Tennessee Basketball: Five Takeaways from Vols First Exhibition Win

Feb 3, 2015; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers cheerleaders perform during the game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Thompson-Boling Arena. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

Tennessee basketball under Rick Barnes gave fans its first look with a win over Alabama-Huntsville. Here are five takeaways on the Volunteers from the game.

The Vols put on an offensive clinic by scoring 96 points in their exhibition win over the Alabama-Huntsville Chargers Friday night.

A 96-83 win was indicative of the tempo and the excitement that will be surrounding the basketball program under Rick Barnes this year.

Tennessee never trailed in the game, dominating from start to finish. The closest the Chargers got after the Vols took a 4-0 lead was within one point, cutting it to 9-8.

Tennessee finished the first half with 62 points on 44 possessions.

Obviously, this was just an exhibition game, so it is hard to gauge just how good this team can be.

But we gathered that this team is definitely going to run a lot this year, the offense will come and go, and the defense is not too bad.

The Vols will not have their first regular season game until a week later, next Friday night against the UNC Asheville Bulldogs at Thompson-Boling Arena.

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But the exhibition win was not much ado about nothing. There were a few nice things to take away from this, and there are already a few concerns to have as well.

We learned enough about the Rick Barnes’s team in Tennessee’s 12th straight exhibition victory. There are good thing and bad things to gather from the game.

Here are the five biggest takeaways from the Tennessee Vols 96-83 victory over the Alabama-Huntsville Chargers Friday night.

Next: #5: The Tempo Was Not a Lie