The Evansville Purple Aces are taking notes from just about every team that prepares to play a big game in Knoxville, Tennessee.
They’re playing “Rocky Top” at practice.
Tennessee has established itself as one of the premier home sporting atmospheres across the college athletics landscape, setting up challenging situations for any opponent that goes to Knoxville for a big-time matchup.
Playing “Rocky Top” is a tried-and-true method of preparing for any Tennessee home game with the expectation that the Vols’ song will be played countless times throughout the contest.
On an interesting note, though, the Purple Aces are playing the Conway Twitty version of the song as opposed to The Osborne Brothers’ version. The version caused a bit of division in the comments as some opted for Twitty’s version of the Tennessee classic while others stood by the original.
How is Evansville preparing for its Super Regional matchup against top-ranked Tennessee?
Listening to Rocky Top at practice. #Vols
📽️@MichaelSGross pic.twitter.com/rUKJKyhxWB
— Sam Rothman (@samrothman_) June 5, 2024
More from RTI: Tennessee Baseball vs. Evansville In Knoxville Super Regional: How To Watch, Complete Preview
“If they hear it, it’s too late,” one X user commented.
“It’s not even remotely loud enough,” another user wrote.
Evansville enters the Knoxville Super Regional as an underdog team, but not your average underdog team. The Purple Aces are a bit more of a sustained Cinderella, a very low seed in the tournament but have mixed in a run of strong success over the last few weeks. Evansville finished second in the Missouri Valley Conference and then upset Indiana State for the MVC Tournament Championship. The Purple Aces then went into the Greenville Regional and took down No. 16 East Carolina, VCU, and Wake Forest to advance to the second weekend of the tournament.
Evansville and (1) Tennessee will square off in a best-of-three series this weekend in Lindsey Nelson Stadium. The first game will be played on Friday at 3:00 p.m. ET while the Saturday game will be played at 11:00 a.m. in Knoxville. A Sunday game, if needed, would be played at 6:00 p.m. ET.
