Tennessee returned stateside with more answers after two games in the Bahamas last week.

The Vols, who beat Virginia and Baylor at the Baha Mar Championship behind two stellar performances from guard Chaz Lanier, are rolling as December approaches and have moved up in the latest polls as a result.

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Tennessee (6-0) jumped four spots to No. 7 in the Associated Press Top 25 on Monday, becoming the second highest ranked team from the SEC, leaping No. 9 Alabama and No. 8 Kentucky.

Auburn remained at No. 4.

Lanier has been an early catalyst for the Vols on offense. After scoring 26 points and sparking Tennessee's second half rout of Virginia last Thursday, Lanier was the tone-setter against Baylor.

The North Florida transfer, brought in to help make up for some of the production lost after Dalton Knecht's departure to the NBA, has a looked the part through six games. