Tennessee left no doubts.

Any questions about how the Vols would respond to their first men's basketball loss of the season were answered Tuesday night at Thompson-Boling Arena.

It was convincing. It was easy.

UT (7-1) rolled to a 93-68 victory against Alabama A&M in front of 15,797 fans, erasing memories of last week's 89-73 loss to Oklahoma State.

"This team has a chance to carve out its identity," UT coach Bruce Pearl said. "The identity is to play with that kind of passion and do it every night.

"We didn't like the taste of defeat and we want to continue to taste victory."

A lot of Vols got a taste against the Bulldogs (2-4).

Four players hit for double figures, led by 19 from sophomore guard Chris Lofton.

C.J. Watson added 16. JaJuan Smith had a career-high 16 and Stanley Asumnu scored _ 15.

Major Wingate was the only Vol to run out of gas, and it _wasn't in the game.

"Major was late coming back from Christmas," Pearl said. "He ran out of gas. I told him I've used that one before; couldn't he come up with something better.

"It was nothing personal, you just have to do that. He lost his starting position."

It was Tennessee's first lineup change of the season, opening the door for Andre Patterson to make his first start.

Patterson responded by tying his career high with 14 rebounds and nearly had a double-double with nine points.

Wingate still played 18 minutes and contributed four dunks for all eight of his points.

On a night full of runs and sparks, Lofton provided the biggest lift in the first half.

He scored 17 of his 19 in the first 20 minutes.

Alabama A&M had pulled to six, 32-26, after Joe Martin hit back-to-back 3-pointers on his way to a game-high 27 points.

That's when Lofton had seen enough. He scored the Vols next 11 points, including three of his five 3-pointers, to extend UT's lead to 43-30.

"We played well," Pearl said. "One thing we talked about before the game was some teams don't get better. We've been saying that a lot.

"We were better tonight. That team (A&M) will challenge for the SWAC (Southwestern Athletic Conference). It was a good win."

Alabama A&M entered the game leading the nation with 13.2 steals per game and finished with two against the Vols.

Tennessee tied its season low with nine turnovers and had a season-high 28 assists.

"I knew coming in we would have to handle their pressure and we didn't do a good job of that tonight," Alabama A&M coach L. Vann Pettaway said. "Once Chris Lofton got hot with the 3-pointer, there was no stopping him."

Dane Bradshaw didn't score, but he contributed by matching his career high of six assists.

Tennessee also finished the game shooting a season high 55.4 percent from the field (36 of 65).

The Vols, red hot from 3-point range in the first half (8 of 14), exploited the inside for repeated layups and dunks in the second half.

UT went on a 22-6 run after halftime and took command with a 67-38 lead.

Smith, the former walk-on from McMinn County High School, had a lot to do with that. He had nine points during the stretch. He also assisted on the play of the night, an alley-oop slam by Asumnu with 12:52 to play.

"I'm just feeling real comfortable right now," he said after his night included five assists and two steals without a turnover. "I feel like (coach Pearl) is looking for me to come off the bench and do the things I'm doing."

The Vols don't have long to enjoy this one. UT returns to Thompson-Boling Arena for a 7 p.m. tipoff against Lipscomb on Thursday.