KNOXVILLE - Behind every great challenge lies a great opportunity.
Coaches at every level of sport hammer home that message to their athletes, and the Tennessee men's basketball team has heard that loud and clear heading into its biggest and arguably most challenging week of the regular season.
The 12th-ranked Volunteers (18-4, 6-2 Southeastern Conference) visit ranked archrivals Vanderbilt and Kentucky this week, starting with Tuesday night's visit to Vandy's Memorial Gymnasium.
"It doesn't get much tougher than that for anybody in the SEC," Vols coach Bruce Pearl said of his team's week. "Both teams are playing exceptionally well."
UT can take sole possession of second place in the SEC Eastern Division tonight by beating the 22nd-ranked Commodores (17-5, 6-2), and the Vols could then thrust themselves into first place by knocking off the third-ranked Wildcats (22-1, 7-1) in Rupp Arena on Saturday.
"It's the biggest week of our regular season," UT junior forward Steven Pearl said. "We're playing on the road in hostile environments against two of our biggest rivals. We want to defend our championship, so there are obviously big games."
Those great opportunities must come by way of overcoming major challenges, though. Memorial and Rupp, aside from being particularly hostile to the Vols, are generally considered two of the nation's toughest places to play.
Memorial, with its unique setting and odd bench configuration, is the week's first challenging opportunity.
"The benches are on the baseline over there, and that's never easy to deal with," Steven Pearl said. "It's always a good crowd when we go over there and play them. They're a great team, and obviously that shoot the ball well in that arena, so that will pose some challenges.
"We've just got to play great defense, stay calm, keep some poise and just play our game."
Kenny Hall's only previous experience with Memorial Gym has come from television, but UT's freshman forward has listened to tales from teammates and gradually gotten even more excited about tonight.
"I'm pumped," Hall said. "The guys say it's the funnest, or one of the funnest arenas to play in. It looks crazy from just watching it on TV, so I'm looking forward to playing over there."
Revenge is another possibility tonight. Vandy, not top-ranked Kansas, has been the only visitor to leave UT's Thompson-Boling Arena with a win this season. The Commodores rallied midway through the second half on Jan. 27 for an 85-76 upset victory.
"It's in the front, back, side, middle ... it's been all over my mind," Hall said. "I've had a bad taste in my mouth since we lost to them. I'm ready to go over there and give them that same feeling."
Senior forward Wayne Chism summed up UT's home loss to Vanderbilt with a simple, "We just played bad."
"Now we've got to go on the road and defend our championship," Chism continued. "(That) is going to be a championship-type game, and it's going to be a hostile environment once we get in there.
"We always play good at Vandy. Sometimes it comes down to a last-minute shot and we lost, and sometimes we come out with a good win."
The Commodores stumbled in a weekend loss at Georgia, but their remaining schedule is still arguably the most conducive for an East title. Five of Vanderbilt's first eight SEC games came away from Memorial Gym, and Kentucky and UT haven't traveled to Nashville.
"I'd rather be 7-1 or 8-0, but I feel good nonetheless," Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said. "We feel good about where we're at, and yet we know that we're only at the halfway point and there's obviously a long way to go. It's still about getting better and growing your team playing your best basketball in these last four or five weeks of the season and getting ready for tournament play.
"Hopefully we just keep getting better. That's been our thing the whole season."
Stallings noted his team's atypical success on the road this season "relative to teams that we've had in the past," and he hopes his Commodores can now enjoy the spoils on their home floor.
That starts Tuesday night, Stallings added.
"It's for outright possession of second place, which we all know as the season goes along becomes very important," he said. "If you're going to be a factor in the race for a championship ... then taking care of whatever happens on your home court is extremely important. We've done that pretty well so far this year, and we certainly want to continue doing that.
"There are a few games each year where obviously you don't have to do much to get your guys ready to play. I would think that (Tuesday) qualifies as one of those. Yeah, I enjoy those. I think my greatest concern as a coach is, 'Will my team be ready to play?' Generally speaking, they are, so I don't know why I worry about that as much as I do sometimes. But in games like this, I don't think that you have to be concerned about their emotional readiness. I think they'll be very ready to play the game."
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