KNOXVILLE - Tennessee's second basketball game in the Maui Invitational last week served as the coming-out party for freshman forward John Fulkerson.
Can the Kingsport native sustain the effort and production he displayed in the overtime loss to Oregon?
No Tennessee player has played more minutes in a game this season than Fulkerson's 37 against the Ducks, and the 6-foot-7 rookie had 12 points, 10 rebounds, five blocked shots and two steals.
"I was really actually shocked I played that much," Fulkerson said before Tuesday's practice as the Volunteers began preparing for today's visit from Georgia Tech. "I was able to play that much and contribute to the team. The biggest thing was I couldn't have done what I did without my teammates and everybody just playing together."
Fulkerson followed up becoming the first Tennessee freshman to record a double-double since Jarnell Stokes in 2012 by starting and turning in an eight-point, eight-rebound performance in a win against Division II Chaminade in Tennessee's closing game of the tournament.
His impact in Maui extended beyond the box score, though, as Fulkerson's energy affected the Vols in a positive way.
"That's what he does," Vols coach Rick Barnes said. "When we saw him through high school, that's what he did. He was a guy that would bring some energy and rebound the ball, and that's what he did for us as much as anything. He went after the ball. He just didn't block out; he went and got it a couple of times. That's what you need.
"I thought what he did did have an effect on our guards. Our guards really rebounded the ball well the last two games of that tournament - OK the first one, but the last two our guards were really involved in going down and coming up with some rebounds. There's no doubt his energy affected our team."
After playing his freshman and sophomore seasons at Dobyns-Bennett in Kingsport, Fulkerson played his final two prep seasons at The Christ School in Arden, N.C. As a junior he led the team in scoring (10.0 points per game) and rebounding (6.1 per game). During his senior season he blocked 113 shots, breaking former Duke star Marshall Plumlee's school record.
Fulkerson scored 10 points on five dunks in Tennessee's exhibition game but scored just four points in 20 minutes in the first three games of the season before erupting against Oregon. In nearly every game, though, his energy has been evident, whether it was a hustle play out of sheer effort, a tough rebound in traffic or a blocked shot.
"He's shown that," Barnes said. "You go back to our scrimmage here with Davidson and the exhibition game, he showed that, but where he hadn't been able to really get fully engaged was totally understanding what we needed to be doing on the offensive end.
"The more he can grasp that, where it's going to allow him not to have to think so much as opposed to reacting within our offense, and I thought that he did settle in and start doing some of those things in Maui."
Tennessee will need its entire team to play with Fulkerson's energy against a difficult December schedule.
"I love the way John Fulkerson plays," guard Shembari Phillips said. "I even talked to him earlier today about how he played. It was just great. His effort is tremendous, and that's what we need out of everybody every night."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.