NASHVILLE -- Tennessee had one thing on its mind: New York.

"If you'd have been in our huddle tonight,'' UT junior JaJuan Smith said, "you'd have heard 'New York' 100 times.''

Smith said the Big Apple battle cry kept Tennessee motivated and focused throughout its 87-75 victory over UNC Wilmington in the South bracket championship of the NIT Season Tip-off Tuesday night at Gaylord Entertainment Center.

The No. 25 Vols play Butler (3-0) at Madison Square Garden on Nov.22 at 7 p.m. or 9 p.m. in the tournament's semifinals.

The Vols forced 32 turnovers.

JaJuan Smith scored a career-high 21 points, pulled down four rebounds and had five steals as Tennessee (3-0) pulled away from the Seahawks (1-1) over the final 16 minutes before a crowd of 3,351.

"We had talked about how strong he (Smith) is,'' Wilmington coach Benny Moss said. "He runs into the post and creates mismatches in there, and when he shoots the ball like that, he's a pretty good option, whether it be Option B or 1A. He killed us tonight.''

Smith, who hit 7 of 10 shots from the floor and was 3-of-5 beyond the 3-point arc, scored in timely fashion.

The Vols held a 42-40 lead at the half and had trouble shaking the Seahawks, who were still down 51-49 with 16:35 remaining.

Smith's layup with 16:13 remaining put UT up 53-49 and ignited a 10-0 run which Smith capped with a 3-pointer that made it 61-49 with 13:24 left.

Wilmington's 6-foot-10 center, Vladimir Kuljanin, hit a bucket to end the run and pull the Seahawks to 61-50 at the 12:42 mark, but the Vols weren't done.

Chris Lofton hit a free throw and followed with a long jumper to spark an 8-0 run by a Duke Crews free throw at the 9:43 mark that made it 69-51.

Lofton scored 17 points on 7 of 16 shooting -- 2 of 11 beyond the arc -- while Crews scored 13 and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.

Ryan Childress was again impressive off the bench, scoring a career-high 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting with five rebounds and two blocked shots.

With Childress muscling up in the lane down the stretch, the Vols cruised to the win, the weary Seahawks unable to mount a final challenge.

"We have had many back to back practices,'' UT coach Bruce Pearl said. "We've been preparing for this all the preseason. We had a game, and then the next day we came back and practiced hard, and that's something you wouldn't normally do.

"I felt our conditioning was a factor in the second half.''

Moss said his team's youth and inexperience was a factor, as was senior point guard Temi Soyebo picking up his fourth foul with 18:48 remaining.

"I made a mistake leaving Soyebo in the game when he got this third foul, I was hoping he wouldn't get his fourth foul, but obviously he did,'' Moss said. "That was the turning point in the game because he handled the pressure Tennessee put on us.''

UT freshman point guard Ramar Smith started and played 22 minutes one day after spraining his ankle and leaving the arena on crutches after the win over Fordham. He finished with eight points, two assists and three turnovers.

"I knew it was a big night for us, so I had to suck it up,'' Ramar Smith said. "I gained a lot more flexibility on it as the game wore on and was able to take care of the ball better.''

Pearl used three point guards in the first half, turning to an ineffective Marques Johnson once before returning to the bench for Jordan Howell.

The odd substitution pattern led to a disjointed first half that saw UT squander a 16-point lead.

The Vols built that lead after Pearl was assessed a technical foul at the 10:01 mark with UT up 22-17.

Pearl took off his sport coat and complained to the officials after Todd Hendley bulled into the lane on a two-point drive, knocking down Crews with no foul called.

Daniel Fountain, who along with Darryl Felder led Wilmington with 15 points, hit one of two ensuing free throws before UT went on a 14-2 tear.

JaJuan Smith capped the early run with a jumper at the 6:25 mark for the 16-point advantage, 36-20.

The Seahawks answered JaJuan Smith's basket with a 20-4 run capped by Hendley's 3-pointer from the corner to make it 40-40 with 49 seconds left in the half.

Ramar Smith closed the first half scoring with a tip in with two seconds remaining that Moss said "took momentum'' from his team's run and was "deflating.''

UT left the Gaylord Entertainment Center looking forward to a day off today. Even Lofton was smiling.

"I'm not mad tonight' we're going to New York,'' Lofton said. "This is a dream, Madison Square Garden is the Mecca of basketball.''

First things first, Tennessee plays Coppin State at 4 p.m. Sunday at Thompson-Boling Arena.

Tough Outing: Pearl pulled Johnson after just four minutes when the freshman point guard missed two shots and turned the ball over.

"It was not an ideal time for Marques Johnson to struggle, and he struggled,'' Pearl said, "and therefore I went with Jordan Howell.''

Howell played good defense for 13 minutes but missed a shot and committed a turnover with no assists.