After Tennessee shocked Texas 10 days earlier, coach Bruce Pearl asked the question: What were the Vols going to do with it?

Not much, it turned out. They followed up with their worst outing of the season against Oklahoma State and paid a stiff price.

The Vols did more with their first loss than they did with their biggest win.

Tuesday night they came home and got better.

Granted, Alabama A&M is not on Oklahoma State's level. Still, there was encouragement to be gained from a 93-68 romp.

The Bulldogs of the Southwestern Athletic Conference aren't supposed to beat the big boys, even on their best day. But Alabama A&M had at least given both Vanderbilt and Nebraska fits before succumbing.

Tennessee sidestepped any potential land mines by showing up at the opening tip with its motor running.

This one was never in doubt, which was a relief to coach Bruce Pearl, considering the surprising holiday crowd that responded to UT's marketing efforts.

"From my standpoint,'' said Pearl, "if we hadn't come out here and played, if we weren't as excited as Alabama A&M to be here, if there was going to be a hangover from Oklahoma State, if we didn't give an effort, I would have been really upset.

"Because of 15,797 (the announced attendance. Because of an athletic department that is working so hard for us. I'm glad our players responded in kind, also with a very fine effort.''

The effort included the kind of ball movement that leads to 55.4 percent shooting.

It included taking care of the ball - only nine turnovers against a team that has been forcing more than twice that amount.

Most encouraging of all, though, it included a solid defensive effort.

The Vols forced 17 turnovers and recorded 10 steals, neither of which was out of the ordinary.

They blocked seven shots, which was.

The Bulldogs shot 38.7 percent from the field. Not exactly frigid, but in the context of Tennessee's season, it was significant.

UT had held only one of seven previous foes to a lower percentage (Murray State, 37.5).

Four opponents, including the past three, had shot 48 percent or better from the field, a number that will get you beat more often than not.

Oklahoma State lit up the Vols to the tune of 63 percent, including 70.8 percent the second half.

"We came out really aggressive tonight,'' said guard JaJuan Smith, "which we didn't do against Oklahoma State.

"We weren't getting beat one-on-one off the dribble inside tonight.''

UT entered the game ranked last in the SEC in field-goal percentage defense and 3-point percentage defense. One game isn't going to change that, nor will it solve the problems that got the Vols there.

"It's going to be an issue all year long,'' said Pearl. "Nothing's changed. You're not going to hear anything new from me.

"But we did talk to the players in the second half and mention what (Alabama A&M's) field-goal percentage was, and I liked the response I was getting.''

He had to like the three charges UT drew. He had to like the fact that with 4:50 to play and his team up 24 points, it was still playing hard enough to force a shot-clock violation.

"We had a really good sense of urgency,'' Pearl said. "We're really uptempo, but you're not uptempo when you're taking the ball out of the net all the time (after a made basket).

"I told the team, 'You want to run? Let's play defense and rebound.'

"If we do that, we're going to get the ball down the floor and score some points.''

The team listened. It got better.

Mike Strange may be reached at 865-342-6276 or strange2@knews.com.