Watch: Tennessee retires Chris Lofton's No. 5 jersey

Chris Lofton’s No. 5 jersey is finally where it belongs. During halftime of Saturday’s game between No. 5 Tennessee and Kentucky, the Vols retired Lofton’s jersey, raising it the No. 5 banner to the rafters at Thompson-Boling Arena. 

To the rafters forever #LoftonLegacy pic.twitter.com/KC5Y5lrzkq

— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) January 14, 2023

Lofton went from a barely recruited prospect out of Maysville, Ky., to a Tennessee legend during his four years with the Vols, from 2004-08. He holds the SEC record for made 3-point shots, with 431, and is fourth on Tennessee’s all-time scoring list, with 2,131 points.

“We all should be excited for Chris,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said this week. “When you think about, I’ve never met anyone that can say ill thing about Chris.”

Lofton’s jersey retirement was announced in September while he was visiting a Tennessee practice. Barnes brought him on the floor to talk to the team, then broke the news that his jersey was set to be retired.  

“When you come into a situation like we did eight years ago,” Barnes said, referencing when he took the Tennessee job in 2015, “and you want to build something special, but you also know you need past players and people involved to help you do that, he embraced us. He really, from the time he came around, one, because he loves this university so much.” 

Chris Lofton averaged 16.6 points, shot 42.2 percent from 3-point line in 128 games with Vols

Lofton didn’t earn a scholarship offer from Kentucky and wasn’t heavily recruited by Louisville, either, Instead, he was a late addition for Tennessee under former head coach Buzz Peterson. 

He starred under Bruce Pearl, averaging 16.6 points, 3.3 assists and 1.7 rebounds in 128 career games, shooting 45.4 percent from the field and 42.2 percent from the 3-point line.

Last March, Santiago Vescovi became only the second Tennessee player to make 100 or more 3-pointers in a single season, with 102. The other player to do so is Lofton, who had 114 as a sophomore, 106 as a junior and 118 as a senior. 

Lofton formed his Tennessee legacy with one huge shot after the next. There was the 30-footer over Kevin Durant to beat Texas at Thompson-Boling Arena. There was the shot to beat Winthrop in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the one he took falling away from deep in the corner with a hand in his face. There was the 31 points he put on his home-state school in his homecoming, leading Tennessee to a win at Rupp Arena. 

Off the court, he quietly battled cancer during his senior season, after being diagnosed with testicular cancer in March 2007.

Chris Lofton’s No. 5 is fifth jersey retired by Tennessee men’s basketball

He’s still being used as an example from Barnes to his current players. 

“He loves being in the gym,” Barnes said. “I think our players had a chance up close to see a real professional go at his craft and see what he needs to do. But lay that aside, the kind of person he is and what he stands for, his love for the Lord and the way that he’s real, he’s as real as can be. 

“Then you throw in the fact that he had to fight cancer,” Barnes added. “He’s such a great person. And it’s more. The way he loves the program. I don’t know of any era that doesn’t love him because of the way he loves this place.”

Before practice on Thursday, Tennessee senior wing Josiah-Jordan James was asked what he knows about Lofton’s legacy after spending four years with the Vols. 

“That I don’t think anybody else can replicate it,” James said. “He’s, if not the greatest shooter in college basketball history ever, in my opinion. Tennessee, Vol nation loves him for good reason. He’s a great guy and I learned if I just try to emulate him on-and-off the court that my legacy will be left right where it needs to be.”