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Tennessee beat the Florida Gators on Friday afternoon in Nashville, but they may have lost John Fulkerson in the process. The senior Tennessee leader took two elbows to the head in the second half of the victory, delivered by Florida’s Omar Payne.
Payne was sent off and Fulkerson went to the locker room for further examination. Ultimately, Fulkerson was ruled out by Tennessee for the remainder of the game.
The situation was ugly and the two teams had to be separated after the incident. The focus now is on Fulkerson’s availability going forward, starting with an SEC semi-final game against Alabama tomorrow afternoon.
“I didn’t see him,” Rick Barnes said after the game. “I had already looked the other way, turned the other way. I have not seen it. I heard it wasn’t good at all, obviously. They took him to the hospital just for observation. I think it was more for his eye than anything else. Tomorrow, I don’t know at the moment if we could say that we can count on him. Again, we’ll wait and see. My gut, he took two really good licks right there and I’d be surprised if he’s available.
Fulkerson finished with eight points on a 3-4 shot from the field in 19 minutes. Tennessee went small without Fulkerson on the floor, moving Josiah-Jordan James to four and Yves Pons to five. The game was underway at the time, with Tennessee managing a double-digit lead.
The Volunteers face the No. 1 seed Alabama tomorrow – a situation that could actually reward the game of a small ball. The tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET on ESPN.
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