KNOXVILLE - Tennessee's matchup with Florida A&M on Wednesday night wasn't expected to be much of a basketball game for numerous reasons, with the most obvious one that the 21st-ranked Volunteers are just a far better team.
There are other reasons, such as the fact the Rattlers were playing their seventh road game of the season and were just two days removed from a trip to Kansas State, where they lost by 18 points. The Vols hadn't played since Lamonte Turner's game-winning 3-pointer propelled the team to a win over Virginia Commonwealth University last Saturday afternoon in a third-place game at the Emerald Coast Classic.
Even as Tennessee looks to rebuild from losing four seniors and two transfers from last season's 31-win team, there was a talent discrepancy between the Vols and the Rattlers. So the game, a 72-43 win that allowed the Vols to improve to 7-1 and dropped the Rattlers to 0-7, became more about experimentation for the hosts as they prepared for a tough stretch that will lead into Southeastern Conference play.
Need to get Turner, junior Yves Pons and senior Jordan Bowden - who had averaged 35.6, 34.5 and 32.9 minutes per game, respectively - some rest? This was the game to do it, as they played 21, 27 and 26 minutes.
Need to get Josiah-Jordan James some additional time at point guard? No problem.
Want to get his fellow freshmen Davonte Gaines and Drew Pember some additional reps on the court? Good game to do it.
Olivier Nkamhoua as a ball-handler? He grabbed a rebound and initiated a fast break at one point, as did Gaines, who got some time as a lead guard during a second half in which Tennessee had all four freshmen on the court at the same time for some portions, which is important as the team works to create the depth to compete.
The freshmen finished with 28 points and 23 rebounds in the game, including a career-high 13 rebounds and 11 points from Nkamhoua.
"It's always a great feeling to play with each other, but when he (coach Rick Barnes) does let us play with each other, we have to show him we know what we're doing because then we'll get to do it more," Nkamhoua said.
The 29-point margin of victory was nice for the Vols despite coming in a game in which they didn't look all that good. They shot a season-low 19% from 3-point range, with their two primary scoring options - Bowden and Turner - a combined 3-for-13 from the field. James had five of the Vols' 15 turnovers.
Now the schedule stiffens. Memphis comes to Thompson-Boling Arena on Dec. 14. A trip to Cincinnati looms four days later, and Wisconsin visits 10 days after that.
If the Vols are going to grow, though, it's going to be because players such as the four freshmen continue to develop. Games like Wednesday's provide that chance.
"They really got some quality minutes," Barnes said. "We put them out there where they could play through fatigue and mistakes. We haven't been able to do that.
"We wanted to get the ball inside to Olivier, Fulky (John Fulkerson) and Yves a little more and see if they could do something with it. The fact we got the freshmen out there as much as we did, we needed to do that. They'll learn some things from it; we still have to do a better job on offense taking care of the ball and give ourselves a chance to do some of the things we practice."
Fulkerson took a career-high 12 shots Wednesday, scoring 15 points. Pons scored 14 points, with all but two coming in the first half.
Mission accomplished.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.