The University of Tennessee men's basketball team and the academic wing operate on different schedules.

School is still out, but class resumes tonight for the continuing education of the Vols.

South Alabama (9-2) visits Thompson-Boling Arena in the final test for UT (8-1) before the SEC season begins.

Tip-off is at 7 (Fox Sports Net).

The Jaguars from Mobile, Ala., have a top-25 notch (Houston) on their belts and should present a formidable challenge to a Tennessee squad still trying to gauge its worthiness for the coming conference grind.

"I like this opponent,'' UT coach Bruce Pearl said Tuesday, "because it's going to be SEC-like in quality and athleticism.

"This is taking us in the direction we need to be going to face South Carolina on Sunday.''

Pearl is satisfied that UT's schedule has presented a variety of challenges and that, for the most part, the Vols have responded well.

Both offensively and defensively, Tennessee has had to resort to a variety of tactics to address different scenarios.

"I think it's important to be multiple,'' Pearl said, "and to be able to handle whatever the defense throws at you.

"Defensively, we've changed it up some because we're not big enough or deep enough or talented enough or well-coached enough to dictate. ... We're going to be really flexible.''

South Alabama's particular challenge will be uptempo. Coach John Pelphrey's style reflects his chief influences -- playing for Rick Pitino at Kentucky and coaching under Billy Donovan at Florida.

"They're good in transition and they spread the floor,'' Pearl said.

"I think they're a lot like us.''

National grades: A win tonight would put UT at 9-1 with one non-SEC game (at Memphis on Jan. 18) remaining.

"We've beaten everybody we're supposed to beat and have one of the best upsets (Texas) in college basketball so far,'' Pearl said.

"We've played good teams at home and great teams on the road. If you look at our Sagarin (rating) and our RPI ... none of these games are going to drag us down.''

The Vols are No. 22 in the Sagarin computer ranking and No. 52 at collegerpi.com.

Lofton looking: Chris Lofton said he'll be more aggressive looking for his shot after a season-low five attempts against Lipscomb.

"They were switching a lot,'' Lofton said. "I really had trouble getting open. We've got some wrinkles to put in there for other people so they can't do that.''

Pearl said he didn't lose any sleep over it:

"Chris has got to work harder without the basketball. ... We're not going to change everything we do just because you take one player away.''

Scouting Report: South Alabama's has six players who transferred from Division I schools and four junior-college transfers. Senior Chey Christie started 55 games at Clemson.

The Jaguars need only one win to equal last year's total. Pelphrey started with 14 wins his first season and has dipped to 12 and 10 in his two succeeding seasons.

South Alabama had a seven-game win streak stopped by Alabama State on Dec. 22, but bounced back with an easy victory against Western Michigan.

Pelphrey history: Pelphrey was 6-2 against the Vols during his playing days at Kentucky (1989-92). He had his jersey retired as one of the "Unforgettables" who helped Pitino rebuild the Wildcats from probation.

Pelphrey also was involved in one of college basketball's more memorable plays. He was helping defend Duke's Christian Laetter when Laettner took the long inbounds pass and hit the game-winning shot in the 1992 NCAA tournament.