What do Lucky Charms, whole milk, 2% milk, skim milk, hotel food, iPhone 11 Pro camera lenses, the rudeness of loud talkers and basketball brawls have in common?

All of those topics emerged in a 12-minute interview with John Fulkerson on Tuesday that were infinitely more interesting than anything else that happened throughout the evening at Thompson-Boling Arena.

Don’t get me wrong. Plenty of interesting things happened during Tennessee’s 73-48 win over Ole Miss.

Fulkerson scored a career-high 18 points, and 16 of those came just in the first half. That was interesting. Eight points used to be a full month’s worth of scoring from The Incredible Fulk. Now he’s doing that in games. That’s interesting.

Tennessee has allowed its past two opponents — Vanderbilt and Ole Miss — to shoot a combined 4-of-50 from 3-point range. That’s interesting.

A couple of midseason additions have turned this from a transition season into potentially a better-than-that season for the Vols. That’s interesting.

So, yeah, some interesting things happened Tuesday night here in The Tommy Bowl.

None of them were more interesting than Fulkerson’s interview, though.

It began innocently enough.

A reporter asked Fulkerson about his huge first half against the Rebels. He scored 16 points on 6-of-6 shooting, and he also had six rebounds and two steals. He finished with 18 points, 10 rebounds and three steals, but obviously he did most of that damage in the first 20 minutes.

Things … took a turn after that question — a simple question about whether he saw something on film or something during the game that told him he could have a big night.

“Before the game, I ate Lucky Charms for the first time, like, maybe ever before a game,” Fulkerson said. “I was just a little hungry, so I had a little bowl of Lucky Charms. I think the luck did work. That’s the first time I’ve ever done that, and it’s also the first time I’ve ever scored that many points in the first half probably throughout my whole career. So I might be onto something with eating Lucky Charms before games, and that’s good, ‘cause we’ve got those in the locker room.”

He wasn’t done.

He was just getting started.

“I can’t remember what kind of milk it was,” Fulkerson continued. “I like whole milk. My parents have always fed us whole milk. I mean, 2%, that’s watered down, and skim milk … I’m not gonna judge you if you drink skim milk, but, like, you might as well just drink water, I feel like.

“So … yeah, before the game I ate Lucky Charms. And … I think I got the luck from ‘em.”

It was clear at that point that any topic was fair game for The Fulk, so the next nine minutes were kind of a free-for-all.

What’s your normal pregame meal, Fulky?

“My normal pregame is just whatever [director of basketball operations] Mary-Carter Eggert gets us — or, no, no, our dietician, Lauren, she does the meals now,” Fulkerson said. “Like, today, it was Aubrey’s. And in the hotel, you know, it’s usually just like that hotel food, which is … you know, hotel food.

“But I think I might be onto something with the Lucky Charms. Next game, I’ll eat the Lucky Charms, and we’ll see if I have the same outcome. Then we’ll know.”

What about third-ranked Kansas, Fulky? Y’all play them Saturday on the road. Did you see what they did tonight?

“No, I did not,” Fulkerson said. “What happened.”

Well, Fulky, there was a bench-clearing brawl.

“Whoa,” Fulkerson said.

Yeah, Fulky. Silvio De Sousa picked up a stool. So be careful if that happens.

“Wow,” Fulkerson said. “Will do. Thanks."

Fulkerson, to his credit, spent the next 100 seconds kind-of, sort-of getting back on the rails. He talked about Tennessee’s focus, its recent improvements and all that. He even dropped in a couple of “one game at a time” cliches.

Then he lost his train of thought during the group interview with a dozen-or-so reporters and got excited when he noticed that yours truly had an iPhone 11 Pro.

“Hey, we’ve got the same phone!” Fulkerson said. “It’s very nice.”

Yes, Fulky, we have the same phone. And yes, it’s nice — though Apple doesn’t sponsor the GoVols247 Podcast, so I’m hesitant to discuss that publicly. But, yes, it’s a nice phone.

