KNOXVILLE - As he enters his fifth season as Tennessee men's basketball coach, Rick Barnes has Jordan Bowden, Lamonte Turner and a bunch of inexperienced players on the roster.
Based on Wednesday night's output, it appears that will be enough for the Volunteers until some other roles have been defined.
Bowden and Turner combined for 45 points and 12 assists, and Tennessee built a 50-point lead on its way to a 107-59 exhibition win over NCAA Division II member Eastern New Mexico in front of 6,222 at Thompson-Boling Arena.
The Vols start their season Tuesday at home against UNC Asheville.
Tennessee junior John Fulkerson had 11 points and 10 rebounds, and freshman Josiah-Jordan James added 10 points, seven assists and five rebounds, but Bowden and Turner - two key cogs in last season's 31-win team that advanced to the Sweet 16 - did most of the work.
(Read more: Tennessee men 107, Eastern New Mexico 59: The Good, the Bad and the Verdict)
Turner had a game-high 23 points, matched James in assists, grabbed six rebounds and shot 8-for-13 from the field, including 3-for-6 from 3-point range. Bowden had 22 points on 7-for-13 shooting, making two of his five 3-point tries.
The two combined for 28 points in the first half and were big in an 18-1 run that broke the game open. The Greyhounds led 17-16 until that point.
"To have two guys like me and Jordan that have been there, we can help the guys understand what it's going to be like in those moments," Turner said. "When those guys get nervous, they can look at us and see how we're handling things and we can help calm them down, so I think that's big.
"We came out with some nerves today, but I think because of me and Jordan being veteran guys, we had a chance to calm those guys down and get everything flowing."
Barnes was pleased with the effort of his two senior guards but pointed out each had five turnovers.
Jalen Johnson, a redshirt junior, knocked down two 3s in a nine-point performance, and freshman Olivier Nkamhoua had seven points, five rebounds and two assists in 17 minutes. Sophomore forward Zach Kent scored six points, and junior Yves Pons - who started along with Bowden, Fulkerson, Johnson and Turner - had five, as did freshmen Davonte Gaines and Drew Pember, who injured one of his ankles with 2:31 to play.
Tennessee shot 50% from the field, won the rebounding battle 56-39 and turned 23 turnovers by the visitors into 28 points.
Due to injuries - James and Nkamhoua have missed time recently - Wednesday was the first time the entire 2019-20 team has been together. The only Vol who didn't play against the Greyhounds was 7-foot-1 redshirt freshman Uros Plavsic, a transfer from Arizona State who is still awaiting word from the NCAA on whether his waiver to play this season has been approved.
"This is a team that likes each other," Barnes said. "There's a good chemistry with this group. Our older guys have worked really hard to help the younger guys understand what they're getting ready to face. They can talk about it and talk about it, but the younger guys still haven't understood how hard it is to be locked in every day in practice.
"But they want to be a good team. They understand what we want. It's just now a matter of getting better at our execution."
Devin Pullum led with 18 points and Isaiah Murphy added 15 for the Greyhounds, who shot just 28% from the field.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3 or at Facebook.com/VolsUpdate.