Vols and Cardinals bring similar styles to tonight’s game

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Leave it to Wayne Chism to mention the painfully obvious counterpoint.

The full-court, fast-paced styles of Tennessee and Louisville could make tonight’s Sweet Sixteen game as entertaining as nearly everyone is predicting.

“I think it’s going to be a lot of fun,” UT starting point guard J.P. Prince said. “Two good teams going up and down the court, giving people a lot of highlights to see.”

Coaches and players on both sides spent Wednesday’s interview session making similar comments. The second-seeded Volunteers (31-4) and third-seeded Cardinals (26-8) will tip-off around 10 p.m. at Charlotte Bobcats Arena, and neither side typically takes long to find fifth gear.

“We just better hope our pressure is better than their pressure,” UT senior guard JaJuan Smith said. “At this time of the year, there ain’t too much you can change.”

So it could be beautiful.

Or, as Wayne Chism said, it could be “real ugly.” The Vols’ sophomore forward noted the possibility that two teams playing 94 feet at 94 miles per hour could feature sustained sloppiness.

“There could be a lot of turnovers,” Chism said. “It’s not like either of us are going to slow down.”

Analysts across the nation have highlighted tonight’s game as possibly the most premier Sweet Sixteen matchup, and not just because it’s a battle between legitimate national championship contenders.

Offense sells tickets. Points produce television ratings. Dunks dominate highlight reels.

Tonight’s game just feels like fun.

“But it won’t be fun if we lose,” Vols sophomore point guard Ramar Smith said. “If we win? Yeah, that’ll be fun.”

Bruce Pearl and Rick Pitino teach distinctly different full-court pressure defenses.

Pitino’s 2-2-1 press allows opponents to in-bound the ball before smothering them. Pearl’s 1-2-1-1 puts enormous pressure on the in-bound’s pass.

The Vols often retreat if they can’t deflect the initial pass or force opponents into the corner. The Cardinals basically force a pass into the corner and stay committed to the cause.

Louisville is more prone to force a 10-second backcourt violation. The Vols rarely go a full game without inducing at least one five-second violation — which doesn’t even require them to touch the ball.

“Their press is more multiple,” Pearl said. “Our press is more of an annoyance.”

All the differences have one common denominator, though.

“We both want the ball you have, and we want to run with it and score,” JaJuan Smith said.

Both teams want force turnovers and turn them into easy transition scores. Both teams can score — and allow scores — in bunches.

“You’ve got to take care of the ball,” Ramar Smith said. “We know they’re going to press us, and we’ve just got to do the things to make them pay for it on the offensive end.

“We’re going to press, and they’re going to press. Whoever takes care of the ball is going to win this game. It’s that simple.”

Pearl took that a step further, suggesting that Tennessee might apply more brakes on their fast break. Whether that’s the truth remains to be the seen.

“We like to put the fast back in fast break,” JaJuan Smith said. “When we do that, we win a whole lot more than we lose.”

Tyler Smith has boosted UT’s half-court offense, and the Vols have occasionally won with fewer than 70 points — or fewer than 50 at LSU.

“I don’t want a track meet (tonight), because I think we’ve got no chance to win a track meet,” Pearl said. “I think we're going to run, and when there are times we need to be patient we will be patient.”

Speaking from the other side of his mouth, though, Pearl noted the seemingly inevitable.

“I think it’s going to wind up being up-tempo,” Pearl said. “Ultimately, both coaches like to play that way, and all the players prefer to play that way.”