ORLANDO, Fla. — As Tennessee players sat in the locker room inside Amway Center Thursday evening, their next opponent was cruising outside.
Josiah-Jordan James was preparing to face Louisiana in the Vols' NCAA Tournament opening round game, but he and his teammates used the down time to watch 5-seed Duke roll past 12-seed Oral Roberts with relative ease.
Hours later, Tennessee got past Louisiana to set up the game most brackets had penciled in.
Tennessee and Duke. The SEC's defensive juggernaut against one of college basketball's hottest teams over the last month. A program in search of an unprecedented, historic run against a hoops blue blood under new leadership.
On the line is a trip to the Sweet 16 at Madison Square Garden in New York next weekend.
"People are saying that they're the hottest team in the country," James said. "I got to watch a little bit of the ACC Championship Game. They looked good, they're long. They've got a big 7-footer (center Kyle Filipowski). I saw him block a couple of shots today. We were just watching the game in the locker room.
"They're really good. A good team. They're athletic. You know it will be a fun one. ...I'm excited."
Duke (28-7) has certainly made its case as the team with the most momentum heading into the tournament.
The Blue Devils followed up back-to-back losses to Miami and Virginia in early February with an on-going 10-game win streak that also included an ACC Tournament Championship title.
Behind 7-foot center Kyle Filipowski and guard Jeremy Roach who are averaging 15.4 and 13.3 points per game, respectively, they're surging in head coach Jon Scheyer's first season.
"I really haven't seen (Duke) a lot this year...But I know that they're probably as hot as any basketball team in the country. ...I know Jon Scheyer has done a great job. I know they had some injuries early in the year and coming down the stretch and when you win your conference tournament. And they beat a good (Oral Roberts) team today."
While Tennessee (24-10) will use Friday to gameplan for Duke, the Vols are focused on building off of its win against Louisiana, which required some late heroics after the Ragin Cajuns erased an 18-point second half deficit.
Jahmai Mashack was one of those heroes, hitting critical shots in the closing minutes as part of an 11-point performance.
"I've seen (Duke) a couple of times," Mashack said. "They're a really good team. They have some size, they have some good players, but you know, we're Tennessee. We're worried about the match ups that we have to deal with and moving forward what we have to execute and do what we have to do to be the best Tennessee team we can be."
Tennessee and Duke will tip off on Saturday at Amway Center at 2:40 p.m. ET on CBS.
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