Tennessee men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl is looking forward to his team struggling in tonight's exhibition game against Tusculum.

That's right -- struggling.

"Remember what I said about wanting to get exposed?'' Pearl said following Thursday's practice. "They'll set some screens and get some really good looks and expose us defensively

"They'll run a motion offense -- a lot of coach (Bobby) Knight stuff in there -- with great spacing and their defense is solid, they won't extend out on us as much.''

Pearl said Tuesday's opponent, LeMoyne-Owen, didn't offer his team enough of a challenge in the Vols' 126-66 win for there to be much improvement.

"This opponent will be more structured,'' Pearl said.

The Division II Pioneers are coming off an 82-58 loss Wednesday night against Atlantic 10 preseason favorite Xavier.

Tusculum is expected to start four seniors and a junior against a Tennessee team that's still searching for two starters, most notably at point guard.

"I'm looking for a starter and a backup there,'' Pearl said. "That position is wide open.''

Freshman Ramar Smith will start tonight and play equal minutes with fellow freshman Marques Johnson. Junior Jordan Howell, who returned to practice Wednesday after missing three weeks with a broken bone in his hand, will play approximately 10 minutes, Pearl said.

"Jordan had two days of live work, not long, but his cardiovascular is good,'' Pearl said. "The only thing you don't want, you don't want him to take a spill.''

Pearl said that, initially at least, there will be more of a rotation at point guard than last season when then-senior C.J. Watson averaged 31.9 minutes per game.

"It will be a rotation, but most of the positions will be rotations,'' Pearl said. "Our whole system is based on rotations.''

Breaking down the battle between Ramar Smith and Johnson, Pearl said Johnson needs work on defense while Smith must be stronger with the ball and gain more experience at the point.

Smith didn't appear too worked up over the competition.

"Marques and I have made each other better,'' Smith said. "I just look at this as trying to get my team better.''

Smith, whose athleticism and dribble penetration make him a scoring threat, said he's changed his mindset.

"I'm thinking point guard first, because that's my position now,'' Smith said. "I've gotten better there and learned; I feel more laid back.''

UT shooting star Chris Lofton, meanwhile, said he'll be pressing to score more tonight.

"No matter who the opponent is, I need to play like we're behind,'' said Lofton, who attempted just four shots in a lackadaisical 10-point effort against LeMoyne-Owen. "I need to do better rebounding; a couple of their rebounds were my fault for not boxing out. It's something I need to work on.''

Lofton said fans shouldn't be misled by the "exhibition'' tag on this game; to him, it's a game like any other.

"We take every game serious,'' Lofton said. "We have to play like it's our last game.''

Tusculum returns two starters from last year's 14-15 team, which won 10 of its first 14 games before losing its final five of the regular season.

Junior forward Jordan Lear and senior guard Chris Poore are preseason All-South Atlantic Conference selections.

Worth Noting: Poore is from Greeneville; Lear, 6-foot-7, started his collegiate career as a punter at Cincinnati. ... UT beat Tusculum 117-89 in the team's last meeting, an exhibition on Nov. 5, 2004. ... Former Karns standout Jody Fersner plays for the Pioneers and senior Gabe Story and freshman Jimmy Boone are from Greeneville.

Signing Day: The Vols are expected to sign long-time commitment Cameron Tatum, a 6-5 wing from The Patterson School in Lenoir, N.C., on Wednesday, the first day of the fall signing period. Tatum is rated 64th by Rivals and 77th by Scout.com