KNOXVILLE - After three home wins in eight days, Tennessee's basketball season appears to be back on track.
The Volunteers followed up the upset of fourth-ranked Kentucky with another impressive performance and victory against a quality opponent.
Tennessee overwhelmed Kansas State in the first half and didn't let a 19-point second-half slip to less than nine in a comfortable 70-58 win at Thompson-Boling Arena on Saturday in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.
It was the second win in three years against the Wildcats in this event.
Freshman Grant Williams led the Vols (12-9) with 17 points, fellow rookie Jordan Bowden chipped in 13 and leading scorer Robert Hubbs III overcame a slow start to finish with 10.
Tennessee also got key contributions from Kyle Alexander (eight points, nine rebounds and two blocks), Lew Evans (seven points and five boards) and Lamonte Turner (seven points and five assists) in recording its third straight win.
Kansas State (15-6) was picked to finish ninth in the Big 12, but the Wildcats entered the week on the cusp of the top 25 and in the NCAA tournament field, according to many projections.
Tennessee's Lamonté Turner (1) reacts after receiving a call during an NCAA SEC-Big 12 basketball game between Tennessee and Kansas State at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tenn., on Saturday, Jan. 28, 2017. (Calvin Mattheis/Knoxville News Sentinel via AP)Tennessee held the visitors to sub-40 percent shooting and held hefty advantages in rebounding (43-29), points in the paint (34-20) and second-chance points (23-6).
Williams scored Tennessee's first eight points on the second half with a straightaway 3 and three-point play to give the Vols a 47-28 lead with 17:12 remaining, but Kansas State opened the second half with five 3-pointers after failing to hit from outside in the first half.
The Wildcats nearly cut the 19-point deficit in half with a 13-4 spurt, but Williams stemmed the tides with a tough basket, and the Vols pushed the lead back to 14.
Barry Brown's layup with 9:06 to go brought Kansas State to within nine (57-48), but Tennessee held the Wildcats scoreless for more than three minutes to overcome their own sluggishness on offense.
Williams scored on a putback and Evans followed up a blocked shot on defense with a dunk off a feed from Turner on the break to put Tennessee up 64-50 with five minutes remaining, and Kansas State never threatened.
Tennessee originally announced Admiral Schofield was starting in place of Alexander, who played just three minutes in the win against Kentucky and didn't get off the bench in the second half.
Alexander made an immediate impact by taking a charge on the first possession, making a jumper in the post, scoring on a putback and grabbing two offensive rebounds to lead to a Bowden layup and a 10-3 Tennessee lead in the opening minutes.
Turner's 3 gave the Vols a double-digit lead (18-7) at the 13:11 mark of the first half, and the Vols lead by 13 after a six-point possession capped by another Bowden 3 after Tennessee rebounded a pair of free-throw misses.
The Wildcats snapped out of a field-goal drought of five-plus minutes to score seven straight points to make it 26-20 as Tennessee endured a lull of its own on offense, but the Vols ended a five-minute, six-second field-goal drought on a Williams jumper in the lane, which ignited a strong close to the half.
Tennessee finished the first half on a 13-2 run over the final four-plus minutes as Hubbs followed scoring his first points of the game with a pair of bank shots, Turner hit a jumper Lew Evans had a double-clutch 3 roll around the rim and drop.
The Vols led 39-22 at halftime after shooting nearly 54 percent, committing just five turnovers and holding Kansas State to 0-of-6 shooting on 3-pointers.
Tennessee plays its next two games on the road at Auburn (Tuesday) and Mississippi State (Saturday).
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.