Tennessee guard Trae Golden (11) shoots the ball.KNOXVILLE — The Tennessee men’s basketball team shared the spoils of an exhibition win about as evenly as possible and gave some of its new parts a test run under the lights in the process.
After a sluggish first half Monday night, the Volunteers settled in and breezed past Victory University 99-57 at Thompson-Boling Arena in the final tuneup before Friday’s season opener against Kennesaw State.
All 10 Vols who played scored six to 15 points, and Tennessee recorded 24 assists on 38 made field goals.
“We have an unselfish team,” point guard Trae Golden said after scoring eight points with eight assists, five rebounds and no turnovers in 20 minutes. “I feel like everybody wants to pass the ball.”
Shooting the ball, though, gave the Vols trouble early. They shot just 41 percent in the first half and led 30-20 against the small Christian school from Memphis. After halftime, though, Tennessee made six of 10 3-pointers and 22 of 36 field-goal tries to pull away, and five newcomers did most of the work.