KNOXVILLE - February has been unkind to the men's basketball teams at Tennessee and South Carolina.
The Volunteers and Gamecocks are a combined 5-8 this month, so perhaps it's only fitting their rematch comes as the calendar's switch to March nears.
For two teams trending the wrong way, desperation should permeate what ought to be an intense game hinging on toughness today in Columbia, where Tennessee will try to match the disposition of its hosts.
"I expect to see that from our team, too," Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said before Friday's practice. "I would expect it to be that kind of game. What (South Carolina coach Frank Martin) expects from his team, I'm expecting from our team.
"And I promise you and I've told our team what you just said, he's telling them the same thing."
South Carolina won nine of 10 games in January and the start of February before losing four of its past five. The skid caused the Gamecocks to lose ground on Kentucky and Florida and drop out of the Southeastern Conference regular-season title race. After starting 13-1 at home, South Carolina lost its past two games there to Arkansas and Alabama.
Tennessee's four-game winning streak to end January put the Vols in position to chase an NCAA tournament berth in February, but they faded with four losses in six games and now may be just trying to revive their hopes for any postseason invitation.
"We've just got to go out there and do what we do," said senior guard Robert Hubbs III, the Vols' leading scorer this season with an average of 14.3 points per game. "We still have a lot at stake right now. We've got to go out there, execute and do what we do, and hopefully we'll come out with a win."
South Carolina's defense will make it challenging. Though the Gamecocks have allowed four of their past six opponents to score at least 75 points, Tennessee has averaged 63.5 with four games of 60 or fewer against Martin's South Carolina teams.
"They really challenge your passes," Barnes said. "More than anything they're a team that wants to get you into a situation where you're trying to drive the ball. When you do drive the ball, they're going to really collapse. If you're trying to make those interior passes, they're not going to be there. You've got to be able to kick out.
"If you do that, you can get some good looks. The key is that when things do break down that you continue to make plays. I think getting 50-50 balls is really important. They do a great job of pressuring you. They really play with high hands, with big hands. They're going to deflect and then turn some of those deflections into baskets on the other end."
Tennessee received the full dose of South Carolina's defense in the previous meeting in January. The Vols shot less than 33 percent, made one 3-pointer and turned the ball over 22 times.
More concerning to the Vols is their scoring disparity in four previous rematch games. The Vols averaged 82.3 points the first time they played Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State and Ole Miss this season but just 62 in the second meetings. The points scored the second time around against Vanderbilt (56), Kentucky (58) and Mississippi State (59) are Tennessee's lowest outputs this season.
"I think it's both ways," Barnes said regarding the difficulty of rematches. "You go back to the game with Vanderbilt. They shot as low as a percentage as they've shot all year, because we definitely defended well enough to win the game. We weren't good enough offensively. I promise you, they did the things that we would want them to do, and we just didn't take advantage of it. Robert Hubbs, when we were running our base set, had a chance to post their point guard every time, and he didn't stop and want to do it. He'd rather go out and get the ball and play off the dribble, but I do think it's tougher.
"That's what makes round-robin play so difficult, because you know each other, you're familiar with each other, coaches know each other, players know each other and how to play personnel. You do make some minor adjustments, but it gets harder because it's the fact that you're familiar."
Two teams familiar with February fades badly need a win.
"It's all about toughness right now," Hubbs said. "I mean, at this point a lot of guys are worn down, but that can't factor into what we've got and our goals right now. We've just got to be tough and take it one day at a time."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.