John Fulkerson’s early exit from Tennessee’s Friday win over Florida put a damper on the Volunteers’ big SEC Tournament victory.

Fulkerson and Florida’s Omar Payne were battling for position when things turned ugly. Payne first elbowed Fulkerson on the chin. Then, with his back turned to Fulkerson, Payne threw a second elbow that hit Fulkerson in the head, sending the Tennessee forward to the floor. Payne was tossed from the game with a Flagrant 2 and Fulkerson did not return.

Vols coach Rick Barnes discussed Fulkerson’s status after the game. He shared that Fulkerson was taken to the hospital “just for observation” and that his eye was being evaluated. UT is set to face 1-seed Alabama in Saturday’s tournament semifinal.

“I don’t know if I could say we could count on him (Saturday),” Barnes said, per Grant Ramey of GoVols247. “Again, we’ll wait and see. My gut feeling, he took two pretty good licks right there. I would be surprised if he is available.”

The hard foul also gave the Vols a boost as Florida was trying to make a comeback.

“Of course, it kind of pissed us off,” Yves Pons said, per GoVols247. “That really motivated us to keep going and don’t relax. We have Johnny’s back.”