The Tennessee men's basketball team will be off and running, quite literally, from the opening tip of the NCAA tournament.

"The tempo will be up, and both teams like it that way,'' UT coach Bruce Pearl said, discussing Friday's 2:45 p.m. first-round game against Long Beach State at Columbus, Ohio. "We couldn't slow them down if we tried.''

The Vols (22-10) have a height advantage over the 49ers (24-7), who don't start anyone over 6-foot-6, but that might not be much of a factor if the game turns into a track meet.

"Transition defense will be tremendously important,'' Pearl said. "They play great when they go fast. In 13 of their past 24 games, they've made 10 or more 3-pointers.''

Vols' assistant coach Jason Shay, who's in charge of scouting Long Beach State, said the 49ers' offense is similar to what the Memphis Tigers run.

"There's not going to be many passes in their offense,'' Shay said. "There won't be any shot clock violations on their side.''

The key question is, how many turnovers will there be?

Pearl said the Vols will pick and choose when they press, even against the 49ers, who have three or four guards on the court most of the time.

Shay, who has studied film of seven 49ers' games and has more games on order, said the efficiency of UT's press against Long Beach State is an unknown.

"Nobody has pressed them that I've seen, so it's a mystery,'' Shay said. "They haven't seen anything like what we do, so it will be new to them.''

The 49ers turn the ball over 13.9 times per game, a low number considering the number of possessions they have in averaging 80.3 points per game.

Pearl said Long Beach State's experience plays into that.

"They've got seven seniors (five who start),'' Pearl said, "and they're tough kids, junior college transfers and fifth-year guys.''

The 49ers have become accustomed to winning, having won 11 of their last 12 and 22 of their last 25.

"They're 20-0 when they have the lead with five minutes left in the game,'' Pearl said. "That also plays into their experience.''

Ray Chism: UT freshman center Wayne Chism said the Georgia Dome settings might have played into his poor shooting performance (1-of-9 from the floor, 0-of-5 on 3-pointers) against LSU.

"Being in a dome, there was more space and I wasn't used to that,'' Chism said. "I think Ray Charles could have shot better than I did in that game.''