Guard Jordan Bone scored 18 points and forward Kyle Alexander had 16 as No. 6 Tennessee had five players in double figures in coasting to an 86-41 victory over Lenoir-Rhyne on Tuesday night in Knoxville's Thompson-Boling Arena.

Forward Grant Williams, the 2018 Southeastern Conference Player of the Year, and forward Admiral Schofield scored 13 each for the Vols. Guard Jordan Bowden scored 11.

The Vols outscored the visiting Bears 36-11 in the second half in defeating the alma mater of their coach, Rick Barnes, who lettered three seasons at Lenoir-Rhyne.

Forward-center Manny Wembi led the Bears with nine points.

Early on, the Bears used hot 3-point shooting to cut a 20-12 deficit down to two points approaching the 11-minute mark of the first half. Jalen Johnson's 3-pointer was the sixth trey in their first nine attempts for the Bears and got them within 20-18.

But the Vols responded with an 8-0 run that got their lead back to double digits, and went on to a 50-30 cushion at intermission. The Vols opened the second half on a 19-0 run in opening up a 69-30 lead before the Bears got their first points of the second half on forward-center Bertrand Awana's layup at the 11:15 mark.

Lenoir-Rhyne actually shot better from 3-point range than from inside the arc in the first half, going 7-for-20 (35 percent) from long distance and only 3-for-15 (20 percent) from inside the arc. For the game, the Bears shot 21.2 percent overall (14-for-67) and 20 percent on 3s (7-for-35).

Tennessee was 18-for-30 from the field in closing out the half on a 30-12 run and ended the game shooting 56.7 percent (34-for-60).

Although it served as the regular-season opener for the Vols, the game was billed as an exhibition for the Division II Bears, who were picked to finish fifth in the South Atlantic Conference in the preseason coaches' poll.

--Field Level Media