KNOXVILLE - Before turning its attention to the top-10 team in baby blue, Tennessee's basketball team first had to handle the Blue Hose.
The Volunteers were sleepwalking through their game Tuesday night against Presbyterian until two freshman guards fueled a finishing flourish for a 90-50 victory at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Lamonte Turner and Jordan Bowden combined for 45 points and made 12 of Tennessee's single-game record-tying 16 3-pointers as the Vols turned a nine-point game into a blowout by outscoring the visitors 40-9 in the final 12 minutes and 25 seconds.
Presbyterian's Will Adams is defended by Tennessee's Grant Williams, left, and Lamonte Turner during an NCAA college basketball game in Knoxville on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2016. (Saul Young/Knoxville News Sentinel via AP)"In high school I wasn't that consistent at shooting," Bowden said after scoring 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting with five 3-pointers, "but coming here, they helped me on my shot (with) a lot of reps.
"I feel more confident now than I did back then."
The Vols (4-3) will take the confidence of a three-game winning streak into Sunday's game at No. 7 North Carolina.
"I don't think they thought about that. I really don't," Vols coach Rick Barnes said. "I think that they're becoming a team that understands practicing with a purpose. One time during a timeout tonight, I said, 'Lamonte, you coach them.' We'll be the kind of team we want to be when we see a set developing during the game and the bench is up yelling."
Tennessee held the Blue Hose (3-5) to 29 percent shooting in the second half and scored 31 points off 22 turnovers while committing just seven turnovers.
Presbyterian trimmed a 15-point second-half deficit to 50-41 on a Will Adams 3, but Turner splashed a 3 from the wing, stole the ensuing inbounds pass and found Detrick Mostella open for another trey.
Bowden then scored 11 straight points on back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers and a fastbreak slam following a steal. His scoring run included a six-point possession when he hit a 3 as John Fulkerson was fouled setting a screen and drained a corner 3 off the ensuing inbounds pass.
Bowden and Turner combined for 14 points during Tennessee's 23-0 run over a six-minute, 32-second span.
"I'm definitely getting more comfortable," said Turner, a redshirt freshman who scored 24 points and made seven 3s. "Before this year I hadn't played in a real game probably in like a year and a half. I'm really just getting used to the game and being used to just being out there."
The Vols led by double digits seven minutes into the game but failed to build on a 14-point lead by scoring just one point in 6 minutes and 33 seconds.
Barnes said the stretch was "the worst part of the game we played" and took responsibility for not getting the right lineup on the floor.
"When you do these buy games," he said, "you always want to buy them with coaches that you know that really do good stuff. Gregg Nibert does that. We knew and we told our team and I told our team at halftime I thought they executed what they wanted to do better than we had. Our depth wore them down eventually, but we had to guard some really good actions.
"They space the floor very similar to the way North Carolina's going to space the floor. They run a version of what Carolina can do with their offense where they raise you up and take away the backside defense, which we need to be effective against bigger, taller teams."
Sophomore forward Admiral Schofield returned from missing three games due to a suspension and scored five points with three rebounds in 15 minutes in his first action since the Wisconsin game on Nov. 21.
"I think he did (respond)," Barnes said. "He came out and he's gotten himself, and we played him on the perimeter tonight, which that's something he hasn't done. We started working him there yesterday.
"I still want him to slow down," Barnes added, "because he's a good offensive player. He's still too amped up a little bit on the offensive end. His personality kind of works against him on the offensive side, whereas defensively he's willing to go."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.