Vols prepare to take physical brand of basketball into Sweet 16

When Tennessee is the more physical team on the floor, the Vols are at their best.

Duke learned that lesson the hard way Saturday afternoon at the Amway Center in Orlando.

Tennessee played its brand of basketball to perfection, proving for 40 minutes it was the tougher team and forcing the Blue Devils to try and match that level.

They couldn't and the Vols are moving on to the Sweet 16 because of it.

"You want to get people playing at your pace," forward Olivier Nkamhoua, who scored a game-high 27 points, said. "It just guarantees us that we're going to be in our element. So when we get guys stuck and we start making players do things that they're not used to doing, we wear them down and we just keep wearing them down. I feel like I said this earlier in the year where I said that people got to be ready for us where it's not going to be just one hit; it's going to be continued hits.

"And then the way you keep up with us if you can just keep taking those hits and keep playing that tough for 40 minutes and we're going to bring them down to the mud for 40 minutes. It's tough and some guys can hang and some guys can't."

Duke was a popular pick to reach the Sweet 16. The Blue Devils were riding a 10-game win streak, which included an ACC Tournament title, but it became clear halfway through the second half that it wasn't going to get itself out of the mud that Nkamhoua talked about.

"Aside from Purdue, I'd probably say that Tennessee was the next, if not the most, physical team that we've played all year," Duke forward Kyle Filipowski said. "That's no hit on any of the teams we've played. That was just saying how physical Tennessee was today."

Tennessee moves into position to clinch just its second Elite Eight berth in program history and its patented physicality has earned the Vols a reputation this postseason.

Florida Atlantic—the 9-seed that Tennessee will face at Madison Square Garden on Thursday at 9 p.m. ET—is aware of the Vols' style of play. The Owls (33-3) better prepare themselves for it, too if they want to continue their own dream season.

Following Tennessee's performance against Duke, some pundits interpreted the Vols' approach as more than just being physical. Florida Atlantic coach Dusty May even likened it to rugby.

"We're going to study Australian rugby rules and get ready for the Vols," May told reporters following the Owls' Second Round win over Fairleigh Dickinson on Sunday.

But Tennessee doesn't see it that way. That's just how the Vols play and it wins games.

"You know, when you use the word physicality—we're strong, we've got length now with Zakai (Zeigler) being out because you can put a guy in like Jahmai Mashack that's almost 200 pounds and taller," Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said. "And Tyreke Key. And Santi (Vescovi). Those guys, they work hard and they play hard. Teams run such good offense, if you're not willing to try to keep up and get through screens the best you can, you're going to give up shots. So when people say physicality, I'm not sure exactly what that means. ...

"You'd have to define physicality in terms of how do we use it. I would say what I was trying to say earlier, we're trying to play as hard as we can play. If that's being physical, I guess we're going to be physical."

Gaining an edge in physicality is why Barnes started Uros Plavsic in the first two games of the tournament against Louisiana and Duke.

The 7-foot-1 forward combined for seven rebounds and 9 points in both outings, but Barnes felt Plavsic could be a tone-setter early.

"Physicality," Barnes said. "We felt we needed to start the game and try to get physical, because we played against post players that were really physical. We thought it was important that we got off to a good start. He's done a good job. ...At the time, even our team, we just wanted to play basketball. That's who he is, that's his emotion with it.

"But we need him. I've said all year long, we need all these guys. But he's certainly done what we've asked him to do."

If Tennessee (24-10) can get off to the kind of starts it did last weekend, the Vols have more than a chance to get to the Elite Eight and beyond and no matter what the outside perspective is, they're going to keep playing that way.

"Our physicality and our toughness is something that can bring people down into the mud," Plavsic said. "Once you get in there, it's not easy to get out of. I really think that we're looking forward and trying to do all those things to bring them down into the mud and see how they can handle it."

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