COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Two of the highest scoring teams in the NCAA tournament say they're going on the defensive.

South Regional No. 5 seed Tennessee averages 80.9 points per game and defeated Long Beach State 121-89 in the first round on Friday. No. 4 seed Virginia averages 77.1 However, both teams emphasized defense Saturday in talking about today's game at Nationwide Arena (TV: WVLT, 12:10 p.m.).

The winner advances to the Sweet 16 and will play top-seeded Ohio State (323) in San Antonio on Thursday night.

"We play defense, and it's not really going to be a shootout because we do our job and they're not going to be able to get too many shots up,'' said Sean Singletary, the Cavaliers' 6-foot All-Atlantic Coast Conference point guard. "We have to get up in their jerseys and play tough defense and not pay attention to anything else going on.''

The No. 25 Vols (23-10) will do their best to get ACC regular season co-champion Virginia (21-10) distracted with some defense of their own.

"We have to lock down defensively; that's what will get us the win,'' UT point guard Ramar Smith said. "We'll press up and try to rattle them a bit. We know how many minutes their guards play, so we'll try to wear them out a bit.''

ESPN analyst Dick Vitale said Singletary (19.0 points per game, 33.1 minutes per game) and 6-2A 1/2 J.R. Reynolds (18.1, 32.2) make up one of the top five backcourts in the country.

JaJuan Smith draws the primary assignment of stopping Singletary while Ramar Smith will check the more physical Reynolds.

Josh Tabb, UT's defensive specialist, will get his turn on the Cavaliers dynamic duo, as well.

"They push the ball in the open court and they look for each other a lot,'' Tabb said. "Singletary is real quick, but no, they don't remind me of (UT guard Chris) Lofton. Lofton is a special player.''

Perhaps, but Singletary pointed out that Virginia overcame Albany's Jamar Wilson in its 84-57 first-round victory. Wilson, the America East Conference player of the year, scored 25 points on 9-of-18 shooting.

"I felt we did a good job against Wilson, who is more of a threat than Lofton is,'' Singletary said. "He (Lofton) shoots 3s, but we feel as though we can take care of our business out there.''

If the Cavaliers stay true to form, they'll try to do that with position defense and make the Vols work hard in the half-court.

Virginia led the ACC in field-goal percentage defense.

UT, meanwhile, will press and trap selectively against the Cavaliers.

"Singletary and Reynolds, they've got those two guards they're going to inbound the ball to and they're going to get it and go,'' UT coach Bruce Pearl said. "And giving them space can be quite challenging, so it will be a tough team for us to press, but it's part of our identity and I'm sure we'll try to press some.''

Singletary didn't seem too worried.

"We'll be comfortable with the press,'' he said. "We scouted it, we know that we can stress the weaknesses of it and we'll try to exploit it.''

UT assistant coach Steve Forbes, who has been scouting Virginia since the tournament bracket was released, said UT's interior players will also need inspired efforts.

"You have to stop them in transition and take away as many easy baskets as you can,'' Forbes said. "Your big guy has to get back on defense and stop the dribble-penetration.

"They'll need to block out, and once the ball is secured, they've got to sprint down court and get ahead of the play.''

Forbes said the Vols need to create offense from their defense, and when they can't, stay patient in looking for an open shot.

"The tale of the tape is when the ball is out of bounds, we have to create turnovers and score,'' Forbes said. "And we can't take a lot of quick, contested 3s.''

Chism Returns: UT freshman center Wayne Chism was cleared to play and returned to practice Saturday after leaving Friday's game in the second half after being struck in the neck area.

"He took a shot to the upper body and it rattled him from a standpoint of he had some concussion-like symptoms,'' Pearl said. "His breathing was bothered, so we've been checking him neurologically, cardiovascularly, lot of different things since the game.''

Birthday Bruce: Pearl will celebrate his 47th birthday today, but that didn't stop Virginia coach Dave Leitao, who was in Boston the same time as Pearl, from making light of the occasion Pearl filled-in as the Boston College mascot.

"Best of my knowledge, what was he, a mascot more than a player,'' Leitao said. "No, he's been tremendous. I didn't know him that well. I was on the other side at Northeastern while he was at Boston College.''

History: The Cavaliers have knocked UT out of the NCAA tournament in two of the Vols' 14 previous NCAA appearances.

Virginia beat a Dale Ellis-led UT squad 62-48 in the 1981 East Regional semifinals in Charlotte, N.C., and topped another Ellis-led Vols team 54-51 in the 1982 East Region second round game in Indianapolis.

Comeback Cavs: Virginia overcame three double-digit deficits to win games this season. The Cavaliers trailed Duke 34-21 with 3:29 left in the first half before winning 68-66 in overtime; they were down to Clemson 61-45 with 8:47 remaining and won 64-63 and against Arizona, they were behind 45-26 with 2:49 left in the first half and won 93-90.

The Line: UT opened as a 2A 1/2-point favorite over Virginia.