There was still a good 25 minutes remaining before tipoff of the Philadelphia Regional Final last night when the Tennessee fans reminded the Rutgers partisans in the building who's been boss for the last few decades.
As the Lady Volunteers took the floor for the first time, the familiar strains of "Rocky Top" rang out through the Liacouras Center, and everyone in the building wearing orange was on his or her feet and roaring.
Ten minutes later, the Rutgers fans asserted themselves for the first time, waving all manner of signs with the university's red "R" logo as the Scarlet Knights came out for warmups.
And when Rutgers guard Cappie Pondexter scored the game's first points, those in the crowd of 6,452 who made the trip down the New Jersey Turnpike to Philadelphia fired another shot across the establishment's bow.
The Scarlet Knights' fans were louder and quite a bit more numerous than their Volunteers counterparts.
This was shaping up to be quite a battle on and off the court.
"It's a big deal," Tennessee fan Frankie Wade said of her team's ever-present traveling support.
The Jackson, Tenn., resident came to Philadelphia with her daughter Holly and grandchildren Billy and Kathleen. All four were wearing at least one article of orange clothing, and carrying all manner of accouterments to support their team.
"I got involved with the Lady Vols 20-something years ago," Frankie said. "I had been a football fan, but seeing what [Tennessee women's coach] Pat Summitt did with these young women, that goes outside of sports."
It goes outside of the Volunteers' home in Knoxville, too.
"I live 300 miles away," she said. "Almost all of the people who are up here are not from Knoxville, but travel with the team because they want to see them and want to support them."
Billy's fandom crosses all the way up the east coast into enemy territory -- Connecticut.
"I used to like UConn, but I was actually born in Tennessee -- my dad was in the Army at Fort Campbell," the Darien resident said. "Since I'm a native Tennessean, I really do like the Vols."
On the Rutgers side of things, Marge Kerber arranged four buses to bring fans from the campus in New Brunswick, N.J. Kerber wore a red Rutgers T-shirt and a black baseball cap with a button reading "Thump Tennessee Cagers Club."
"In our area, it means a lot," Kerber said. "I went to get my oil changed, and I had a Rutgers women's basketball jacket on, and the guy said, 'Oh, we used to watch the team play last year, and now we're going to go over to the RAC [the Scarlet Knights' arena].'"
As Wade did for Summitt, Kerber spoke glowingly of longtime Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer.
"Vivian Stringer is family," Kerber said. "She's not only a great coach but she's a wonderful person ... I've never seen anybody that caring."
In the end, Tennessee held off a ferocious late rally by a scrappy Rutgers squad and won, 59-49, to advance to the Final Four for a record 16th time.
The game was a lot closer than the score would indicate, as the Scarlet Knights got within one point with just over a minute to play but could not take the lead.
The Volunteers will face off against Michigan State on Sunday evening at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis, and Frankie Wade already plans to be in attendance.
"I will be there; they won't be," she said, motioning to the rest of her family.
"We might be," said Kathleen, who carried two orange and white pom-poms and wore an orange shirt covered with "Lady Vols" stickers.
"They have school," her mother quickly replied.
Even for a rabid Tennessee fan, there are still priorities.
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