Tennessee Volunteers will be left without striker John Fulkerson for the remainder of the SEC Tournament, after he suffered “facial injuries” after what his teammates called Florida’s “dirty game” in the quarterfinal game of Friday.
Fulkerson was taken to the hospital after being hit in the face by Payne’s elbows with just over 17 minutes remaining and the Vols winning 35-26, a move that would have him kicked out of the game.
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Teammate Yves Pons told reporters after the Vols’ 78-66 victory that “it was a dirty game”.
“This is nothing to do on a basketball court,” he said, via ESPN. “Of course, we take it personally. We love John. We play for him. We protect him.”
Fulkerson went to Twitter to offer his forgiveness, adding that Payne came to him the next morning.
“I know a lot of people are upset about what happened during yesterday’s game,” said his tweet. “Omar came to me this morning and was very sorry. Everyone makes mistakes. Let’s all show grace and focus on today’s game. Go Vols!”
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The Florida senior issued his own statement on social media saying he “deeply regrets the incident”.
“I have nothing but respect for John and [the] Tennessee Program, “said your post.” I apologized to John and would also like to publicly apologize to him, the Tennessee team and Coach Barnes. I wish them all the best in their NCAA tournament. ”
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The team announced Saturday morning that Fulkerson had been dropped for the remainder of the tournament.
Vols will face Alabama on Saturday at 1 pm ET in an attempt to reach the league game for a third consecutive tournament, not counting the cancellation last year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.