Tyler Smith brushed into Ricky Taylor and called his shot.
Smith, a former University of Tennessee basketball star and trash-talker, looked at UTC’s Taylor during pregame warmups on Nov. 15, 2008, and said something about kicking his teeth in and booting other blue and gold body parts until they turned black and blue.
Taylor, who was a freshman at the time and now preaches at his Chattanooga church at least one Sunday a month, had no idea that the first game of his college career would have such an intimidating beginning before the game began.
“Tyler Smith said something about kicking our tails and all that,” said Taylor, who is the Mocs’ leading returning scorer at 11.4 points per game. “I knew it was about business from then on, and that’s what Division I basketball is about.”
Smith backed up his words with 21 points in Tennessee’s 114-75 thumping of the Mocs. Five other Vols had at least 12 points that evening.