It started like many of Tennessee‘s home non-conference games have through the first month of the season.

The No. 7 Vols never trailed in its first game since two stellar outings at the Baha Mar Championship and its lead was never in question, but another defensive masterclass turned their game against UT Martin into a second half rout, producing a 78-35 victory at Food City Center on Wednesday.

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Tennessee (7-0) did it without the kind of shooting clinic it put on against Virginia and Baylor in the Bahamas last week, finishing less than 30% from three-point range. Chaz Lanier led the Vols in scoring with 16 points, while Zakai Zeigler scored 11 and Felix Okpara finished with 10 along with 11 rebounds for a double-double.

Tennessee held UT Martin (2-5) to 23% shooting from the field and allowed just 15 second half points from the Skyhawks, with their 35 total points the fewest allowed at Food City Center since it opened in 1987.

It started slow, then Zakai Zeigler hit a step-back 3-pointer nearly two minutes in.

UT Martin answered with a Matija Zuzic three to even the score before the Vols rattled off an 8-0 run that included 3-pointers from Igor Milicic Jr. and Chaz Lanier to open up an 11-3 lead with a little under 16 minutes left in the first half.

The Skyhawks evidently made the most of the first media timeout after the Vols’ early onslaught. Leading scorer Josue Grullon scored on back-to-back possessions, including an acrobatic three-point shot from the corner to trim Tennessee’s lead to 12-8.

The Vols clapped back with a score from Milicic and a put-back dunk from Cade Phillips, who was the first player off the bench alongside Jordan Gainey to extend the lead to 16-10 with 11:34 to go in the half.

On the defensive end, Tennessee held UT Martin scoreless for at two-plus minute stretch while Milicic and Lanier bolstered the Vols on offense before the Skyhawks ended their drought to cut the Vols lead to nine at 23-14 as the clock ticked inside of eight minutes.

Tennessee had its own stagnant stretch on offense with less than seven minutes left in the half, going cold from the field for a couple of minutes before Darlinstone Dubar, who has made an impact off of the bench since making his debut at the Baha Mar Championship last week, sunk a 3-pointer to up the Vols’ lead to 28-14.

UT Martin went nearly five minutes without a basket, the result of Tennessee getting hands on the ball and keeping it on the Skyhawks’ end of the floor. Grullon was fouled on a deep 3-pointer that fell through to again end a drought and narrow their deficit to 28-17.

Tennessee’s only points in a four-minute stretch late in the half came from a pair of free throws from Phillips and Stefano Faloppa made a 3-pointer to pull UT Martin within 10. But Felix Okpara gathered in a pass under the basket and finished with a dunk to send the Vols into the half up 35-20.

As sluggish as Tennessee’s ending to the first half was, the Vols grabbed their largest lead quickly in the second half after Zeigler tallied another three and Okpara tipped the ball in to go up 40-20.

Tennessee added two more scores from Gainey and Zeigler again before UT Martin scored its first points of the of the half more than four minutes into the period.

The Vols’ three-point shooting woes continued with Zeigler’s shot in the opening second the only one made of five attempts through the first eight minutes, but those struggles hardly mattered.

The defense gave the Skyhawks fits and Tennessee found other ways to score to maintain a 20-point cushion.

Lanier ended the Vols’ cold streak from deep with a three from the top of the of the key to go ahead 54-29 with 8:58 to go. He had a second on the next possession that rimmed out, but Okapra was there for the put-back.

Dubar scored in transition off of a turnover and Milicic pulled down Zeigler’s eighth assist for a dunk to highlight a 16-3 run over six minutes that upped Tennessee’s lead to a commanding 64-31 edge.

Tennessee will open December with another power conference test on its home floor.

The Vols host Syracuse in the ACC/SEC Challenge at Food City Center on Tuesday, Dec. 3 at 7:30 p.m. ET (TV: ESPN) in a rematch of the Maui Invitational in Honolulu last November.

Tennessee won that game, 73-56.

The Vols played at North Carolina in the inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge last season, coming up short in a second half comeback bid in Chapel Hill.

Syracuse is off to a 3-2 with wins over Le Moyne, Colgate and Youngstown State and losses to Texas and Texas Tech. The Orange play Cornell later tonight.

Tennessee vs. UT Martin: Game information, lineups, notes

GAME INFORMATION

PROJECTED LINEUPS

NUMBERS EDGE

PREGAME NOTES

CAMPBELL COUNTY, Tenn. (WVLT) – The Tennessee Highway Patrol said a teen died and another was injured after hitting a bear in Campbell County Saturday night.

According to a preliminary report from THP, a 16-year-old juvenile was driving an older model Toyota Tacoma south on Stinking Creek Road at around 8:15 p.m. Saturday when a black bear walked in front of the truck.

The teen was unable to avoid the bear and hit it with the front bumper of the truck, according to THP.

The driver was fatally injured in the crash, THP said, while the passenger, also a 16-year-old juvenile, was injured.

Additional information has not been released.

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