Seen and heard: Cats are boosted, Tennessee has a UA connection and Arizona lands on time (this time)

Wildcats now fully boosted

With the omicron variant is making life difficult for college basketball, the Wildcats are taking full precautions.

UA athletic trainer Justin Kokoskie told the Star that every one of the Wildcats’ scholarship players has now received booster shots in addition to being fully vaccinated against COVID-19. They have also made efforts to separate themselves physically in many daily situations and even asked a Knoxville restaurant for a spaced-out banquet room to have dinner in on Friday night.

UA doctors and officials have been in touch with local health officials, and Kokoskie said he relayed information from them to players’ families, who have supported the vaccination efforts.

“I like them to be in the loop, too,” Kokoskie said before Wednesday night's 77-73 loss to No. 19 Tennessee in Knoxville. “All I can do is provide the with the information and we ask them to make the best decision for their families.”

Kokoskie said trust was another key, and that the Wildcats have been good about seeking tests when they have symptoms instead of hiding them so that they can continue playing.

Christmas spirit, Tennessee style

Tennessee managed to create a shooting shirt for its players that tied in Christmas, its mascot and basketball all in one.

A upright cartoon of the Tennessee dog mascot, a bluetick coonhound named Smokey, is featured on the shirt wearing an orange Santa hat while elevating for a dunk.

Wildcat bro

Among Tennessee’s six freshmen is 6-4 guard Jahmai Mashack, whose older brother, Kwesi, was a cornerback for the UA football team from 2014-17.

Jahmai was also recruited to play basketball for the Wildcats but chose the Volunteers over the UA, Arkansas, Cal and Cal Poly.

Support systems

While the largely orange-clad crowd Wednesday contained a much smaller percentage of UA fans than most road games, there were some exceptions.

About 30 friends and relatives of senior guard Justin Kier made the five-hour trip over the Appalachians from Grottoes, Virginia, while Cincinnati-bred equipment manager Brian Brigger attracted eight or nine friends and family members of his own.

Friendly skies

Unlike their weather-plagued trip to Illinois 11 days earlier, the Wildcats’ charter flight was able to get into Knoxville without issue on Monday afternoon.

The Wildcats didn’t arrive in Champaign until 10 p.m. local time on Dec. 10 because their flight was diverted to Indianapolis.

This time, the Wildcats flew straight from Tucson to Knoxville on Monday in just 3 hours and 2 minutes, arriving at 5:15 p.m., Tennessee time. They had time for all the normal pregame activities and had a team meal at a nearby restaurant.

“This trip was much easier,” said TJ Benson, who coordinates UA’s road trips as its special assistant. “It was about as good as possible.”

Even with a four-hour ride scheduled for the return, the time change meant Wildcats were expected to get back to Tucson before 1 a.m. — earlier than they’d normally arrive home after playing a night game in the Pacific Northwest.

‘Flying’ with a 7-footer

Tennessee’s unified dunk pregame tradition turned out to be more of a hop Wednesday.

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In something it calls “One Fly, We all Fly,” the Vols pick a player who “is feeling especially bouncy that day,” according to a Tennessee news release. Then, at about 14 minutes before tipoff, all of his teammates circle the paint and take flight at the same time that he elevates toward the basket for a dunk.

As the selected “dunker” and his teammates land together, Tennessee fans cheer before the team briefly returns to the locker room for final pregame preparations.

On Wednesday, the Vols chose 7-foot center Uros Plavsic, who barely needed to jump off the ground to put his dunk in.

Paying it back

Already popular for his hustle and energy, Tennessee forward John Fulkerson opted to return for a super senior season after battling a rough case of COVID-19 last season. The 24-year-old then realized how old he really was, joking that he was “trying to get community service hours in for babysitting” when he played with four freshmen in a game earlier this season.

He further cemented his image by announcing after name, image and likeness opportunities opened up last July that he would use a portion of his earnings to donate $1 to the Tennessee Fund for every point the team scores this season.

“My time as a Tennessee student-athlete has been life-changing and everything I could have asked for,” Fulkerson said in a Tennessee statement. “This year, I’ve been very blessed to capitalize on some great NIL opportunities. And those opportunities would have never been possible without the amazing support I’ve received over the last five-plus years from so many people across the athletics department and campus.”

Also pretty good

While UA received publicity mileage for having the last school with undefeated teams in men’s and women’s college basketball, Tennessee is bragging that six of its teams are currently ranked in the Top 25 of their respective sports.

Three are in the Top 10 — women’s soccer (No. 6), women’s swimming and diving (No. 6), women’s basketball (No. 7) — while men’s golf (No. 12), men’s swimming and diving (No. 15) and men’s basketball (No. 18) are also ranked. The Volunteers’ baseball team also joined Arizona in reaching the College World Series last season.

C’mon in

Unlike Pac-12 schools, which uniformly did not permit fans to attend last season, Tennessee said it complied with CDC, SEC guidelines and local authorities last season by allowing up to 4,191 fans inside Thompson-Boling Arena, about 18 percent of its 21,678-seat capacity.

This season, the doors are wide open — fans aren’t even required to wear masks to get inside — and an average of 16,073 fans have attended over six home games before Wednesday, when a near-capacity crowd of about 20,000 appeared to show up. The school said it has sold more than 13,000 season tickets for the third-straight full-capacity season.

Good times

Those venturing outside Knoxville toward the nearby Great Smoky Mountain National Park might want to brace themselves for a flood of pamphlets, billboards and traffic.

Among the advertised attractions:

“Hatfield & McCoy Christmas Disaster Dinner Feud.” (“Twas the Fight Before Christmas.”)

“Paula Deen’s Lumberjack Feud.”

“Christmas at Dolly Parton’s Stampede.”

“Comedy Barn Christmas.” (“You’ll laugh your stockings off.”)

“Alcatraz East Crime Museum.” (“So Much Fun It’s a Crime.”)

“Tennessee Legend Distillery.” (Two free shot glasses with purchase of bottle, including 100-proof “Small Batch Moonshine.”)