NASHVILLE -- Following Tennessee basketball is a radio or TV proposition for most Big Orange fans in Middle Tennessee.

Driving to Thompson-Boling Arena, especially on a week night for a non-conference game, doesn't enter into the equation.

Wednesday night, several thousand Vol fans were appreciative to have to drive no farther than the Gaylord Entertainment Center.

Their motivation was to witness this exciting new Bruce Pearl era they've been hearing about.

And here's what most of them had to be thinking at halftime:

What the heck is all the fuss about?

To paraphrase The Who, new Vols same as the old Vols.

The scoreboard said Murray State 32, Tennessee 26.

The box score showed Chris Lofton and C.J. Watson a combined 1-of-10 from the field.

It showed Major Wingate had one rebound in 15 minutes.

The crowd saw Watson, among others, forcing shots.

"We just couldn't get into our offense,'' Watson said later. "I couldn't get any open looks.''

The crowd saw one launch from the hands of JaJuan Smith that was difficult to categorize for the box score. It could have been an airball 3-pointer, but maybe it was a daring feed to Wingate near the basket.

The crowd watched the Vols ignore some little freshman from Murray State, Tyler Holloway, who came off the bench and scored 11 points on 4-of-4 shooting.

"He was a no-leave guy,'' Pearl said after the game. "We didn't pay very close attention to the scouting report.''

Yep. New Vols, same as the old Vols.

If anyone left at halftime to head across town and catch the second half of the Oregon-Vanderbilt game, they had to be wondering why Tennessee bothered with an offseason coaching change.

If, however, they stuck around for the second half at the Gaylord, they saw exactly why Tennessee made a coaching change.

The Vols spotted Murray State a nine-point lead in the opening exchange of the second half, but then, first gradually, and then in a landslide, momentum shifted in Tennessee's favor.

The Vols would pull away to win 64-53. They would close out the victory as confidently and impressively as Duke might do to Maryland or Arizona to Stanford.

Maybe a 64-53 win (over anybody) wasn't what Vol fans expected when Pearl came swaggering into town from Milwaukee with his full-court tempo. But don't feel misled. This was a keeper win.

"We're not going to play good every game,'' said Lofton, a sophomore. "We're not going to get to play our style every game.''

The Vols played plenty good in the second half.

They outrebounded Murray State 26-15. They committed a mere three turnovers. They warmed up from 28 percent in the first half to shoot 44 percent.

Lofton and Watson were a combined 10-of-13 from the field.

Murray State's starting guards, by contrast, were 1-of-13. And little Holloway was a non-factor, 0-of-2.

The Vols pressed selectively, but effectively.

"We pressed just enough,'' said Pearl, "to take your legs out.

"Those same shots they were making the first half, they were missing the second half.''

Racers coach Mick Cronin, whose team had earlier lost at Cincinnati in overtime, offered an amen.

"Tonight,'' said Cronin, "we had a chance to win and really ran out of gas the last six minutes.

"If you want to beat big-time teams, you need to be in as good or better condition than them.''

Tennessee might not be a big-time team yet. This is still very much a work in progress.

But by displaying characteristics such as tireless legs, toughness and discipline down the stretch, the Vols not only won a game they could have easily lost, they won over some fans in Middle Tennessee.