CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (WTVF) — It'll be the Rick Barnes game when Tennessee meets Texas in Saturday's NCAA Tournament second round game.
"For some reason when our number came up I'm like will it be Clemson or will it be Texas," Barnes said Friday about his reaction to the pairing during the Tournament selection show.
Nine years after coming to Tennessee Barnes is still Texas's all-time winningest coach. His fingerprints remain on the program as well.
Texas head coach Rodney Terry earned the job with a run to the Elite Eight as interim coach last season. But before that he served as an assistant on Barnes' Longhorns staff from 2002-11.
"Coach is family to me," Terry said. "He's one of my biggest mentors. He's been incredible throughout my career. We love each other. But we also, at the end of the day, I'm super competitive, he's super competitive. When the game starts it will be about our players."
Texas assistants Frank Haith and Chris Ogden also both worked for Barnes, who won his 200th game as Tennessee coach in Thursday's 83-49 blowout win over St. Peter's in round one.
"I don't look forward to it," Barnes said about facing off with Texas. "But we all know we have a job to do, and when we toss it up, we're going to try to do what we do, and that's try to win a basketball game.
The familiarity goes beyond just the coaching staffs. Texas star forward Dylan Disu is a Vanderbilt transfer.
Disu is averaging more than 15 points and five rebounds per game. He remembers vividly what it is like tussling with the Vols both from his time at Vanderbilt and now at Texas.
"We compare them, physicality-wise, to Houston in the Big 12," Disu said. "We know that we're just going to have to come out and match that physicality and play hard on defense to give ourselves a chance to win the game."
This will be the third straight season Tennessee and Texas will meet. The Longhorns won 52-51 in Austin two seasons ago, while the Vols got payback in a double digits win on Rocky Top last year.
Saturday's game shapes up to be the ultimate rubber match between the two future SEC rivals with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line.
"They're a very talented team," Tennessee guard Santiago Vescovi said. "They're going to play hard. We know it's going to be a physical battle. I don't have any doubts about any of our guys not going to be up to the standard."
It's a big game for the Tennessee program. The Vols have set the standard for winning in the SEC over the last six years, including this season's regular season championship. But the success hasn't always translated to the NCAA Tournament.
Saturday's game is an opportunity to get back to the Sweet 16 for the second straight season and keep this team's quest to reach the program's first ever Final Four alive.
"Our goal when we came together in the summer and everybody got together for our first team meeting, we talked about making history. We knew we had a collective group that could be a part of it, and we've worked endlessly and tirelessly to get to this point. The buck doesn't stop here. We went bigger and better things. We want to leave the place better than we found it. We've had a lot do success and a lot of wins, but this time in front of us is the most important. All we can do is accept the challenge we have now and try to be our best in this moment."
