NASHVILLE -- Tennessee associate head coach Tony Jones spotted Ryan Childress on the other side of the locker room and shouted, "Lifesaver."

"You're our lifesaver, Chill," Jones added with a smile.

Childress smiled back. He had just scored a career-high 14 points in 18 minutes of UT's 87-75 victory over UNC Wilmington in the second round of the NIT Season Tip-off at the Gaylord Entertainment Center on Tuesday night.

The play of UT's 6-foot-9, 238pound sophomore has helped fill the void left by Major Wingate, who was dismissed from the team in preseason.

"With the loss of Major Wingate, he got an opportunity from Major's misfortune," Jones said. "And to his credit, he has taken advantage of the opportunity.

"He's able to knock down the 3. He's taking the ball to the basket. And he's just being a yeoman on the glass."

Childress' versatility was evident in both the first-round victory over Fordham on Monday and again against Wilmington.

After three games, he is averaging 11 points, 4.7 rebounds and shooting 54.5 percent from the field. Contrast that with last season when he averaged 1.2 points and made only nine of 26 fieldgoal attempts while playing sparingly.

"Uncertain," was how Jones summed up Childress' status after last season. "We thought we had a good kid on our hands, a guy who would be serviceable. But we didn't know what type of a role he would be able to play, especially with the freshmen coming in."

Childress responded with a terrific off-season in which he lost 14 pounds, added strength and improved his vertical jump by about seven inches.

"When you put in the work, you expect certain results," Childress said. "The whole team has worked hard.

"It (the off-season work) has helped my ability to run the floor and in rebounding. I can definitely see the difference in this year and last year."

So can his coaches and teammates.

"A lot of people play well in the off-season and then kind of fade into obscurity," UT senior forward Dane Bradshaw said. "But Ryan has really proven himself so far."

Childress leads the Vols with eight offensive rebounds. He had three against Wilmington and converted all of them into baskets, twice drawing a foul in the process.

"He is by far the most improved player on the team," Jones said. "And he could be one of the most improved players in the conference this year.

"We have no reservations about putting him on the floor. It was a tossup between him and Dane as to who would start the first game of the year.

"That says a lot for a guy who just played spot minutes last year. I'm so proud of Ryan because he knew what it took to be an SEC player, and he developed that during the summer."