Tennessee gets its first test of the season today when they head north of the border to take on No. 20 Washington in Toronto. The Vols are coming off an 83-63 win over Murray State on Tuesday night that saw them flip the switch and turn a halftime deficit into a runaway win.

Rick Barnes got some solid play from his senior backcourt in Tuesday’s win as Jordan Bowden sat a career high with 26 points (19 in the second half) and Lamonte Turner became the first Volunteer this century to have as many as 14 assists in a game.

That’s the kind of play the only seniors on this team are going to need to turn in consistently if Barnes is going to turn a squad with lots of new pieces into his third straight NCAA Tournament team at Tennessee.

Barnes was unfiltered in his criticism of Turner and Bowden after the opener against UNC-Asheville, feeling like they didn’t do enough to get teammates involved while combining for 10 turnovers while putting up 27 shots between them.

He was singing a much different tune this week.

“The biggest growth was with our older guys. They won that game for us. If you go back and look at what happened in the second half, Jordan and Lamonte, John Fulkerson and Yves; it was guys who have been it (who got it done),” Barnes said.

Pons was fantastic with a career high 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including 4-of-6 from three and Fulkerson nearly had a double-double (9 points, 9 rebounds) despite playing just 17 minutes due to foul trouble.

It’s early to be making dramatic proclamations, but that ‘core four’ looks like a group that Barnes is going to be able to count on to come through most nights and do their jobs.

It’s getting all the newcomers who are going to log big minutes to understand just what’s required to compete and be successful at this level that has Barnes most concerned right now when it comes to developing this squad. Freshman like Josiah James, Olivier Nkamhoua, Davante Gaines and Drew Pember are all going to have roles on this team. From Barnes standpoint, not surprisingly, they all still have plenty to learn, especially when it comes to realizing how good the competition is.

“I think as time goes on, as we go in and watch tape today, they’re going to find out that all these detail things that we talk about matter,” he said

“They’re going to find out that there’s a difference in a guy that can shoot it at this level than a guy who they thought was a good shooter in high school. If you don’t get your hand up guys are going to make shots on you.”

Expecting stiff competition won’t be a problem in today’s match-up. Washington boast two of the most talented freshmen in the nation in likely ‘one-and’done’ forwards Isaiah Stewart (6-foot-9, 250 pounds) and Jaden McDaniels (6-foot-9, 200 pounds).

Both freshmen are averaging double digits (15.5 for Stewart, 11.5 for McDaniels), but they’re just part of a formidable front line that will severely test a Tennessee team that has some question marks in the post. In addition to Stewart and McDaniels Washington head coach Mike Hopkins can throw Hameir Wright (6-foot-9, 220 pounds) at opponents.

Everyone who follows this team has wondered how they’ll do against teams that possess quality size. Well, they’re about to find out in the third game of the season.

Stewart in particular is an absolute load in the low post. He’ll be a challenge for either Fulkerson or Pons depending on how Tennessee matches up. It’s going to be an early season litmus test to see how Pons is able to hold up against bigger opponents after moving from the wing to power forward.

“It’s a challenge because Isaiah Stewart is a terrific player. He plays hard and goes hard both ways. He runs the floor hard, posts hard, does everything hard. I love Yves though, I’ll put Yves up against anybody because he’s going to give it his all. It should be a good match-up,” Barnes said.

Washington’s size has certainly shown up on the defensive end of the floor where they’ve blocked 22 shots in their two games, wins over Baylor and Mt. Saint Mary’s.

Tennessee will have to deal with that zone while trying to figure out the Huskie’s 2-3 zone which Hopkins brought with him to Seattle after playing and coaching for Jim Boehiem at Syracuse for a total of 25 years.

“Mike’s obviously influenced from his days as a player at Syracuse and as the associated head coach for all those years there. They believe in that zone. They adjust out of it, it’s not just your standard 2-3 zone. He not only played it, he’s lived it,” Barnes said.

“Offensively if you look at their personnel they’ve got two of the top-10 recruits in the country from last year. They’re very talented. They’ve already had some good wins. Seeing this defense will be good for us.”

