Scotty Hopson scored 20 points and Tyler Smith added 11 as Tennessee finished its exhibition season with a 97-58 win over Lincoln Memorial.

"This was a little bit better of a test for us," Tennessee head coach Bruce Pearl said.

"There are some areas we wanted to improve upon, and we did. I thought we were better in rebounding and defensively. Earlier in the game we were settling for easy shots, not good ones."

The game served as the final test for the Vols before beginning the regular season next Friday at Thompson-Boling Arena.

The Vols built a ten point lead at the 13 minute mark in the first half and never looked back in the 39-point victory. More important than statistics was the Vols' search for answers to their regular season player rotation.

Bobby Maze played 24 minutes at the point guard position for the Vols, while newcomer Melvin Goins had only 12 minutes of court time.

"I'm not really sure why Melvin [Goins] only played 12 minutes and Bobby [Maze] played 24. It was very surprising. I think fatigue was a little bit of a factor for Melvin," Pearl said.

"It definitely didn't show at times what he can do defensively. The disparity in minutes shouldn't have been that great. Don't forget, he's still two weeks out from surgery."

Skylar McBee finished with nine points in his 19 minutes of action. Pearl said he was happy with the progress the walk-on from Rutledge, Tenn. has made.

"Skylar [McBee] continues to be a steady performer in addition to making three's. He defends, he rebounds his position, and he doesn't turn [the ball] over. He's just solid. And that makes him a real threat out there."

Fellow freshman Kenny Hall also added nine points and five rebounds.

"You see Kenny scoring with his back to the basket and you can see he's an effective player. You have to be happy with all three of those guys--being factors and contributing."

Wayne Chism and Tyler Smith both had 11 points respectively, while only managing to reach the foul line for a combined three attempts.

"I think they're seniors, [Tyler Smith and Wayne Chism] are stronger. [The officials] going to force those guys to play through some more contact. They're going to let those guys play a little bit, and they're going to expect them to absorb a little bit more contact," Pearl said.

"[LMU] went to the foul line 27 times, we went 29 times. So we probably could have taken it stronger to the basket"

Tennessee opens the regular season next Friday (Nov. 13) at 9 p.m. when they host Austin Peay.

"The next two days we will work on UNC-Asheville and East Carolina, but next week we will work on Austin Peay for our opener next Friday night."