As I mentioned on Sunday, Tennessee plans to honor Bernard King at halftime of tonight’s Kentucky game. The recent release from the University confirms that Bernard King’s number will be retired. He will be the first Volunteer to receive that honor. The number 53 will never be worn by another Tennessee basketball player.
Bernard King was a topic of conversation in the media earlier this week, but for a different reason. The Florida Gators beat Kentucky Saturday night for the fifth consecutive time. That ties the record for the most consecutive losses by the Wildcats to a single team. Tennessee did it back in the late 70’s and it just so happens to be the last 5 games that Bernard King played against the Wildcats. The Ernie and Bernie Show was 5-1 against Kentucky.
John Ward told the story of King’s first visit to Rupp Arena. After the game, as Bernard walked off the court, the Wildcat faithful were giving him a hard time. One fan threw a lighted cigarette at King. After the post game interviews, still upset the incident, Bernard informed media that Kentucky would never beat Tennessee again as long as he was playing. They never did.
Bruce Pearl knows how important the Kentucky games are each year. When he arrived in Knoxville, Pearl vowed to make this series competitive again. He started out with a bang, beating Kentucky at Rupp Arena in his first trip to Lexington. Since then, however, the Vols have lost consecutive games.
Last season, fans actually formed a human checkerboard in Thompson Boling Arena as they were encouraged to “keep the blue out”. Over 24,000 showed up and Tennessee’s marketing department won a national award for the promotion. The game’s outcome was the only thing that kept it from being a perfect evening. Tennessee lost a heartbreaker 80-78.
This year’s goal is to “Paint the Town Orange“. Everyone is encouraged to wear orange to the game tonight. Hopefully the atmosphere will be as good or better than last year but with a different result.
The Vols are 26-2 at Thompson Boling Arena under Bruce Pearl but have lost 4 straight to Kentucky at home.