Tennessee Basketball: Yves Pons and John Fulkerson earn SEC honors

After a difficult season, Tennessee Basketball’s John Fulkerson and Yves Pons lead the way and earn SEC honors.

Throughout this season, John Fulkerson has stepped up and been a leader in the locker room and on the court for Tennessee basketball when it was needed most. It took him a little bit to fill that role, but he eventually filled it and filled it well.

It turns out he quickly became the constant on Tennessee’s team. He was constantly performing on both ends of the court. He finished the season averaging 13.7 points per game and 5.9 rebounds.

As a junior, he was expected to step up coming into this season, and he did that, and I can only imagine how much more he will improve before the beginning of his senior season.

I think next year will greatly improve for Fulkerson because he will have another offseason to work with Yves Pons, who also received SEC Honors after the regular season came to an end.

It’s not a shock, but Pons was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Year for the 2019-20 season after a dominant year on defense.

This was Pons’ breakout season after two years of struggling and trying to figure things out, similar to Fulkerson, although Fulky found success sooner.

Pons had big shoes to fill with Kyle Alexander, Grant Williams, and Admiral Schofield moving on to the NBA after last season. We knew that time was coming, and Pons filled in perfectly.

Pons broke the Tennessee single-season record for blocks and finished with 73 blocks on the season, including at least one block in every game this year. Pons was also named to the SEC’s first-team defense.

I’m not surprised one bit that either of these two players are on a list with really talented SEC basketball players, and you shouldn’t be surprised either.

Now with both players finally finding the success they have been looking for in their third year, they have one final season to continue their dominance and get Tennessee back on the winning track.