeigler tallied another three and Okpara tipped the ball in to go up 40-20.
Tennessee added two more scores from Gainey and Zeigler again before UT Martin scored its first points of the of the half more than four minutes into the period.
The Vols’ three-point shooting woes continued with Zeigler’s shot in the opening second the only one made of five attempts through the first eight minutes, but those struggles hardly mattered.
The defense gave the Skyhawks fits and Tennessee found other ways to score to maintain a 20-point cushion.
Lanier ended the Vols’ cold streak from deep with a three from the top of the of the key to go ahead 54-29 with 8:58 to go. He had a second on the next possession that rimmed out, but Okapra was there for the put-back.
Dubar scored in transition off of a turnover and Milicic pulled down Zeigler’s eighth assist for a dunk to highlight a 16-3 run over six minutes that upped Tennessee’s lead to a commanding 64-31 edge.
Tennessee will open December with another power conference test on its home floor.
The Vols host Syracuse in the ACC/SEC Challenge at Food City Center on Tuesday, Dec. 3 at 7:30 p.m. ET (TV: ESPN) in a rematch of the Maui Invitational in Honolulu last November.
Tennessee won that game, 73-56.
The Vols played at North Carolina in the inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge last season, coming up short in a second half comeback bid in Chapel Hill.
Syracuse is off to a 3-2 with wins over Le Moyne, Colgate and Youngstown State and losses to Texas and Texas Tech. The Orange play Cornell later tonight.
Tennessee
Childhood friends reunite during cancer treatments 50 years after serving in Tennessee National Guard together
A pair of childhood classmates who served together in the Tennessee National Guard reconnected during their cancer treatments nearly 50 years after they fell out of touch.
Billy Taylor, a two-time cancer survivor, wasn’t entirely surprised when he found himself back at the Sarah Cannon Cancer Center at TriStar Natchez in Dickson, Tennessee, for yet another round of radiation, WSMV 4 reported.
At the same time, Randy Duke was riding his motorcycle to the same center for daily radiation and chemotherapy treatments as he fights an aggressive throat cancer.
For weeks, neither knew that they were incidentally crossing paths with an old friend.
Duke and Taylor attended school together in White Bluff, Tennessee — just 10 miles outside of Dickson — and were in the same training unit in the Volunteer State’s National Guard.
They lost contact in 1979 when Taylor left the guard to pursue his own business, and figured that was the end of things.
Taylor recognized Duke’s name immediately when he heard a nurse call for him while they were both in the waiting room at the center. Physically, though, Duke looked like a stranger — and vice versa.
“I didn’t know for sure that was him because we changed so much. I wouldn’t have known him if I hadn’t heard his name. I would have never guessed in a million years who he was,” Taylor told WSMV 4.
Taylor didn’t say anything until he got a closer look at Duke in the parking lot three days later.
“Drake, is that you?” Taylor recounted shouting at Duke.
Duke always went by his middle name, Drake, in school because there were so many other students named Randy.
“Oh my goodness, yeah. I can see it now, Billy Ray, and I was glad to see him,” Duke remembered replying while Taylor reintroduced himself.
The pair have been inseparable ever since. They spent hours catching up and reflecting on “all the crazy stuff” they did in the Guard — effectively filling a gaping hole in Duke’s life.
When Duke first started his cancer treatments, he knew it would be difficult, but he told the outlet that the lack of real connection was even harder.
“We used to know everybody in White Bluff. Now, we don’t hardly know anybody. We go to a restaurant and I’m searching for somebody I know up there,” he said.
Now, he and Taylor are leaving for their morning appointments a little earlier so they can carve out extra time to chat in the waiting room.
“We could sit out there and talk. It got our mind off things too. It was just a good feeling to see him again. You don’t see many people that you’ve not seen in 48 years,” Taylor told the outlet.
“As you get older, you’ve got less and less time to meet them. So, it might be a good time to do it,” Duke added.
When Taylor completed his treatments, he rang the center’s chemo bell with Duke by his side. Taylor said he plans to do the same for Duke when he finishes his treatments in June.
Duke, meanwhile, is hoping to secure a part-time job with Taylor when he’s well enough so they can work side-by-side as they did in their youth.
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – Nashville Soccer Club has been named Tennessee’s 2026 “Professional Team of the Year” for its historic 2025 season. Nashville SC and the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame (TSHOF) made the announcement Wednesday.
In 2025, Nashville SC became the first professional sports team in Tennessee to win a championship with its Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup title. The team also qualified for the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs for the fifth time in six seasons.
“This year’s Achievement Award honorees reflect the very best of Tennessee’s rich sports tradition — from legends who’ve inspired generations to rising stars making their mark on the national stage,“ said Harold Graeter, chairman of the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame’s Board of Directors. ”We are proud to honor these individuals and teams whose dedications, excellence, and impact represent what the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame Stands for.”
In addition to their Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup title and qualification to the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs, Nashville SC said it set multiple club records in 2025, including:
- The most single season wins in Nashville SC history (22)
- The most single season MLS wins in Nashville SC history (17)
- The longest unbeaten streaks in Nashville SC history (15 all competitions, 12 MLS)
- The most single season home wins in Nashville SC history (15)
- The most single season goals in Nashville SC history (75)
- The most MLS All-Stars in Nashville SC history with three (Hany Mukhtar, Andy Najar, Sam Surridge)
The TSHOF will formally present Nashville SC with its award at its 2026 Banquet at the Omni Nashville Downtown on July 11.
Nashville SC said this honor is the third TSHOF Achievement Award in the club’s history, with the others including principal owner John Ingram’s 2022 ‘Tennessean of the Year’ recognition and Hany Mukhtar’s 2023 ‘Professional Player of the Year’ honors.
Copyright 2026 WSMV. All rights reserved.
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