After a five-point deficit with 16 seconds remaining turned into a 76-73 overtime victory inside Memorial Gym, Tennessee had effectively stolen victory from its in-state rival, Vanderbilt.
Josh Richardson, however, did not see it that way.
“I just feel like we out-toughed them a little bit tonight,” said the senior guard following the Feb. 11 contest. “I think Vandy did a good job of attacking us the whole game and being tough, but I think we were a little bit tougher tonight.”
Two weeks after that thriller in Nashville, those post-game comments are still running through the mind of one disgruntled Commodore with Thursday’s rematch inside Thompson-Boling Arena on the horizon.
“We’re going after (Richardson),” Vanderbilt freshman guard Wade Baldwin said on Wednesday according to a tweet by The Tennessean’s Adam Starks. “We’re going after Tennessee. We’re going after their fans.”
The Baldwin remark may be a little more incendiary than he thought, but the energy coming into the grudge match is not shocking to Richardson at all.
“I think they’ll come in real motivated,” Richardson said. “But we are on a three-game losing streak, so we’re just as motivated and I think it’ll be a good game.”
Much like their first contest against the Commodores, the Volunteers focus will be on limiting the production of Vanderbilt forwards Damian Jones and James Siakim.
In the first matchup, Jones scored a team-high 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting, while corralling a game-high nine rebounds, including four on the offensive end. Siakim added 14 points of his own, going 6-of-10 from the floor, and gathered seven rebounds.
“They have some very physical guys down there in Siakam and Jones,” junior forward Armani Moore said. “They’re relentless on the boards. They’re always crashing and they’re always trying to figure out how to get their hands on the ball.
“We really have to figure out how to guard them without fouling, and I feel like if we can do that, and do that early, it’ll show it can be a tough game for them just like it could be a tough game for us.”
The Vols will look to avoid a four-game losing streak against the Commodores, something that Tennessee head coach Donnie Tyndall has not had happen to him in the last six seasons.
The last time a Tyndall-led team lost four in a row was back in February 2009, when his Morehead State Eagles dropped the final four games of their regular season against Eastern Kentucky, Kent State, Murray State and Tennessee-Martin — all on the road.
Tyndall has coached 207 games since his last four-game losing streak.
Tipoff between the Vols and Commodores is scheduled for 7 p.m. EST and can be seen on ESPN2.
