Tennessee's NCAA tournament Sweet 16 matchup against Florida Atlantic in New York City doesn't tip off until Thursday night, but the pregame spice is already alive and well.
Following FAU's 78-70 topping of Fairleigh Dickinson on Sunday night, Owls coach Dusty May said, "We're going to study Australian rugby rules and get ready for the Vols."
It was no accidental comment, as the Volunteers had physically overwhelmed Atlantic Coast Conference tournament champion Duke 65-52 a day earlier. Tennessee coach Rick Barnes was asked in a Monday afternoon news conference about May's remarks, and he appeared quite prepared for the moment.
"I took a Big East all-star team to Australia back in 1990," Barnes said. "We went to a match, and I enjoyed it."
Tennessee played a very bruising game against the Blue Devils yet committed just 11 fouls. Only three times all year have the Vols had fewer fouls in a contest, and they had a combined 49 last month in consecutive losses at Kentucky and at Texas A&M.
Barnes knew he had the more physically developed team in the Orlando pairing -- Tennessee started four seniors and Duke four freshmen -- and the Vols (25-10) capitalized on that aspect.
"I thought they officiated the game the way they felt it went," Barnes said. "I didn't see anything dirty by either team."
Two of Tennessee's fouls were committed by senior forward and former Hamilton Heights standout Uros Plavsic within the game's first two minutes and 12 seconds. The fouls were obvious and came at the expense of Duke freshman center Kyle Filipowski, which caused Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde to immediately write, "Plavsic is a hack, and that's been quickly exposed here."
Even Barnes referred to Saturday's start as "nonsense."
"Those two quick fouls are not something that I want to do," Plavsic said Monday, "but they called them, and I had to live with them the whole game. I controlled myself in the second half and did a better job of being physical without fouling."
The 7-foot-1, 265-pounder from Serbia finished with four of his team's 11 fouls, and Barnes admitted Monday that he reinserted Plavsic into the starting lineup because of his physical play.
"That's who he is," Barnes said. "That's his emotion. We need him, and he's certainly done what we've asked him to do."
Whether May's words after Sunday's victory will aid his Owls (33-3) from an officiating standpoint later this week remains to be seen, but Barnes is not apologizing for his team that will take the floor at famed Madison Square Garden.
"We're strong, and we have length," Barnes said. "With (5-9 sophomore point guard) Zakai (Zeigler) out, you put in a guy like Jahmai Mashack, who's 6-4 and around 200 pounds. When people say, 'physicality', I'm not even sure what that means. Is physicality fouling? We don't want to do that. We don't want teams parading to the line on us.
"We are an older, stronger team with big guys, and we're going to try and play as hard as we can play. If that's being physical, then I guess we're going to be physical."
Odds and ends
Thursday night's game will tip around 9, and it will be televised by TBS. ... The Vols have won 25 or more games four times in the last six seasons under Barnes after accomplishing the feat just three times before his arrival. ... Barnes on whether his team plays better as the underdog and if that's a concern Thursday: "I'm not sure we're not the underdog when you look at a team that's won 33 games and beat Florida, who beat us."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.