It will more than a little interesting to see how Tennessee deals with the unique defense this early in the season when they haven’t played against anything similar or spent much practice time on it.

Tip-off for today’s game is at 5 p.m. It will be broadcast only on ESPN+.

Tennessee’s historic haul on the recruiting trail this week has overshadowed anything else going on with the program this early in the season.

The Vols inked three players Wednesday in Jaden Springer (No. 15 nationally), Keon Johnson (No. 18) and Corey Walker (No. 33). The trio give Tennessee what is currently ranked as the No. 4 class in the nation behind only Duke, North Carolina and Tennessee.

All bring a little something different to the table, and not surprisingly, Barnes likes what he’s getting.

“I think Corey was one of the first to see the player development program and he recognized that was something that he really needed and wanted to be a part of,” Barnes said.

“When you saw Jaden play I can tell you he’s as competitive of a player as I’ve seen in a long time. He’s a guy that when he came in as a sophomore to visit he played with some of our guys and Lamonte and others were raving about him, about how competitive he was.

“When I think of Keon he just kept getting better and better. He’s another guy who competes at a very high level. He’s improved as much as any player I’ve seen since we got involved with him three years ago.

“You like that they’re competitive and the improvement they’ve all made.”

The player development angle is one that Tennessee pushes hard in recruiting and it’s not an empty sales pitch, not when you can point to last year’s NBA draft where three guys who were lightly recruited heard their names called and a fourth found his way into the G-league.

After their commitments all three prospects referenced Tennessee’s ability to get individual players better once they were in the program was a huge reason that playing for Barnes appealed to them.

“We are very, very, very transparent in our program when we bring recruits in. We let them see exactly how we do it. I don’t think there’s any question that when you have players who buy in like Grant Willams, Admiral Schofield, Kyle Alexander, Jordan Bone; I don’t think there’s any question that it helps us,” Barnes said.

“It’s not just what we do, but it’s also what they do by buying in to how we like to see things done. Then these new guys come in and through the whole recruiting process we tell them exactly how we do it. We don’t want any surprises coming from our end. We don’t want them to be surprised by what we do. We want them to know we’re going to work hard, do everything we can to help them get where they want to go. We know what they’re dreams are and we want to help them get there.”

In addition to being able to point to tangible proof that what they’re doing helps players reach their potential Barnes pointed to the University and the athletic department as a whole as being huge factors in Tennessee’s recruiting success.

There’s a great deal more that goes into a visit than simply having dinner with the coaching staff and taking in a practice.

Families want to know about academic support, how does the athletic department help the student-athletes? What’s the college experience like outside of basketball?

“I’ve never been at a place that does it any better than the University of Tennessee in terms of the way your support people are willing to help you when people are here on the visit. Those 48 hours are really important,” Barnes said.

“I think we all know that when these guys are here during football season they get a taste of what Vol Nation is all about, which helps. They always talk about that Sometimes they say they’re surprised at just how much our fans love the Volunteers.

“Then I think they see the details of our program and the whole athletic department. We meet with a lot of people while they’re here.”

Much like Tennessee this is a Washington squad that’s trying to blend in a lot of new faces after losing four seniors off of last year’s squad and sophomore Jaylen Nowell declared early for the NBA draft. Those five players accounted for 80% of the Huskie’s scoring last season.

Hopkins is blending in the two freshman stars with Kentucky transfer Quade Green at point guard along with two juniors in Carter and Wright.

Green who transferred last year and was granted immediate eligibility despite playing in 16 games for the Wildcats. He’s gotten off to a rough shooting start (3-for-11 through two games) but has 12 assists in two games with just three turnovers.

Wing Naziah Carter leads Washington in scoring at 18.5 ppg and is shooting 50% from three-point range (5-of-10) early on.

If depth becomes a factor Hopkins has employed a short bench in the Huskies first two games. Just seven players have averaged 10 minutes or more per game.

Another interesting stat is that despite all their length Washington has out rebounded its first two opponents only 69-68. That will be a big stat to keep an eye on today.

The Huskies are moving the ball around on the offensive end. They’ve made 46 field goals in two games and 33 of those baskets have been assisted.