He may be 14 years removed from his last trip to Bud Walton Arena, but the “Woo Pig Sooie” chants haven’t exited Donnie Tyndall’s mind.
On Tuesday, though, the first-year Tennessee head coach will make his return trip to Fayetteville, Arkansas, a venue he last visited on Feb. 17, 2001, as an assistant coach for the LSU Tigers, when the Volunteers face off against the Razorbacks.
And he expects the home crowd to be just as raucous as it was 14 years ago.
“When I was an assistant at LSU, we played there a couple of times over my four years,” Tyndall said. “(Bud Walton Arena) and Arizona, where we played a couple years ago, those two places, in my opinion, are the loudest two places I’ve ever played in, and I’m sure it will be another crazy atmosphere on Tuesday.”
Other than the hostile environment packed into the “Basketball Palace of Mid-America,” another challenge the Vols will face is trying to limit Bobby Portis for a second time this season.
In the two teams’ first matchup back on Jan. 13 — a 74-69 UT win — the 6-foot-11, 242-pound sophomore forward scored 17 points, with nine of those coming in the final 9:32 of the game, and corralled 11 rebounds.
To further limit one of the 25 players named to the mid-season Wooden Award watch list, the Vols will have to do a better job keeping Portis off the offensive glass after he grabbed five such rebounds in his first go-around with Tennessee.
“He averages right around five offensive rebounds a game in conference play, which is probably the most amazing stat of anyone in our league,” Tyndall said. “But our zone limits post guys touches to a point, so the biggest thing will be working the front of the post and limiting his touches.
“When he catches, we will double him and make him kick it out. But the most important thing of all is boxing him out and not letting him get offensive putbacks.”
Coming off a 67-61 loss to Texas A&M, the Vols will return to a classification which has suited them in past weeks: the road team.
In three road games to kick off the SEC season, Tennessee has yet to drop a contest, and hasn’t lost on the road since Dec. 17 when the team fell to North Carolina State 83-72.
“I’d like to think we are confident because we have won some games on the road,” Tyndall said. “We’ve played a little more nervous in front of our home crowd than we have on the road, and I don’t know if that is purely coincidental or if guys are feeling a little more pressure at home because all the fans are here and they want to do so well to keep them coming out and they put too much pressure on themselves.
“In really only one of the last three games have we really played the way we’ve went on the road and played, so I hope that trend continues — at least up until Tuesday night.”
Tipoff for the contest between the Vols and Arkansas is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. EST.
