The road to the Final Four in Atlanta could be drivable for the Tennessee men’s basketball team in more ways than one.

The Vols (22-10) drew a No. 5 seed in the NCAA tournament South Regional and open play Friday afternoon against Big West Conference tournament champion Long Beach State (24-7) in Columbus, Ohio. UT will play 30 minutes after the completion of the first game that starts at 12:15. The game will be televised on WVLT.

"I feel like we’re where we ought to be,’’ UT coach Bruce Pearl said Sunday. "To have the second-best record in the SEC and the second-highest seed in the SEC, it’s where we want to be.’’

Conference-champion Florida drew a No. 1 seed, Vanderbilt is No. 6, Kentucky a No. 8 and Arkansas is a No. 12.

UT has proved it can compete with the South Regional’s top teams: top-seeded Ohio State and No. 2-seed Memphis.

The Buckeyes beat the Vols 68-66 in Columbus, Ohio, on Jan. 13, and UT beat Memphis 76-58 on Dec. 6 in Knoxville. Texas A&M is the No. 3 seed; and Vols’ assistant coach Steve Forbes coached there last year, leading one to believe UT would have an excellent scouting report should the teams meet.

As much as Pearl likes the "familiarity’’ within bracket and the respect the NCAA selection committee paid the Vols with the No. 5 seed, he also likes the location of the first- and second-round games.

"I’m very happy with the location because it’s not far for our fans to travel,’’ said Pearl, referring to the 5½-hour drive from Knoxville to Columbus. "We have an opportunity at Tennessee to make a showing, both on the court and in the stands.’’

It starts against the 49ers, who are making their first NCAA tournament appearance since 1995. UT has never played Long Beach State.

Long Beach State averages 80.3 points per game and is No. 79 in the RPI rankings, according to CollegeRPI.com. The 49ers were 0-5 against teams in the RPI top 100, but they’ve won 11 of their last 12 games.

Long Beach State is short in stature but long on experience. The tallest player in the 49ers’ starting five is 6-foot-6 Sterling Byrd, a senior who averages a team-high 6.7 rebounds per game and 13.9 points.

Senior guard Aaron Nixon, 6-2, leads the team with 18.6 points per game and was the Big West player of the year, as well as MVP of the conference tournament.

Kejuan Johnson, a 6-4 senior, averages 15.3 points. Kevin Houston is a 5-10 senior point guard averaging 11.7 points while dishing out 136 assists this season.

"They’re very athletic,’’ Pearl said. "It will be interesting to see if they’re the kind of team we can press or maybe we’ll want to slow them down a bit.’’

A win over the 49ers would put the Vols up against the winner of Friday’s game between Virginia (20-10) and Albany (23-9) in the second round on Sunday.

The Cavaliers tied North Carolina for the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season championship with an 11-5 conference mark but were eliminated by North Carolina State in the first round of the ACC tournament last week.

Virginia is the No. 4 seed, but its RPI is 55th nationally and the Cavaliers have lost three of their past five games.

UT junior guard Chris Lofton said such numbers don’t mean anything to him after the battle Winthrop gave the Vols in last year’s first round and the loss Wichita State handed second-seeded UT in the second round.

"I told the guys earlier, don’t look at the seedings,’’ Lofton said, "because any team can beat you. One and done is the worst feeling of all time.’’

Lofton is one of many Vols whose family lives within a day’s drive of Columbus. Maysville, Ky., is 2½ hours from UT’s tournament opener, Lofton said.

Freshman point guard Ramar Smith is particularly excited by the first-round location, as it means his mother will get to see him play for just the second time this year.

"My mom is scared to fly,’’ said Smith, who took a call from his mother seconds after the pairing was announced. "She called me up and said, ‘What time does the game start?’ "

Senior Dane Bradshaw’s parents made the trip from Memphis for most every game, but he, too, was relieved.

"Nobody on the team is complaining — we didn’t go to Spokane, Washington,’’ Bradshaw said. "I would encourage Tennessee fans to do their best to make the trip. I know we let a lot of people down in Atlanta (at the SEC tournament), but give us another chance.

"It shouldn’t take too much for our fans to create a home atmosphere for us.’’

The Vols, despite what the numbers suggest, could need the support from the opening tip in Columbus.

A No. 12 seed has beaten a No. 5 seed six years in a row, and last year it happened twice. Over the past 12 years, the No. 12 seeds are 15-25 against the No. 5 seeds.

"Maybe there’s a little poetic justice putting me in the 5-12 bracket, because at (Wisconsin-)Milwaukee we were always the 12 (seed),’’ Pearl said. "We lost at the buzzer to Notre Dame as a 12 and beat Alabama as a 12. History does tell us a 12 will beat a 5.

"We’ll just have to take them one game at a time."