PHILADELPHIA — Joe Zito meandered his way through a hallway in the underbelly of Xfinity Mobile Arena on Thursday.

The event staff security person walked in front of the two locker rooms reserved for the teams participating in the Philadelphia portion of the NCAA Tournament. One of them bore a placard with Tennessee basketball’s name on it, marking the time and place for Zito.

He posted himself by the entrance where players and coaches arrived as the final part of the UT travel party trickled in. Then he saw who he was waiting for at the end of the line as Vols coach Rick Barnes entered the hallway.

“As soon as he came in, he came over to me,” Zito said. 

Barnes strode up to Zito with a beaming grin and an outstretched hand, stretching back 19 years into the past to a connection that began with a Texas game at Villanova and a pretzel delivery.

How pretzels started a connection for Rick Barnes in Philadelphia

Barnes walked out of the coaches’ locker room in January 2007 with a question.

“Hey Joe, where are the pretzels?” Barnes inquired. 

Barnes and Longhorns came to Philadelphia to play the back half of a home-and-home with Villanova at the then-Wachovia Center. 

Zito, who has worked at the arena since it opened in 1996, was assigned security detail outside the locker room, which led to a conversation the day before the game. Barnes hunted a recommendation for a Philly cheesesteak spot.

Zito offered a different suggestion. 

“I always thought Philly was cheesesteaks,” Barnes said. “He asked if I had Philly pretzels before.”

Barnes had not. Zito told him the pretzels might be better, leading to Barnes’ halftime inquiry about where the pretzels were.

“It was the first time and the last time,” Zito said. “I don’t remember anybody else asking for pretzels. He wanted them and I got them.”

The South Philadelphia native dispatched someone to fetch pretzels from Federal Pretzel Company before the end of Texas’ 76-69 loss to Villanova. He placed a dozen of them in the locker room for Barnes and his staff.

Barnes sent his Texas equipment manager out of the locker room to summon Zito following the game. He thanked him for the pretzels and asked if there was anything he could do for him.

Zito told him no, but Barnes insisted and asked him for his address and his kids’ names with a promise to send something to them.

“I know he didn’t think I would, but I did,” Barnes said.

Joe Zito still roots for Rick Barnes and was rooting for a March reunion

Zito has a Texas T-shirt he stills wears.

“When I go out to places, people go, ‘Hook ‘em, Horns,’ ” Zito said. “I have nothing to do with Texas.”

A large box arrived at the Zito residence a few months after Texas played Villanova, which puzzled Zito and his family.

“My wife is yelling at me, ‘We’ve got this big box in the mail from Austin, Texas,’ ” Zito said. “I said, “Austin, Texas? I don’t know what it is.’ ”

Barnes followed through on his promise to thank the Zitos for the pretzels. He sent Texas shirts and apparel for Zito, his wife and his kids. It included the shirt that Zito still wears. He has gotten comments anywhere from the grocery store to the casino. People ask him which part of Texas he is from.

The package also included a card thanking Zito and it had Barnes’ email on it. 

“I emailed him and said, ‘Thank you for the box, I will see you down the road,’ ” Zito said.

Zito hoped that would be this March. He has watched Barnes coach at Texas and at Tennessee ever since they met in 2007. He knew Philadelphia was a potential landing spot for the Vols, but he couldn’t watch the selection show. He was working the Philadelphia 76ers’ 109-103 win against the Portland Trailblazers on Sunday.

He asked for updates from people, wanting to know if Tennessee was coming. Finally, someone confirmed it and Zito started thinking about the reunion that came Thursday. 

Zito let Barnes know they were born two weeks apart in 1954. Barnes said that means they are young and Zito said it’s why they must get along so well. 

Barnes asked again for a cheesesteak recommendation, which Zito gave.

“I’m going to wait for your pretzels, too,” Barnes said.

Zito was already on it. He will have them for Barnes on Friday. 

“He wants them tomorrow,” Zito said. “He already told me.”