On This Day in Vol BB History...

[hillsborovol]

The great Reggie Johnson scored the first 18 points of the game against Ole Miss in Stokely Athletic Center.

 

[MidTennVols]

You should of included the year/season, and maybe what our record was at the time.

 

[OffTackleVol]

The great Reggie Johnson scored the first 18 points of the game against Ole Miss in Stokely Athletic Center.

I remember Reggie well. About 6'10" and played mostly with his back to the bucket, but could face up. Was a freshmen, I think, when Ernie Grunfeld was a senior and Bernard King was a junior. Won the SEC that year (1977) if I remember correctly.

 

[hillsborovol]

You should of included the year/season, and maybe what our record was at the time.

I meant to include the year, but accidentally left it off. It was 1979 and the Vols record was 10-8 entering that game (we lost).

This was my freshman year at UT and Don Devoe's first year. We were 6-6 in SEC play when the Vols went on a 6 game winning streak to end the regular season. Then, we won the SEC and defeated Kentucky for the 3rd time that year in the SEC Championship game. We also defeated Eastern Kentucky for the 1st ever win in the NCAA tournament.
We lost the 2nd game in a hard fought contest to Notre Dame.

One other notable piece of information about that season. Terry Crosby was almost a defensive liability before Devoe coached him into the best defensive player that I have ever seen that one season. Crosby was assigned to guard every teams best player and he simply shut them down.

 

[OffTackleVol]

I meant to include the year, but accidentally left it off. It was 1979 and the Vols record was 10-8 entering that game (we lost).

This was my freshman year at UT and Don Devoe's first year. We were 6-6 in SEC play when the Vols went on a 6 game winning streak to end the regular season. Then, we won the SEC and defeated Kentucky for the 3rd time that year in the SEC Championship game. We also defeated Eastern Kentucky for the 1st ever win in the NCAA tournament.
We lost the 2nd game in a hard fought contest to Notre Dame.

One other notable piece of information about that season. Terry Crosby was almost a defensive liability before Devoe coached him into the best defensive player that I have ever seen that one season. Crosby was assigned to guard every teams best player and he simply shut them down.

My sophomore year at UT......great memories. Cold beers after the games at The End Zone........or The Last Lap........or Yosemite Sam's.........or Shelbourne Tower's Horizons or Hymies. A Saturday night trip to Uncle Sam's out on Alcoa Hwy.

 

[volmainia2]

The great Reggie Johnson scored the first 18 points of the game against Ole Miss in Stokely Athletic Center.

he was a fine player

 

[Hank Bukowski]

I meant to include the year, but accidentally left it off. It was 1979 and the Vols record was 10-8 entering that game (we lost).

This was my freshman year at UT and Don Devoe's first year. We were 6-6 in SEC play when the Vols went on a 6 game winning streak to end the regular season. Then, we won the SEC and defeated Kentucky for the 3rd time that year in the SEC Championship game. We also defeated Eastern Kentucky for the 1st ever win in the NCAA tournament.
We lost the 2nd game in a hard fought contest to Notre Dame.

One other notable piece of information about that season. Terry Crosby was almost a defensive liability before Devoe coached him into the best defensive player that I have ever seen that one season. Crosby was assigned to guard every teams best player and he simply shut them down.

Brother, that brought back some great memories. Great team, great coach, great players. And we had Kentucky’s number that whole season. High hopes for the tournament but, if memory serves,Notre Dame had a couple of players that were just a bit too much for us that day…Kelly Tripucka and Bill Laimbeer. ND would go on to lose to Magic Johnson and Michigan State, I believe. And wasn’t our PG a kid named Johnny Darden, who Al McGuire called “Tennessee’s Houdini?”

 

[knox73]

Sad that Ray Mears never won an NCAA tournament game nor did the Vols prior to Don DeVoe. DeVoe was a terrific coach prior to the shot clock. Reggie Johnson was an exceptional player.

 

[BigorangeBoy]

The SEC title game was the one where Kyle Macy had a chance to win it in regulation, but he missed the jumper and tried to draw a phantom foul on Crosby. Crosby extended his had to help him off the floor, and Macy slapped it away.

We went on to win in OT.

 

[Thunder Good-Oil]

Sad that Ray Mears never won an NCAA tournament game nor did the Vols prior to Don DeVoe. DeVoe was a terrific coach prior to the shot clock. Reggie Johnson was an exceptional player.

Mears would have won a lot of NCAAT games in today’s format. In the first half of his career the NCAAT only took 1 team per conference. So KY got the invites. Games weren’t seeded either. Also it is a much larger field today.