Another reporter — my good friend Gene Henley from my former stomping grounds, The Chattanooga Times Free Press — then started asking us about our phones. Remember, this is a group postgame interview. Anyway, there are no rules in this point, so let’s discuss our phones for a minute. Gene is thinking about getting the new iPhone 11 Pro.

“The camera is really good. Really good. Really good,” Fulkerson said. “Get the 11, the big one. You get three cameras! If you do that, you get three cameras! The wide one, you could get us all in here.”

So, anyway Fulky, back to basketball. What about Jalen Joh…

“The wide angle,” Fulkerson said. “The wide angle is nice.”

Things then really went back to basketball. For a couple solid minutes.

Jalen Johnson was discussed. Tennessee’s freshmen were discussed. Fulkerson’s relationship with Ole Miss coach Kermit Davis when Davis was the coach at Middle Tennessee State was discussed. Tennessee’s ability to contain Ole Miss star Breein Tyree was discussed … for a bit.

Midway through his Tyree answer, Fulkerson looked over toward Vols freshman forward Olivier Nkamhoua — who was doing his group interview a few feet away — and decided the young Finland native was speaking too loudly.

Fulkerson had glanced that way a couple of times. Knowing Fulkerson and his tendency to interrupt the interviews of other players — especially the team’s freshmen — I thought it might happen. It happened.

“Yo, O, I can hear you over here,” Fulkerson said.

“So? I can hear you, too,” Nkamhoua replied. “I can hear you, too.”

“But I’m trying to think about what I’m saying, and I just hear you,” Fulkerson said.

“So? I can hear you, too,” Nkamhoua repeated.

“Then you need to say you can hear me,” Fulkerson said.

“I can think and hear at the same time,” Nkamhoua replied.

Fulkerson then turned back toward the media.

“Sorry, I done lost my thing,” Fulkerson said. “He was talking too loud.”

But Olivier is getting rebounds now, Fulky. Surely he can speak up now, right?

“How many rebounds did he have tonight?” Fulkerson asked.

Then a young reporter I didn’t know — maybe an Ole Miss beat reporter I haven’t met yet — decided to join the fun. Welcome to the Tennessee basketball beat, kid. Weird is first base here. Come on in. The water’s warm.

“Not as many as you,” the reporter said.

“But how many?” Fulkerson asked again.

Four, Fulky. He had four. But your coaches say he’s a great rebounder.

This answer seemed to satisfy Fulkerson, so the interview then got back on track and ended on track.

Sometimes Fulkerson brings up his favorite shows on television, or asks for recommendations from the gallery. Sometimes he brings up whatever backwards baseball cap he’s wearing — on Tuesday he went back to one of his favorites, a cap from the Battle 4 Atlantis three seasons ago in The Bahamas. He spent several minutes discussing that cap one night. Sometimes he discusses his hair and whether he needs to cut it. He’ll occasionally bring up that topic if you bump into him in the hall before or after practice. Fulkerson went on a monologue one night about how he’d always gotten the same haircut at the same place in his native Kingsport for basically his entire life, and then he decided after last season to just … well … stop cutting it. And he hasn’t cut it since. And you can tell. He’s always had unfortunate and awkward pictures taken of him during games, and now they’re even more unfortunate and awkward. They’d be unfortunate and awkward for other people, I mean. They fit Fulkerson the way soy sauce fits rice.

Many times — more often that not, actually — he’ll bring up Pal’s, the popular fast-food chain in Upper East Tennessee. He loves Pal’s. He discusses Pal’s every day. He takes teammates on road trips to Pal’s.

One time he stopped an interview when he noticed a Kentucky fan on television in the stands eating ice cream.

“Hey, someone’s eating ice cream,” Fulkerson said that night.

Yes, Fulky, that person is eating ice cream.

Hopefully that ice cream wasn’t made with skim milk.

Anyway, nice game Tuesday, Fulky.