Three weeks after using a second half surge to beat Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tennessee had no need for any late-game heroics on its home floor Saturday.

In their second match up with the Commodores this season, the No. 8 Vols had all but decided the game five minutes into the first half, jumping out to a commanding lead that Vanderbilt never seriously threatened in a 88-53 victory at Food City Center.

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For Tennessee (19-5, 9-3 SEC) it was its perimeter shooting that set the tone. The Vols shot 45.2% from three-point range and another 47.8% from the field.

Dlaton Knecht and Zakai Zeigler paced a Tennessee lineup that featured five players that finished in double-scoring figures with 14 points each.

Josiah-Jordan James scored 12 and Santiago Vescovi finished with 11. Jonas Aidoo totaled 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds.

Vanderbilt (7-18, 2-10) was led in scoring by Ven-Allen Lubin, who was the Commodores lone double digit scorer with 10 points. Tyrin Lawrence finished with 8 points.

Lawrence hit a 3-pointer to answer a Knecht three on Tennessee's first offensive possession.

Vanderbilt didn't score again over the next three and a half minutes as the Vols connected on multiple threes from James and Vescovi as part of a 10-0 run to go up 13-5 less than five minutes into the first half.

After Lawrence scored out of a timeout to get the Commodores within eight, Tennessee put together another dominating scoring stretch, hitting baskets from nearly everywhere on the offensive end.

Zeigler and Mashack finished drives with acrobatic layups and Vescovi laced his second three of the half to swell the Vols' lead to 23-7.

Coming off a 23-point showing at Arkansas on Wednesday, Aidoo was scoreless in the first eight-plus minutes of the half before scoring on back-to-back possessions to stretch Tennessee's advantage to 30-8.

Vanderbilt's best offensive stretch was a 4-0 run with four minutes to go in the half only for it to be snuffed out by James' corner 3-pointer to go up 38-12.

Tennessee closed out the half out-scoring the Commodores 16-8 over the final four minutes and Vescovi put the exclamation point on the first 20 minutes with a 3-pointer just before the buzzer to give the Vols a 51-20 lead at the break.

It marked Tennessee second largest halftime lead in a conference game in at least the last 28 seasons.

The Vols didn't let up in the second half, either. James opened the period with a 3-pointer to up Tennessee's shooting percentage to 50% for the game to that point. Aidoo followed with another score, pushing the Vols' lead to 56-23.

As impressive as Tennessee's offensive display was, its defense gave Vanderbilt little opportunity to establish any kind of rhythm. The Commodores were limited to just 33% field goal shooting over midway through the second half as the Vols built a 40-plus point lead.

A convincing lead also allowed Tennessee to get its bench some valuable minutes down the stretch. Cameron Carr made the most of his, draining two 3-pointers to add to the Vols' already proficient total with less than eight minutes remaining.

Carr's second three with five minutes, 51 seconds left put Tennessee up 79-46 and he had a steal that resulted in his one assist to Aidoo, who finished the play with a dunk.

Fellow freshmen Cade Phillips and Freddie Dilione V hooked up on a steal and assist that led to a Dilione dunk in transition to go up 86-48 with under four minutes on the clock.

Tennessee made just five 3-pointer against Arkansas.

The Vols eclipsed that mark midway through the first half vs. Vanderbilt. Even more impressive is that five players scored at least once from deep.

Vescovi and Zeigler each tallied four 3-pointers while James finished with three.

Tennessee dominated on both ends of the floor and in the paint for the second-straight game, but its prolific shooting from the outside was paramount in building its lead and virtually putting the Commodores out of the game early in the first half.

Tennessee goes back on the road next week against Missouri.

The Tigers (8-17, 0-11) are currently last in the SEC standings and have lost 14 of their last 15 games dating back to December.

Missouri played Ole Miss in the late game on Saturday.

Tip-off at Mizzou Arena in Columbia is set for 6 p.m. ET on SEC Network.

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