SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico-- Tennessee (1-0) and UNC-Asheville (1-1), two programs that are scarcely 100 miles apart, are taking a convoluted path towards matching up this week, doing so 1,600 miles from home in Bayomon, Peurto Rico in opening round action of the Puerto Rico Tip-off.

The Vols are no familiar with the preseason tournament grind, having competed in these sort of events steadily for the better part of the last decade.

Nearly the entire roster had a chance to take part in the star-studded Maui Invitational last year during Martin's first season. That field was loaded, and featured a couple of losses for a young Tennessee team, losses that this year's team is hoping to use as lessons as they look to bring some hardware back from the Caribbean.

"We're trying to win this thing. We want to have fun on the trip, but we're trying to win," Josh Richardson said of Tennessee's mindset. "We feel like we have something to prove. We definitely don't think we've arrived as a team or anything. We're looking at this tournament as an opportunity to prove what we're capable of as a team."

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