Tennessee’s 89-64 victory over Murray State on Friday night might have appeared ugly to some.

But as far as men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl was concerned, the at-times ragged 25-point blowout at Thompson-Boling Arena was a beautiful sight.

"When you out-rebound someone by 13 (43-30), have a positive assist/turnover ratio (18-16), and turn them over 23 times ?’’ Pearl said. "And then, don’t forget, that’s how we play, we make people play sloppy.’’

UT freshman center Duke Crews said Pearl’s "Controlled Chaos’’ style doesn’t need to look good.

"It’s fun to play this way,’’ Crews said. "Especially when the momentum is going your way.’’

The Vols (6-2) saw to it things went their way early on before the announced crowd of 16,807, reeling off a 13-0 run to build a 19-4 lead at the 12:32 mark.

The Racers (2-6) came back with an 11-0 run to cut the lead to 19-15 before the Vols got hot again.

UT had a 12-0 spurt capped by a Crews dunk that made it 31-15 en route to a 42-28 halftime lead.

Chris Lofton’s 20 points led the Vols. Wayne Chism (13 points), Dane Bradshaw (12), Crews (12) and JaJuan Smith (10) also finished in double figures.

Murray State’s final threat came in the opening moments of the second half, going on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 42-35 on Rob Kennedy’s move to the hoop.

The Vols responded with a 15-0 run that Chism put an exclamation point on with a tomahawk dunk that made it 57-35 at the 15:03 mark.

UT took its biggest lead with 5:52 left when Lofton split a pair of free throws to make it 80-47.

Lofton was more concerned with his free-throw misses — he was 6-of-8 — than the margin.

"That’s the worst feeling, missing a wide-open free throw,’’ said Lofton, who’s shooting .760 from the line this season after leading the SEC with a .917 free-throw percentage last year. "I’ll start practicing them a lot more. Those are gimmes.’’

So too were many of Crews’ and Chism’s misses in the paint, drawing Pearl’s only criticism of the night.

"Offensively, my only concern is we got good looks but missed a lot of shots around the basket,’’ Pearl said. "We’ve got to finish those.’’

Bradshaw, who added five assists with no turnovers and two steals, said he was pleased with how the Vols finished off Murray State.

"They crept back into it a bit at the start of the second half,’’ Bradshaw said. "I was happy to see us deliver the final blow early on after that.

"I think that was one of our better games.’’

Marques Redshirt: Pearl said he’s considering redshirting freshman point guard Marques Johnson, who for the fourth consecutive game didn’t play.

"If Jordan (Howell) and Ramar (Smith) continue to play well, yes,’’ Pearl said. "But Marques is going to stay ready. We have time to make that decision. That is a possibility.’’

On The Point: Pearl said Ramar Smith outplayed Howell in the first half, but in the second half their performance was even.

Ramar Smith had seven points, four assists and three turnovers, while Howell finished with three points, three assists and one turnover.

"(Smith) was plus-12 in the first half in our plus-minus,’’ Pearl said, referring to a statistic that indicates UT outscored Murray State by 12 with Smith in the game.

Duke And Wayne: Crews and Chism saw their first action on the floor together late in the second half, but with the game already out of hand it was hardly significant.

"Wayne played a little bit of the four,’’ Pearl said. "Even when he’s at the five, he does a lot of things on the perimeter well.’’

Pearl was more impressed by the combined output at center.

"You like at our five-men (centers), we got 25 points and 14 rebounds and got to the (free throw) line 15 times,’’ Pearl said. "That’s good stuff to have our five men score like that and get to the line, and yet, I’d like to see us finish more around the basket."