OKLAHOMA CITY -- Tennessee got the challenge it was looking for, but not the result.

Oklahoma State handed the 23rd-ranked Vols their first loss of the season, 89-73, in the All-College Classic at the Ford Center on Thursday night.

"That's the best we've played this season,'' said Cowboys coach Eddie Sutton, the nation's second winningest active coach with 789 victories. "Tennessee's kids play hard; good things will happen for them.''

Good things did happen for the Vols (6-1) early in the second half. UT cut a 16-point halftime deficit down to one point, closing within 67-66 on a JaJuan Smith 3-pointer with 8:59 remaining.

But Sutton's crew proved it could play hard, too. The Vols hit just two of their final 18 shot attempts and Oklahoma State (8-3) cruised.

"They were just too big, too strong and too physical,'' UT coach Bruce Pearl said. "We have our limitations, and we try to disguise them and hide them.

"In this game, the limitations were exposed.''

Specifically, the Vols' dependency on guards Chris Lofton and C.J. Watson.

Lofton scored a game-high 21 points and Watson had 12, but both were virtually invisible the first 20 minutes.

The Cowboys stormed to a 42-26 halftime lead with physical man-to-man defense, smothering the UT guards.

Lofton had two points at the break on 1-of-3 shooting and Watson was held scoreless with no shot attempts nor assists and three turnovers.

"We dug ourselves too big of a hole,'' said UT forward Stanley Asumnu, who scored all six of his points in the first half. "But we did fight back.''

Pearl instructed the Vols in the locker room at halftime to tighten its press, and what had been a physical half-court battle turned into a track meet.

With the pace in their favor, the Vols hit seven of their first nine shots to cut a 16-point halftime deficit to three at 51-48 at the 15:46 mark.

UT had three chances to tie the score, but Smith, Lofton and Watson missed successive 3-point attempts.

With the Ford Center crowd roaring in their favor, the Cowboys lassoed the momentum, going on an 8-2 run to go up 59-50 on Roderick Flemings' dunk with 13:14 left.

The Vols weren't finished.

Jordan Howell banked a trey, and UT forced three turnovers while hitting six of eight shots over the next 4A 1/2 minutes to close to 67-66.

Oklahoma State's JamesOn Curry, who with 16 points split team scoring honors with fellow guard Byron Eaton, said the Cowboys didn't panic.

"We'd been in that situation before with Boston College and Gonzaga,'' Curry said. "Tennessee is a great defensive team; we just had to relax and play smart.''

The Vols, untested prior to Thursday's contest, proceeded to come unglued.

Lofton's third and final 3-pointer pulled UT within 72-69 with 6:54 left, but it proved to be the Vols' last gasp of life.

Tennessee missed its next 11 shots -- seven from 3-point land -- and the leaner, meaner Cowboys steadily pulled away.

"We got carried away settling for 3-pointers instead of being aggressive and going to the hole,'' Lofton said.

Pearl wore a look of disgust scanning the statistics sheet.

"We lost our poise offensively in the second half,'' he said. "We hit shots to get back into it, but once we got there we needed better shots.

"The bottom line was we couldn't stop Oklahoma State. They shot 71 percent in the second half. You're not going to win games like that.''

Andre Patterson, who scored 10 points, knows that all too well.

"We know how and why we lost this game,'' Patterson said. "We'll still play hard. It's just one game.''

Drama: Eaton said the Vols were "talking noise'' at the hotel and banquet Wednesday night.

"Then the dude (Patterson) hurt one of our players and went off and started laughing,'' Eaton said. "We had to take care of our business.''

Patterson got under Cowboys' guard Marcus Dove at the end of the first half, and Dove fell hard, hitting his tailbone and the back of his head. He didn't return to the game.

Patterson went to the Oklahoma State locker room after the game to check on Dove's status.

"I didn't laugh; I wanted to apologize,'' Patterson said. "We played together in L.A. in AAU. (Dove) is from Long Beach. I wouldn't try to hurt him.''

Orange Slices: UT had more turnovers (16) than assists (12) for the first time this season. ... The Vols forced 15 of their 21 turnovers in the second half. ... Major Wingate (eight points) failed to score in double figures for the first time this season. ... Jordan Howell scored a career-high eight points and played a season-high 13 minutes. ... Watson, plagued by a cold this week, played a season-low 27 minutes.