As season openers go, tonight's win over Kennesaw State was a mixed bag for Tennessee. The Vols threw down a tremendous opening 20 minutes of offense, but didn't follow that up with a consistent effort on either end of the court at the tail end of what was shaping up to be a blowout.

Some fans may walk away disappointed by what turned out to be a closer than expected 76-67 final score, but head coach Cuonzo Martin didn't seem to get overly hung up on an understandable loss of intensity as the lead approached 30 points midway through the second half.

If you're able to get past the fact that the Vols didn't completely run the visitors out of the gym, there's still plenty of things to feel good about leaving the opener.

One of those is undoubtedly the improvement Jarnell Stokes showed in his overall game.


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