Statistically speaking, Tennessee basketball is a feast-or-famine proposition in the early days of the Bruce Pearl era.

The Vols (6-1), who return to Thompson-Boling Arena Tuesday night to face Alabama A&M (2-3), are the top scoring team in the SEC at 86 points a game.

On the other hand, they're giving up 74 points a game, the most in the league.

They lead the SEC in steals (11.43 per game) and in forced turnovers (22.4).

On the other hand, they're last in field-goal defense (48 percent), 3-point defense (42.7 percent), and rebound margin (minus-3.4 per game).

Oklahoma State exposed the Vols' defensive shortcomings Thursday night in handing UT its first loss of the season, 89-73. The loss dropped UT out of the Associated Press' top 25. The Vols rank 30th with 66 points.

"We've got some limitations in our drop-back defense,'' Pearl said. "Oklahoma State was able to handle the ball as close to the basket as they wanted to.''

If the Vols' press doesn't produce turnovers, look out.

"Turnovers were the only way we could get a defensive stop and that's not good enough against good teams like Oklahoma State,'' said junior Dane Bradshaw.

It might be against teams like Alabama A&M, which hasn't beaten a Division I foe this season. Still, Pearl is anxious to see some improvement in the half-court defense.

Giving up points comes with the territory when you play an uptempo system. But allowing teams to shoot out the lights -- Oklahoma State shot 70.8 percent the second half -- isn't necessarily a byproduct of Pearl's system.

His Sweet 16 team at Wisconsin-Milwaukee last year allowed opponents to shoot only 41 percent overall and 30.2 percent from 3-point range. Furthermore, the Panthers slightly outrebounded the competition.

Pearl's first UT squad, however, is short on manpower and size. The lack of numbers restricts the quality of the practice time and, thus, slows Pearl's pace of developing an effective defense.

Tuesday night is the first of three remaining pre-SEC outings. Lipscomb University (5-4) visits Thursday. South Alabama (8-2) will be here on Jan. 4.

The SEC season opens Jan. 8.

Scouting Report: Alabama A&M's wins came against Jarvis Christian and Tuskegee. The Bulldogs of the Southwestern Athletic Conference have played respectably at Vanderbilt and Nebraska, their only Division I opponents.

In fact, they trailed by only four points at halftime in each game before losing to Vandy (74-58) and the Cornhuskers (67-60).

Guard Obie Trotter scored 27 points against Vanderbilt.

The Bulldogs are a statistical force. Through Dec. 19, they led the nation in blocked shots (8.5 per game) and ranked second nationally in steals (13.5 per game).

Trotter ranked No. 1 in steals at 6.0 per game. Joe Martin, a 6-foot-4 senior, ranked No. 3 in rebounding at 12.3 per game.

Vol Report: UT leads the SEC in free-throw accuracy at 70.3 percent. C.J. Watson is the league's top individual, shooting a career-best 87.2 percent (34-of-39). Watson also is tops in 3-point percentage at 57.1.

Chris Lofton and Watson rank second and third, respectively, in steals per game and Lofton leads the league with 3.86 3-point baskets per game. Despite the lack of depth, no one from UT ranks in the top 10 in minutes played.