An electric atmosphere and a charged-up C.J. Watson led Tennessee to an 89-76 victory over Georgia on Wednesday night.

The Vols surged to 11-1 and 2-0 in the SEC with the win, while the Bulldogs dropped to 10-5 and 0-2 in league play.

A crowd of 21,612 cheered on the Vols and their Las Vegas showman, coach Bruce Pearl; Watson was seemingly at the point of attack at every turn.

Watson scored a game-high 20 points while pulling down a game-high nine rebounds, dishing out six assists and tying a career-high with five steals.

"He's the most productive player at the position (point guard) in the league,'' Pearl said. "Look at his numbers he just fills up the stat sheet.''

More importantly, with Chris Lofton held scoreless in the first half, Watson scored 13 points through the first 20 minutes.

"Georgia was trying to deny Chris and that was leaving me open,'' said Watson, who other than one 3-pointer scored on his drives and free throws. "Georgia's guards pressed up a lot and tried to deny, so the lanes were wide open.''

Even with Lofton scoreless, Tennessee led 40-36 at the half.

"That was a good sign,'' said JaJuan Smith, who matched his career high with 16 points. "But we told Chris (at halftime) he had to come around if we were going to win this game.''

Lofton stepped up with 16 second-half points, but it was Stanley Asumnu sparking the pull-away victory midway through the second half.

Asumnu, who struggled with eight points over the past two games, scored two points Wednesday before draining a soaring jumper that gave UT a 61-55 lead with 10:30 remaining.

Asumnu followed with a blocked shot, leading to Smith firing a pass downcourt to Major Wingate, who converted a three-point play to put UT up 64-55.

Asumnu then hit a pull-up jumper, giving UT its first double-digit lead, 66-55, with 9:38 remaining.

Lofton followed with back-to-back treys that struck like lightning, sapping the Bulldogs' will with the Vols up 72-59 at the 8:21 mark.

Georgia drew no closer than nine for the game's remainder. UT sank its final six free-throw attempts over the final 2:25.

"The crowd played a big role,'' Watson said. "It was pretty loud, pretty packed, pretty orange and probably discouraging for the other team.''

The 21,612 is the second-largest to attend a Vols' SEC home opener, behind the 22,144 who witnessed a 100-96 UT victory over LSU in 1989.

"It was a terrific game, phenomenal venue, great SEC opener," Pearl said. "I think it really elevated our play. When you're a team that depends on runs, it makes the runs last longer.

"Every time we made a run, they had to call timeout and the crowd had an opportunity to celebrate.''

Sundiata Gaines scored 17 points to lead the Bulldogs, who committed 22 turnovers, six more than their season average.

"Tennessee had better control of the game all night,'' said Georgia coach Dennis Felton, whose team held its last lead at 27-25 with 5:57 left in the first half. "Their aggressiveness was better than ours and they did more to dictate the terms of the game than we did.''

Notebook: It was Watson's 100th career game. Watson moved into third place on UT's career assists list with 512, passing Tony Harris who had 509 from 1997-2001Tennessee posted its 600th SEC victory and has an all-time record of 600-480 in league play. Dane Bradshaw's streak of 181 minutes played without committing a turnover ended Wednesday. Bradshaw, who had a game-high eight assists, had 34 assists during the streak Bradshaw turned his ankle in the first half but played the second half and is not expected to miss Saturday's game at LSU.