Bruce Pearl came through as advertised in his season-opening debut as Tennessee men's basketball coach.

The Vols forced 33 turnovers, pushed the tempo and had five players score in double figures in a 106-83 victory over East Tennessee State Friday night.

"I think they had a good time in the house tonight,'' Pearl said. "And how about the student section? They stood the whole game.''

Tennessee gave the announced crowd of 21,280 at Thompson-Boling Arena plenty to cheer about in winning its 14th consecutive home opener and fourth in a row over the Buccaneers.

UT raced to a 46-31 halftime and held no less than a double-digit advantage until the end.

Chris Lofton led the Vols with 24 points, C.J. Watson scored 22 and Stanley Asumnu and Dane Bradshaw added career highs with 18 and 13, respectively.

It's the most points for Tennessee since a 108-84 win over Texas A&M on Dec. 2, 2003, but there was more to the style of play Pearl brought from his Sweet 16 run at Wisconsin-Milwaukee than high scoring. In addition to a harassing defense, UT exhibited good ball movement and efficient spacing on the offensive end.

Bradshaw and JaJuan Smith shared honors with six assists, and Watson and Lofton had five apiece.

"This is a team that will make the extra pass, and it needs to,'' Pearl said. "We don't have a lot of breakdown guys.''

ETSU, meanwhile, featured one of the top penetrating guards the Vols will see in Atlantic Sun Conference preseason player-of-the-year Tim Smith.

Smith led all scorers with 26 points and had a dazzling second-half run when he turned The Summitt into his personal playground.

In less than a minute, the 5-foot-9 Smith went on a personal 10-0 run, hitting two of his floating scoop shots off drives and drilling back-to-back 3-pointers.

Smith split a pair of free throws moments later to close an 11-0 run that gave the Bucs their last gasp of air, pulling them to 77-64 with 8:24 left.

The Vols, meanwhile, were just getting their second wind.

"I tell my guys when you're tired, that's when we have them,'' Pearl said. "That's when (running) The Hill, (working in) the weight room and your conditioning comes into play.

"When you're exhausted, smile, because we've got them. I didn't want to call time out and give (ETSU) a chance to rest.''

And so the game played on. Lofton restored the order by sinking one of his six 3-pointers, sparking an 11-0 run that gave the Vols an 88-64 lead with 6:49 left and effectively finished off the Bucs.

"I just looked to step up in the tough times when we were struggling,'' Lofton said.

The struggles belonged to ETSU in the first half. The Bucs turned the ball over 20 times through 20 minutes.

"They (turnovers) really killed us, killed us,'' ETSU coach Murry Bartow said. "We were hoping coming in here to have 12-13 turnovers for the game. They (Tennessee) really capitalized. They were efficient offensively; they did what they had to do defensively.''

Watson was at the point offensively and defensively, harassing Smith into a horrid first half that enabled the Vols to pull away. Smith had four points through the first 20 minutes and six turnovers.

"He's lightning quick, and it's hard to stay in front of him, but we did in the first half,'' said Watson. "In the second half, we got kind of lazy.''

Pearl, basking in the aftermath of his debut, wasn't nearly as critical.

"You force someone into 33 turnovers, that's playing hard,'' Pearl said. "It was a really good night for Tennessee basketball in a lot of ways. I can't tell you how much I appreciate 21,280.''

And yet, the crowd was able to tell Pearl how much they appreciated him. With time running out in the action, the fans chanted "BRUCE-PEARL, BRUCE-PEARL, BRUCE-PEARL."

The Vols hit the court again at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Thompson-Boling Arena against Louisiana-Lafayette. The Ragin' Cajuns dropped a 65-47 decision at Southern Illinois on Friday night.

Orange Slices: The attendance of 21,280 was the fourth largest for a home opener in school history. Watson scored 22 points and needs 12 to reach 1,000 for his career. Major Wingate scored his 11 points in the first half. Bradshaw earned the first double-double of his career with 12 rebounds and 13 points.