ATLANTA - Tennessee senior JaJuan Smith said the Vols are tired of hearing about their poor SEC tournament history.

"It's what has motivated us to go into the gym and work hard,'' he said, referring to Tennessee's inability to win a game in either of the past two SEC tournaments. "It's just knowing we haven't gotten it done when it counts in March.

"The main focus this season has been about making history, and we want to be remembered as a team that could get it done.''

The No. 4-ranked Vols will get their chance at 1 o'clock today (TV: WVLT) when they tip off against South Carolina at the Georgia Dome in the second round of the SEC tournament.

UT (28-3) has defeated the Gamecocks (14-17) twice this season, 80-56 in Columbia on Jan. 12 and 89-56 in Knoxville on Sunday.

South Carolina's Devan Downey, who scored 12 points and dished out 11 assists in a 77-73 victory over LSU in the first round of the SEC tournament on Thursday, said that doesn't sit well with the Gamecocks.

"I'm a competitor, and let's be honest, they've kind of embarrassed us twice,'' said Downey, who was held to two points by Smith in the teams' most recent meeting. "Like I told my guys after the game, if you can't get up for a team that beat you by twenty-something and thirty-something, you don't need to be playing this game.

"We're gonna give it 110 percent and see what happens.''

Smith knows his matchup with Downey - who averages 18.3 points - will be key.

"He's a tough competitor, and I know he'll be ready,'' Smith said. "They know us, we know them. It's going to come down to toughness.''

The last time Tennessee faced South Carolina in the SEC tournament, two years ago, the Gamecocks scored an upset and advanced to the final before falling to eventual-national champion Florida.

Then, like now, the Vols had swept the season series.

South Carolina coach Dave Odom said that's where the similarity between the situations ends.

"Everything else is different,'' said Odom, who is retiring at the end of the season. "Their team is much better, much better. Ours is not.

"Tennessee is the overwhelming favorite to win this tournament.''

The Vols haven't won the SEC tournament since scoring a 75-69 overtime win over Kentucky in Birmingham in 1979 and haven't even reached the title game since losing to Alabama 88-69 in 1991 in Nashville.

"I wasn't even dribbling a basketball then,'' UT sophomore Duke Crews said. "Every game is history for us. Most wins in school history, that goes up every game we win, win the SEC championship, we add on to history. Go past the Sweet 16, we add on to history.

"There's still history to be made. We want to leave our legacy and our mark on this university, and this is our best chance to do it.''

UT coach Bruce Pearl said his team has the right mind-set, and yet he concedes the Vols have a challenge on their hands in trying to defeat a team three times in the same season for the first time in his UT tenure.

"One of the things I'll tell the team in the film session is I've heard South Carolina talk about the (SEC) tournament for several weeks,'' he said. "At some point during this season, they knew they wouldn't win the conference, so they said let's go ahead and get ready for the tournament.

"One of the reasons Dave (Odom) has been successful in the tournament is they point to it.''

Pearl said he takes no comfort in the Vols' win over the Gamecocks on Sunday.

"You can take the last game and throw it out, because neither team played with the intensity you'll see tomorrow (today),'' Pearl said. "No doubt, there was a different intensity for South Carolina against LSU.

"LSU was the more physically talented team, and yet, South Carolina was able to overcome that with their guard play. We'll have to play well on the perimeter.''

If not, the Vols could be history.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.