Tennessee didn't gain control of its "controlled chaos'' style until the second half of its win over Carson-Newman College on Friday night.

While hardly a thing of beauty, the Vols' pressing, uptempo style provided excitement in a 106-73 win before an announced crowd of 11,369 at Thompson-Boling Arena.

UT built a 47-35 halftime lead, then killed any remaining suspense with a 13-0 second-half run. Chris Lofton sparked the run with a layup, C.J. Watson hit a couple of 3s, and Stanley Asumnu added a reverse layup.

Asumnu scored a game-high 19 points, the final two coming on an alley-oop slam off a Lofton feed. Most of Asumnu's points came in the lane off his twirling jump-hook shot

"I love it when Stanley is playing that way,'' said senior Andre Patterson, who returned after being suspended for the exhibition opener. "With his strength, size and quickness, he should be able to do that all year.

"(Former coach) Buzz (Peterson) took that away from Stanley, so it's good to see him out there having fun and playing like this again.''

Lofton was relatively quiet in the scoring column with 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting. UT coach Bruce Pearl said that wasn't by design.

"Eight assists, one turnover for Chris we were able to run a lot of continuity,'' Pearl said. "We didn't have to run a lot of sets; there wasn't much need to get Chris shots.''

Patterson said the Vols weren't necessarily shooting for 100 points. They just wanted to have fun.

Patterson, who came off the bench to score 17 points on 7-of-7 shooting, provided some of that enjoyment with a soaring, one-handed jam that brought the crowd to its feet.

"(Andre) has got some work to do in all areas, but I think he's responded very well,'' Pearl said. "His attitude is excellent, and he certainly was productive in his play.''

The Vols' 47-35 first-half lead was thanks, in part, to 12 Carson-Newman turnovers.

Pearl said many of UT's transition baskets in the second half were a result of the undersized Eagles (their tallest man was 6-foot-7) wearing down. With 16 minutes left, Pearl backed off the press.

The Eagles didn't have much trouble breaking the press when their legs were fresh. Their first turnover on the front end of the press came with 11:07 left in the first half, when Asumnu knocked an inbounds pass off a C-N player's leg.

It was one of four turnovers Asumnu forced in the first half. More active than ever, Asumnu scored eight of his 12 first-half points in the first 11 minutes of thegame as the Vols forged a 28-18 lead.

Watson, who Pearl unflatteringly said had his game on "cruise control,'' hit a 3-pointer with 9:52 left in the opening half to spark an 11-0 run that put UT up 36-18.

The Vols held Carson-Newman scoreless for 3:30 during the run before Eagles' Jermaine Grimm hit a pair of free throws to make it 36-20 with 6:33 left in the first half.

The Vols could have been up even more if not for dreadful free-throw shooting. After canning 32 of 37 free throws in an 86-78 win over Division II Southern Indiana Nov. 3, the Vols made four of 12 shots from the charity stripe in the first half against C-N and were 10 of 23 in the game.

The Eagles' shooting difficulties came from behind the 3-point line. They made just 6-of-23 attempts.

Scott Williams led C-N with 15 points, and former Maryville standout Andy Tipton had 12 points and three rebounds. Stan Davis, of Farragut, scored four points and had five rebounds.

The Vols had six players score in double figures.

"Thirty-two assists and eight turnovers is obviously outstanding; it speaks to the fact guys are playing unselfish,'' Pearl said. "I did think we made some progress in some areas. I need them to come back on Sunday understanding how much better we need to get.''

UT opens the season at home against East Tennessee State next Friday at 7:30 p.m.