Vols handle No. 23 Vandy with ease

The Commodores (16-8, 6-4 Southeastern Conference) beat their in-state rivals in their first meeting on a last-second basket and hoped to sweep the Vols.

But Tennessee (17-8, 5-5), led by coach Bruce Pearl wearing his blinding orange blazer, dominated on its homecourt from start to finish and held Vanderbilt to a season-low in points.

The Vols jumped out to a 13-0 lead in the opening minutes, a spurt that included back-to-back 3s by Chism.

Vanderbilt first scored on Shan Foster?s three-point play with 15:39 remaining in the half. Tennessee led 42-21 at halftime, and the Vols were up by 30 midway through the second half.

Foster led Vanderbilt with 15 points and Ross Neltner added 13.

Lofton, the SEC?s leading scorer, was back for a second game after missing four because of a sprained right ankle. Tennessee went 1-3 without him, making their return to the NCAA tournament look shaky.

The Vols got some style points in their 13th straight win at home this season, mostly from Chism, a 6-foot-9 freshman forward. He was 3-of-5 from beyond the arc, had a season-high 12 rebounds and threw down a 360-degree dunk in the second half.