Tennessee men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl isn't allowing himself to get too carried away with Wednesday's 89-76 feel-good win over Georgia.

"You still have to keep everything in perspective,'' Pearl said. "We beat Georgia at home, held serve and did what we were supposed to do.

"At South Carolina (Sunday), down 15 we made 10 3-pointers (in the second half) ... you can't look into it too much.''

Pearl said he's looking exactly one game ahead, and that's at LSU on Saturday (TV: Fox Sports Net, 8 p.m.) for the Vols (11-1, 2-0 SEC).

The Tigers (9-5, 1-0) lead the nation in rebounding margin with an average advantage of 15.2 per game.

Pearl indicated one key to his team's success was the same against Georgia as it has been against other fallen opponents: play within themselves.

"The thing you're able to see the kids do, and they're continuing to do, is they're not trying to do things they can't do,'' Pearl said. "We shoot well and hold the opponents down in the second half.''

It was a factor in the win over the Bulldogs. UT hit 50.8 percent of its shots against Georgia, and dropped the Bulldogs' field-goal percentage from 57.7 in the first half to 41.9 in the second half.

Tennessee also forced 22 turnovers while committing just 13.

"I think conditioning played a role,'' said Pearl, who once again substituted liberally early despite the lead changing hands nine times before the Vols took a 40-36 lead into intermission.

Perhaps the most-surprising event of the first half was Chris Lofton being held without a shot through the first 10A 1/2 minutes and not scoring until 18:12 remained in the game.

"I was surprised we didn't get him better looks. I didn't think he was hunting his shots,'' Pearl said. "Chris does a good job taking what the defense gives him. He does kind of pace himself a little bit. In the second half he took it off the bounce in the spread and made some offense, and we need him to do that. We need his ability to create.''

Georgia was shading Lofton throughout the first half, said fellow guard C.J. Watson, who scored 13 of his game-high 20 points in the first 20 minutes.

Georgia played Lofton more honest in the second half, and he heated up for 16 points.

JaJuan's Take: Asked about the Georgia backcourt, JaJuan Smith said: "That might be the best backcourt ... they were tough, quick and could shoot.''

Dane's Ankle: Dane Bradshaw had a self-deprecating answer when asked how bad his twisted left ankle bothered him in the second half.

"I've been playing slow my whole life,'' said Bradshaw, adding that he suffered the ankle injury by stepping on teammate Andre Patterson's foot while telling him who to guard.

Bradshaw didn't practice Thursday but is expected to play against LSU.

Dane's praise: Bradshaw said he had an idea that Watson was enjoying a strong performance during the Georgia game.

"I knew he had a great game,'' Bradshaw said. "And once I looked at that stat line, that was just amazing.''

Watson had a game-high 20 points, a game-high nine rebounds, six assists and tied a career-high with five steals.

Harris Stands In: Damion Harris, UT's 6-foot-10, 275-pound freshman, played the scout-team role of Glen "Big Baby" Davis on Thursday as the Vols prepared for the Tigers.