After sweeping through the opening round games and the semifinal of the Legends Classic, Tennessee and Texas finally meet in the championship game that many pundits had penciled them into months earlier. This marks the fourth-consecutive year with a battle of the UTs, with the Vols on a two-game winning streak against the Horns after sweeping the home-and-home in 2006 and 2007. Texas last claimed a victory against Tennessee with a 95-70 rout in the 2005 Maui Invitational.

The Vols are a quality team that can beat you inside and out. Everybody knows the dangers of leaving Chris Lofton unguarded outside, especially after he torched the Horns for 35 in last year’s overtime thriller from Knoxville. But this season, he’s started cold, hitting only 31% of his threes so far this season. He’s still the penultimate flopper, as anyone who watched last night’s semifinal with West Virginia can attest. We can only hope the refs don’t blow the whistle every time he flails on the ground following a three.

JaJuan Smith can also hit from outside, and is leading the Vols in scoring so far this year with almost 17 points per game. He’s a quick guard with even quicker hands on defense, and it’ll be exciting to see him match up against this Texas backcourt. Forward Tyler Smith has stepped up in his sophomore year, scoring over eleven points per game so far this year. Senior guard Jordan Howell gives about 20 minutes per game off the bench, but was incredibly unimpressive against the Mountaineers last night.

Wayne Chism is a tough player to defend, as the 6’9″ sophomore can abuse you inside or stroke a three if you leave him alone. He’s also going to be the toughest assignment on the glass today, which is still an area of concern for the Horns. Occasional LRT co-traveler Jon Rasul feels that this Tennessee team won’t be as much of a problem for Texas because they graduated big man Dane Bradshaw, who he dubbed the “Mark Madsen of the NCAA.” While I certainly agree that losing Bradshaw will hurt the Vols, sophomore Duke Crews is a pretty solid post player as well. Freshman Brian Williams also provides some minutes off the bench last night, but his game still looked pretty raw against West Virginia last night.

Tennessee loves to pressure the ball, and that intense defense helped bring the Vols back in the second half of last year’s crazy matchup. But the Horns only turned it over 10 times in that game, which is far below the average that Tennessee usually forces. If the Longhorns can once again maintain good ball control, I like their odds against the Vols. With Texas only turning it over ten times per game to start the year, I think that’s a very strong possibility.

The Mountaineers kept things close last night with a physical defensive game that disrupted the Volunteer offense. I don’t expect the Longhorns to use this same strategy, so look for another high scoring game from these two teams. Texas will need to once again shoot well in order to keep up with the high-powered Vols, but the real keys to this one are ball control and rebounding. The Horns can’t afford to give Tennessee extra possessions, so they can’t turn it over or give up a ton of offensive rebounds.

All told, this should be a fun one to watch. It’s the biggest test thus far for both programs, and will certainly be a resumé-padding victory for whoever pulls it out. Tune in to Versus for all of tonight’s action, which should start at 6 P.M. Central, or roughly 30 minutes after the finish of the consolation game between NMSU and West Virginia.