Before the season began, Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes touted his team's ability to shoot from the outside.

He knew that was going to be the Vols' identity, but it escaped them last Sunday at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville as Tennessee shot just 27% from beyond the arc in a disappointing 78-66 loss to Colorado.

The Vols shot better against Florida Gulf Coast on Wednesday and played the defense to match it on the other end in a 81-50 win at Thompson-Boling Arena.

Tennessee was 40% from 3-point range with four players combining for eight 3-pointers.

The Vols were led in scoring by Josiah-Jordan James and Olivier Nkamhoua with 18 points each. James accounted for a team-high four 3-pointers.

Freshman Julian Phillips had 11 points.

FGCU presented another early non-conference test against a mid-major team for Tennessee (2-1).

The Eagles (2-2) had already pulled off one upset this season, beating USC in Los Angeles on Nov. 7, but the Vols didn't give them much of chance to hang around too close in the first half.

After a back-and-forth opening seven minutes, Tennessee used a 14-0 run that included 3-pointers from Nkamhoua and James to give the Vols a 23-9 lead before FGCU responded.

Tennessee maintained its double digit lead from that point behind 50% 3-point shooting in the first half.

The Vols piled on in the second half, too, particularly in the paint.

After scoring just 4 points inside in the first half, Tennessee found a balance over the last 20 minutes with 24 total points in the paint.

Defensively, Tennessee limited FGCU to 20.8% 3-point shooting. The Eagles also turned the ball over 17 times, which led to 20 points for the Vols.

Tennessee next heads to the Bahamas to participate in the Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis, starting with a game against Butler on Nov. 23 at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2. The field also includes BYU, USC, Dayton, Kansas, Wisconsin and NC State.

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