KNOXVILLE - For the second straight basketball game, Tennessee Volunteers fans will be the minority in attendance.
Only this time, the majority won't simply be rooting for the other team. They'll be fervently against the third-ranked Vols on Saturday.
The Vols have traveled across the state to face Memphis for the first time since 2013. Tipoff is at noon EST at the FedEx Forum, with a sold-out crowd eager to see what could be a statement game for first-year coach Penny Hardaway's Tigers (5-4).
The Vols (7-1) played Sunday's neutral-site game in Phoenix against Gonzaga in front of a crowd that became very much in favor of the Bulldogs with the addition of supporters of Grand Canyon, whose students received an email from the school president requesting that they "pull for Gonzaga" if they went to the game.
Tennessee was able to pull out a 76-73 win over the previously top-ranked Bulldogs.
Saturday presents another challenge, as it's the Vols' first true road game of the season. The Tigers haven't lost at home - with victories over Tennessee Tech, Yale, South Dakota State and the University of Alabama at Birmingham - and a win Saturday could do a lot to propel the program back to the national relevance it once held under John Calipari.
The two programs faced off as the Nos. 1 and 2 teams in the country on Feb. 23, 2008, in Memphis, with the Vols earning a 66-62 victory. Memphis went on to the national championship game, falling in overtime to Kansas.
Saturday will be the first time the state rivals have met since 2013, when Memphis won an 85-80 game in Knoxville. It will be the first game in Memphis since Dec. 31, 2009, when the Vols took a 66-59 victory.
"Penny Hardaway is doing a great job," Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said Thursday. "He's got his guys playing really hard, and they get up and down the floor as quick as anybody we've played. They really play really hard, and you have to admire the way they've gotten better. They're playing their best basketball right now."
Barnes added that his Vols "know every time we play now, they need to embrace that teams are going to come after you. I think if you embrace it, you can get better through this."
The Vols spent a lot of Thursday's practice working on transitional defense. It's been an area in which they've struggled at times, although Barnes felt the team was good in that aspect against Gonzaga. Memphis uses three point guards at times, allowing them to speed up the game and mask a roster with no rotation player taller than 6-foot-8.
Games like Saturday's in Memphis should help each team get better going forward. But Tennessee's goals are bigger than usual this season, and a win on the road against a tough opponent certainly would be uplifting, especially with a four-game homestand upcoming.
Continually finding ways to improve is the priority, Barnes said.
"We'll do that all year, and I think they know that," Barnes said. "We have a routine we're going to stick with, and they know how we're going to do things. We haven't talked about a lot of things other than getting better, and they know we're in December.
"They know this weekend we're going to go into a situation that will be as emotional as anywhere we've been in a long time. You look at Memphis and they're undefeated at home and really playing three point guards and start three seniors. Our guys know how it feels it to get ready to play a Gonzaga or Kansas, and they know people do that to (prepare for) them.
"It is going to take a lot of concentration and hard work for guys to get better individually, and that's what we really get into this time of the year. Can we get our guys better? And by getting them better, we'll get better."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.