Tennessee started slow, imposed its will for a 15-minute stretch and slowed down again late against Gardner-Webb on Monday.

The No. 12 Vols, on the floor for a meaningful game for the first time since their historic run ended in the Elite Eight in Detroit last March, played to mixed results in their season-opener at Food City Center, going on a dominant second half run that was enough to beat the Runnin' Bulldogs, 80-64.

TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM

Highly-touted transfer guard Chaz Lanier paced Tennessee (1-0) in scoring with 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field and four 3-pointers, while guards Jordan Gainey and Zakai Zeigler finished with 16 and 13 points, respectively.

The Vols shot 50.9% from the field and 34.8% from three-point range.

Gardner-Webb (0-1) won the boards, out-rebounding Tennessee, 32-29. Felix Okpara led the Vols in rebounding with nine.

Darryl Simmons II, who gave Tennessee's fits during an 18-4 run in the last five minutes, tallied a game-high 22 points. Anthony Selden and Jamaine Mann each scored 13.

Tennessee got off to a sluggish start on both ends of the floor.

After Chaz Lanier opened up a 5-0 lead with a 3-pointer, Gardner-Webb began to match the Vols on the board and a quick 5 points from Darryl Simmons II allowed the Runnin' Bulldogs to trim Tennessee's lead to 9-7 at the first media timeout.

Both Jordan Gainey and Cade Phillips made the most of early minutes off of the bench. Gainey hit a three and Phillips drew an and-1 a few possession later to up the Vols' advantage to 15-11.

Gainey seemed to have ignited a spark for the offense. His second 3-pointer was part of a stretch where Tennessee made four of five shots on its end of the floor and pushed its lead to 18-13 with under 12 minutes left in the half.

On defense, Tennessee stifled Gardner-Webb during a scoreless stretch that lasted for more than three minutes and back-to-back 3-pointers from Lanier and then layup on the fast-break allowed the Vols to start creating some separation with a 30-18 lead at the 7:30 mark.

The Runnin' Bulldogs went on a 6-0 run out of a timeout to cut into Tennessee's lead again, but J.P. Estrella, in his first appearance since checking in with 5:39 to go, ended a two-plus minute scoring drought for the Vols.

Tennessee began pulling away again, closing out the half on a 14-8 run over the last four minutes, headlined by a reverse layup under the basket from Zakai Zeigler and a transition score from Gainey to lead 44-32 at the intermission.

Up double-digits, the Vols' size and depth started to wear down Gardner-Webb in the opening minutes of the second half.

Tennessee scored the first 7 points of the half, including 4 points from Igor Milicic Jr. before Jahmai Mashack connected from deep for his first 3-pointer to give the Vols a commanding 56-37 lead five minutes in.

The Runnin' Bulldogs started to show signs of life when Jamaine Mann scored while Tennessee appeared to be slowing down, but Lanier, fresh off of the bench after a strong first half showing, snatched the momentum back with a three. Estrella scored on the following possession to put the Vols ahead 63-41 with 12 minutes left.

Though Tennessee had built a sizable lead, going up by as much as 27 at one point, Gardner-Webb had a run left in it, one that challenged the Vols during scoring drought that lasted nearly four minutes.

The Runnin' Bulldogs used a 10-0 run to cut the Vols' lead down to 13 with less than three minutes left. Mashack, who had had a relatively quiet night offensively, drained a three from the corner to end that run.

The defense helped set up another much-needed score, turning a Gainey steal into a Phillips dunk to suddenly push the Tennessee lead to 16 inside of a minute.

Chaz Lanier showed why he was one the most sought-after players in the transfer portal during the offseason.

Lanier, who averaged 19.7 points per game at North Florida last season, flashed his potential as Tennessee's offensive spark plug with 18 points. He highlighted several Vols' runs to build their 27-point lead and finished with 7-of-12 shooting from the field and 4-of-6 from deep in 26 minutes on the floor.

Jordan Gainey was provided another offensive jolt in his 28 minutes off the bench. He finished just behind Lanier in scoring with 16 points on an impressive 7-of-9 shooting performance and added two rebounds and three steals on the defensive end.

Tennessee will turn its attention to its first road test this weekend against Louisville.

The Vols face the Cardinals under first-year head coach Pat Kelsey on Saturday at Noon ET at KFC Yum! Center in Louisville on the ACC Network.

Louisville, which opened its season against Morehead State on Monday, is coming off of an 8-24 season and 3-17 finish in ACC play.

KenPom projects the Vols to win, 76-72.

– TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM.

– ENJOY VOLREPORT WITH A PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION.

– SUBSCRIBE TO THE VOLREPORT YOUTUBE CHANNEL.

– FOLLOW VOLREPORT ON TWITTER: @TennesseeRivals, @ByNoahTaylor, @RyanTSylvia, @Dale_Dowden, @ShayneP_Media.