INDIANAPOLIS — John Fulkerson didn't begin his sixth season on Rocky Top coming off the bench.

Yet, as the COVID-senior makes his last push with the Vols, that's where he finds himself. A bout with COVID-19 after Christmas and inconsistent play in his return led to him coming off the bench.

Fulkerson has mostly flourished in the role since Rick Barnes took him out of the starting lineup against Vanderbilt in Nashville on Jan. 18.

Two months later against Longwood in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, Fulkerson delivered his most important performance off the bench.

"I give credit to my teammates," Fulkerson told the media following Tennessee's 88-56 win over Longwood on Thursday. "They were getting me the ball in the best position to score and just trying to execute."

Fulkerson scored 15 points on 7-for-8 shooting in 17 minutes off the bench as he combined with Josiah-Jordan James, Santiago Vescovi and Kennedy Chandler to score 63 points — 72% of the team's scoring production.

The Kingsport, Tennessee native typically checks in for the first time four or five minutes into the game. Against Longwood, however, Fulkerson was thrown in after just two minutes.

"We went with it because Uros (Plavsic) looked like he struggled physically to get up and down the floor," Vols head coach Rick Barnes explained. "John came in and they started out as you would think guarding Santi (Vescovi) almost like a take-out situation and as well as Santi shot today, he did a great job passing the ball. But when they were spread out, again, I do think people respect our shooting and Fulky gets some space in there. Got some good assists from his teammates.

"Defensively, too, because when we started switching it was putting those guys on whoever it might be. But Fulky definitely I thought was locked in ready to play."

Fulkerson scored 11 of the Vols' first 17 points while they worked through early defensive adjustments. With Fulkerson calming the storm and opening the paint, it led to an offensive outburst from the perimeter.

Tennessee began 0-for-3 from three, but because of Fulkerson's play in the post, it finished the half 8-for-10 from distance, all coming over the final 10:49 of play.

Fulkerson's play early sparked a historic outing for the Vols.

Their 60% shooting mark from the field was a season-high, their 14 made three's is the second-most for the Vols in an NCAA Tournament game, their 58% mark from three was an NCAA Tournament-high, they tallied a season-high 29 assists and had an NCAA Tournament program record 13 steals.

"When we move the ball and we move the parts, that's when we play our best basketball," Barnes said. "We have got guys that can pass and we have got guys that can cut and move without the ball. It's when we get stagnant is when we bog down."

Tennessee advances to the second round for the third time under Barnes with its win over Longwood. The Vols will face 11-seed Michigan after the Wolverines defeated 6-seed Colorado State 75-63 in the game prior.

Tipoff on Saturday between Tennessee and Michigan is scheduled for 5:15 p.m. ET on CBS.