NEW YORK -- Back home in Tennessee, the major concern of the young basketball season has been the Vols' half-court defense.

Good news on that front. It held up pretty darn well Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.

But wouldn't you know it, something else turned rotten once UT got to the Big Apple.

The Vols' half-court offense was a bigger turkey than any of the inflated ones that will be floating down Broadway today in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The worst offensive showing of the Bruce Pearl Era left the Vols on the short end of a 56-44 verdict to Butler in the semifinals of the NIT Season Tip-Off.

Yes, 56-44. That sounds more like a typical halftime score in the go-go days since second-year coach Pearl swooped down from Wisconsin-Milwaukee to recharge Tennessee's basketball battery.

The Vols jumped to a 21-8 advantage early, then scored only 23 points the rest of the way.

It won't take long to count up the second-half field goals.

There was Josh Tabb's transition basket off a steal. That's one.

There was a Chris Lofton 3-pointer with 13:59 to play. That's two.

There was a Duke Crews rebound put-back. That's three.

And that's it.

"Three?'' said Dane Bradshaw.

Three.

"I noticed the scoreboard keeping track of field-goal percentage,'' Bradshaw said, "and I was watching that.

"I saw it was 10 (percent) but I didn't know we only had three field goals.''

Three out of 29 shots.

"We just didn't make shots we normally make,'' said Bradshaw, who made one out of five shots.

The 21-8 lead was misleading. It was more a case of JaJuan Smith bunching a flurry of three 3-point baskets than any team-wide precision in the half-court game.

The Vols averaged 86.8 points in their first four games, but their modus operandi is forcing turnovers and getting transition baskets.

Butler largely avoided that trap and Tennessee had no Plan B.

The Bulldogs committed a workable 16 turnovers, which led to only seven transition points for the Vols.

"We were swimming uphill offensively,'' said Pearl. "We lost confidence in our continuity ... ''

Continuity isn't the Vols' strong suit. C.J. Watson, a four-year starter at point guard, is gone and, predictably, Tennessee misses him terribly.

Six newcomers, redefined roles for some of the veterans an off-night for Lofton all adds up to one big offensive turkey.

"This is a young basketball team,'' said Pearl. "Butler's got a room full of guys who have been doing that for a long time.

"We've got a bunch of guys doing it for the first time.''

Some of them literally looked like they were doing it for the first time.

Freshman Ramar Smith was 0-for-4. Wayne Chism hit an early 3-pointer, then missed his remaining seven shots.

Crews was a non-factor, not that he got a lot of touches.

"We've got good stuff,'' Crews said. "We just didn't execute it.''

Execution suffers when you turn the ball over 23 times.

Several of the Harlem Globetrotters were in the building, promoting a Friday night appearance. It's safe to say they didn't see any future prospects from the Vols, who were a ball-handling disaster.

Slip-sliding Tennessee had three turnovers before it got a shot up.

Lofton ended up with more turnovers (five) than baskets (three).

The Smiths -- Ramar and JaJuan -- matched Lofton's five turnovers, giving the starting perimeter trio 15.

"Fifteen from Ramar, Chris and JaJuan,'' said Pearl. "It's just too much.''

But not too much should be made of this particular failure, even if it happen to occur in America's most hallowed arena.

With a young team, bumps in the road were to be expected.

Better Butler in November than Winthrop or Wichita State in March.