KNOXVILLE — Conventional wisdom held that Bruce Pearl?s fourth Tennessee basketball team would be completely unlike his first three wildly entertaining editions in at least one crucial area — the 3-point shot.

Gone, after all, were the long-rangers Chris Lofton and JaJuan Smith, their outrageous marksmanship replaced by taller athletes short on shooting skills.

And to the extent that one game in early January does not a season make, that theory may yet prove false.

But not during Wednesday night’s 89-79 overtime loss to Gonzaga. Despite redshirt freshman Cameron Tatum’s five triples — including four in a stunning first-half effort — the Vols hit just one of 18 outside of Tatum.

Even Tatum’s touch turned as cold as January after intermission, missing three of his final four, including his last three attempts.

“That rim looked the size of the ocean the first half,” said Tatum.

Afterward?

“We’ve got to get ready for the SEC now,” said Tatum, who finished with a team-high 22 points. “This is what we’ve worked for.”

That begins at Georgia on Saturday. This isn’t the NBA. Finding another shooter between now and then could prove difficult.

But that doesn’t mean all is lost. Given a schedule the Boston Celtics might have politely declined, there is no shame in the Vols early losses. When you play at Kansas and Temple, defeat Georgetown and Marquette on neutral courts and face Gonzaga twice, you deserve whatever high seed the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee may give you for such ambitious work.

And Tennessee certainly showed a toughness and tenacity against the Zags that had sometimes been lacking in earlier defeats this season. Especially on the offensive boards, where Wayne Chism cleaned more glass than Windex in collecting 19 rebounds.

When Tyler Smith scored on a drive one Big Orange possession after Chism had used his 12th rebound to score his 14th and 15th points, UT had turned a five-point second-half lead by the Zags into a 67-66 Vols lead with just over seven minutes to play.

If there had been a singular criticism of these Vols beyond their sometimes spotty 3-point shooting it had been their defense in the earlier losses to Gonzaga, Temple and Kansas.

They had given up an average of 88 points in those defeats while scoring but an average of 77.

But on this night they kept the score frozen at 68-all for nearly four minutes. Yet that’s the problem for the Vols at the moment in having more athletes than shooters. Their superior athleticism allows them to keep the other guy from scoring much, but their lack of offensive polish often thwarts their ability to take advantage of that defense.

So they need to find more Tatums — players capable of blowing the roof off Thompson-Boling Arena as Lofton and JaJuan Smith once did.

For after Tatum started the second half as he ended the first, swishing his fifth triple of the night and Tyler Smith slammed home a dunk one possession later to turn a nervous 40-33 Vols lead into a 45-33 cushion after just 43 seconds of play, Gonzaga called timeout.

The Zags switched to a zone. As if on cue, Tatum badly missed his next triple. And the next one after that.

And Tennessee finally missed its chance to turn a 37-game homecourt winning streak into a 38-game one.

Nevertheless, this defeat looked much better than the Kansas and Temple defeats.

So much so, in fact, that Jay Bilas said this afterward: “It’s a team that has inexperience playing together. But I still think that by the end of the year they’re going to be the best team in the league.”

Especially if they can find another 3-point shooter or two.

E-mail Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com