It will be high level versus hot Friday afternoon when fifth-seeded Tennessee faces 12th-seeded Oregon State in an NCAA basketball tournament first-round matchup at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
The Volunteers were picked to win this season's Southeastern Conference race and looked the part during a 10-1 start, but they quickly fell from the chase with a .500 mark during their next 12 games. Tennessee showed significant signs of moving on from that erratic stretch by closing the regular season with a 65-54 win over Florida in Knoxville, defeating the Gators again 78-66 last Friday in an SEC tournament quarterfinal in Nashville and then falling to Alabama 73-68 the next day in a semifinal.
"There is no doubt that the games we played in Nashville were high level," Vols coach Rick Barnes said this week on a Zoom call. "They felt like NCAA tournament games. I thought that both of our opponents and our guys fought their hearts out, understanding the premium put on each possession. You've got to fight for each and every one of them.
"You're not going to play perfectly, but you've got to play hard. Florida played hard. We played hard. Alabama played hard. This time of year, teams aren't going to still be playing if they don't play hard."
Friday's showdown between the Vols (18-8) and Beavers (17-12) in the Midwest Region is scheduled to tip around 4:30 Eastern on TNT.
The most notable negative to emerge from the SEC tournament from a Tennessee standpoint was the concussion and facial fracture that senior forward John Fulkerson sustained early in the second half against Florida, when Gators sophomore forward Omar Payne delivered an intentional elbow and was ejected from the game. Fulkerson underwent a procedure in Knoxville last weekend and has been listed by Tennessee as "day-to-day" ever since.
Former Hamilton Heights standout Uros Plavsic made the most of Fulkerson's absence against the Crimson Tide, collecting four points, three rebounds, two assists and a steal in 17 minutes, but Tennessee will try to get its transition game going whether Fulkerson is available or not.
"We always try to force tempo," Barnes said. "We're always trying to push it. Once the game starts, I would like to think that we can play the way we would like to play, but games aren't like that. You have to adjust when things get going. Things like foul trouble and the way guys are playing can alter the way you're playing, and you have to make those adjustments.
"There is no doubt that, as a team, we would like to get out and go, and we need to do a better job in open-court situations. We had some opportunities in our last game that we didn't convert."
Tennessee's most impressive transition display transpired in the second half at Kentucky on Feb. 6, when the freshman tandem of Keon Johnson and Jaden Springer combined for 50 points and the Vols erased a 10-point deficit and won going away 82-71.
While the Vols hope for another high-level display, Oregon State is looking to maintain its scorching 3-point shooting abilities. The Beavers were picked to finish last in the Pac-12 Conference and entered last week's league tournament with a 14-12 overall record and as the fifth seed.
In three consecutive wins against teams that earned NCAA invites - UCLA, Oregon and Colorado - the Beavers shot 29-of-66 on 3-point attempts for a robust 43.9% clip. Jarod Lucas and Ethan Thompson combined on 8-of-15 shooting from long range in the semifinal upset of Oregon, while Lucas was 5-of-10 on 3-pointers against UCLA.
"They have a lot of different sets they like to run, and they are shooting the lights out right now," Barnes said. "They went from seven (made 3-pointers a game) to 10 or 11 in the conference tournament. They have a balanced and strong inside game, they have good size, and they have active post players.
"For their guards, though, the rim is really big to them right now."
In NCAA play, rims have a way of expanding or contracting drastically. Bankers Life Fieldhouse, the 20,000-seat home of the NBA's Indiana Pacers, has a smaller capacity than Knoxville's Thompson-Boling Arena, but it is certain to provide depth-perception challenges for shooters on both teams.
"I get excited to play in these great arenas," Vols sophomore guard Josiah-Jordan James said. "I know there is a lot of history on every one of these courts, and we're going to try to make some history of our own as well. As far as the backdrop, I try not to think about it.
"I didn't need to adjust in Nashville, because the rims are still 10 feet high, but the backdrop does have an effect on your perception, so I just try not to think about it."
Odds and ends
The Vols are 1-3 all-time against Oregon State, but the teams haven't met since 1990. ... Tennessee's 18-8 record includes a 7-5 mark against teams in the NCAA tournament. The three programs to top the Vols that didn't make the 68-team field were Auburn, Kentucky and Ole Miss. ... Tennessee's most recent NCAA tournament game in Indianapolis was a 73-71 loss to Michigan in the Sweet 16 in 2014. That matchup transpired before 41,072 at Lucas Oil Stadium, which remains the largest crowd in Vols history.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.