Tennessee men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl admitted Thursday that it took a gamble to beat Murray State Wednesday night.

"The lineups you saw out there in the first half were not necessarily our best,'' said Pearl, whose team rallied from a 32-26 halftime deficit to defeat the Racers 64-53 at Nashville's Gaylord Entertainment Center. "I knew we had to try to win it in the second half.''

That successful gamble aside, Pearl knows it wouldn't be a good bet to believe the same type of strategy will work against SEC competition.

So it's back to work today at practice -- hard work.

"With us not playing this weekend, I would anticipate there will be a couple of hard practices,'' said Pearl, whose team doesn't return to action until 7 p.m. Tuesday night against Appalachian State. "Because our roster isn't very deep, we have to be well-conditioned. And I'm still not satisfied with our play.''

Pearl remains concerned with the interior play of center Major Wingate and is looking for more improvement from 6-foot-9 freshman Ryan Childress.

"Major scored 18 points (against Eastern Kentucky on Nov. 25), a career high, and I was all over him,'' Pearl said. "I expect a lot more from Major rebounding. Major is a very good player and he's capable of more.''

Of Wingate's effort Wednesday night, Pearl said: "You can't have one defensive rebound in 28 minutes as our center. You just can't.''

Pearl has credited associate head coach Tony Jones and assistant Scott Edgar for Wingate's offensive improvement, but much of what's left to improve on will be up to Wingate.

As for Childress, he was limited to a season-low three minutes of playing time against a quick and athletic Murray State front line.

Pearl said Childress' playing time was dictated by the circumstances in the game.

"Andre (Patterson) was playing well and Dane (Bradshaw) was playing well, and then there was Major,'' Pearl said. "Between the three of them, they were able to handle the four and five position.

"But Childress is a candidate for that eighth spot in our rotation. He's someone I would like to see come on and really, really help us.''

Pearl has said from the start that the Vols' lack of depth hinders his ability to run his uptempo scheme, hence his strategy against the Racers.

But with non-conference road games with Texas (Dec. 17) and Oklahoma State (Dec. 22) looming, Pearl knows things must change for the Vols to have any chance for victories.

"We've basically played our game against the first four opponents, and we'll do the same against Appalachian State,'' Pearl said. "But we can't play Texas the same way we play these (mid-major) teams.

"I need to get one more guy in the rotation, (or) I can't force tempo on Florida or Kentucky.''

Hendrix Return?: According to sources close to the program, dismissed forward Jemere Hendrix has been allowed to work in the gym, but there are no plans for him to return to the team.

Hendrix remains on scholarship and he's expected to continue to attend classes through spring term.

Orange Slices: Andre Patterson's 14 rebounds were a career high and mark the first time a UT player has had at least 10 rebounds since Brandon Crump had 10 against South Carolina Feb. 23, 2005. ... Wingate (10 points), C.J. Watson (11) and Chris Lofton (18) have scored in double figures in all four games this season. ... Murray State shot 37.5 percent to UT's 35.7 percent, marking the first time an opponent has outshot the Vols this season. ... Tennessee's all-time record in the Gaylord Entertainment Center is 2-1.