Vols leaning on physicality, prepared to take FAU into the ‘mud’ in Sweet 16

nessee’s operation to take Duke into the mud. At 7-foot-1 and 265 pounds, Plavsic ability to get physical with opponents is taxing — especially for a freshman-heavy team like Duke that hasn’t seen that type of physicality yet.

The Owls shoot the three at an efficient 37% and will challenge the Vols’ exceptional threepoint defense.

Florida Atlantic head coach Dusty May likened Tennessee’s physical brand of basketball to an Australian Rugby match when talking about the Vols after the Owls’ defeated Farleigh Dickinson in the round of 32 Sunday night.

That rugby-like physicality was enough to get Tennessee past a red-hot Duke team in the round of 32, and now the Vols are leaning on their physicality as they look for their first Elite Eight berth since 2010.

In his scouting report of Duke, assistant coach Justin Gainey told Tennessee to take the Blue Devils into the ‘mud’ — meaning Tennessee should be physical on both ends of the floor every possession. Though that scouting report might have been specific to Duke, the Vols will count on taking opponents into the mud going forward.

“Our physicality and our toughness is something that brings people down to the mud,” senior forward Uros Plavsic said. “Once you’re in there it’s not easy to get out of it. We’re looking forward and trying to do all those things to bring them down to the mud and see how they can handle it.”

Plavsic was one of the ring leaders of Ten-

But now things change for the Vols. They were underdogs against Duke and embraced the underdog mentality. They are favorites against No. 9 seeded FAU. Favorite or underdog, though, Tennessee’s mindset isn’t shifting. It still wants to take its opponent into the mud for 40 minutes.

“The mindset, we’ve talked about it all year long, whatever our guys have to do to make them decide we have to go out and play at the highest level, they’ve got to do that,” head coach Rick Barnes said. “Whether it’s just talking the talk or whatever, I just want to see them go out there and do what we need to do to win.”

FAU will bring one of the hottest teams in the nation into Madison Square Garden on Thursday night. The Owls have won a program-high 33 games and have only lost two games since the turn of the new year.

“You win 33 games, you talk about a model of consistency,” Barnes said. “They’ve certainly done that and earned everything they’ve got. And everything you talk to about, they rave about them as a team. They understand what they want to do together as a team.”

In facing FAU, Tennessee will take on a small, fast-paced, offensive-minded team.

“They shoot it with confidence,” Barnes said. “They really do a good job of knowing where each guy is one the court. They do a good job of getting in gaps and passing the ball, delivering it on the money.”

But Tennessee will count on its experience. The Vols have seen a lot this season in both their nonconference and conference schedule, and they expect to be ready for a new challenge when they take on FAU.

“We’ve seen teams like that in our conference and in preseason, so I think at this point in the year we’ve seen it all and we’ve played against teams of all kinds,” Plavsic said. “I think that we’re going to be ready for them as well.”

Tennessee and FAU tip off around 9 p.m. ET Thursday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The game will follow the conclusion of No. 3 Kansas State and No. 7 Michigan State, which tips off at 6:30 p.m.

And when the ball tips off between the Vols and the Owls, Tennessee will be prepared to take FAU into the mud for 40 minutes.

“We’re trying to play as hard as we can play,” Barnes said. “If that’s being physical, I guess we’re going to be physical.”