COLUMBUS, Ohio — That was quite a show Friday, Tennessee ringing up points at warp speed, 121 of them in its win over Long Beach State.

What must Virginia have been thinking as it watched the most points scored by a team in an NCAA tournament game in 17 years?

"Well,’’ guard Sean Singletary said Saturday, "we’re not really concerned because we play defense.’’

Oh. Defense. That could definitely change things.

"They got 121,’’ Singletary continued, "because there wasn’t any resistance at all.

"Tomorrow’s a different story because we offer up resistance.’’

Tomorrow’s here. It’s Tennessee vs. Virginia, a trip to San Antonio and the Sweet 16 on the line.

Virginia will be, uh, resisting the Vols’ ambition to raise the program’s scrawny postseason profile.

Only once in its history has Tennessee won two games in the same NCAA tournament. That was 2000 when the Vols beat a Connecticut team coached by Jim Calhoun in the second round to advance to another Texas destination, Austin.

Today the Vols must beat Calhoun’s disciple, Dave Leitao.

"When I think of Virginia’s program,’’ said UT coach Bruce Pearl, "I would think back to Ralph Sampson, Ricky Stokes and Coach (Terry) Holland.

"But when I go study Virginia for the past eight or 10 hours, I see Dave Leitao.

"This team has got his MO all over it.’’

Leitao and Pearl are, if not two peas in a pod, at least contemporaries.

Both are from Massachusetts, born two months apart in 1960. They grew up listening to the same Boston radio stations, watching the same ballgames.

While Pearl was a manager/mascot at Boston College under coach Tom Davis, Leitao was a so-so forward across town at Northeastern University playing for Calhoun.

Davis gave Pearl a system and brought him into the coaching business. Calhoun did likewise for Leitao.

Leitao finally made a name for himself at DePaul at the same time Pearl was doing so at Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Two years ago, there were two prime-time jobs on the market, Virginia and Tennessee.

UT swooped up Pearl the moment he was available. Virginia threw a Brink’s truck at Tubby Smith and, when rejected, grabbed Leitao.

Leitao took over a high-profile program that had fallen into mediocrity under Pete Gillen. His first year at Virginia produced better-than-expected success, though short of the miracle transformation Pearl achieved at Tennessee.

One top in-state prospect Leitao tried to recruit, Hampton’s Duke Crews, became one of the prizes of Pearl’s first class at UT.

But a year later, here everybody is gathered in Ohio to fight over a Sweet 16 berth.

Virginia’s first-round win (over Albany) wasn’t as eye-popping as UT’s but was no less convincing.

The Cavaliers have won this year on the run. They beat Arizona 93-90, Gonzaga 108-87. But this is no Long Beach. Virginia doesn’t have an allergic reaction to playing defense.

Like his mentor Calhoun, Leitao believes in pressure defense within the framework of a brisk tempo.

"We’re not going to slow it down because that’s not what we do,’’ Leitao said. "But we can play open-court basketball successfully as long as we get back and defend.

"And that, hopefully, will allow us to keep the game out of the 120s.’’

How far out of the 120s? That depends on how much resistance Virginia has in it.

Mike Strange may be reached at 865-342-6276 or strange2@knews.com.