Tennessee guard Josh Richardson (1) drives to the hoop around Santa Clara guard Denzel Johnson (20) during their game in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., on Nov. 27, 2014.KNOXVILLE — The memories are bound to begin flowing for Josh Richardson the moment he sees PNC Arena.
The nostalgia will continue as the Tennessee guard walks through its halls and locker rooms and onto the floor where he enjoyed both individual and team success about nine months ago.
The Volunteers, off two home wins against Kansas State and then-No. 15 Butler, returned to PNC Arena in Raleigh, where they handily beat Massachusetts and Mercer to advance to the Sweet 16 in last season’s NCAA tournament, on Tuesday night and face 8-2 North Carolina State there tonight.
In those games in March, Richardson scored 15 and a career-high 26 points and shot 14-of-20 from the field.
“I’m definitely going in there with a lot of confidence knowing how well I played last time I was in that gym, but I just hope that confidence can carry over to the rest of our team,” the senior said as the Vols left campus Tuesday evening. “I think we had a good week of practice after that last game. I think if we come out and play well in the first half we should be good.”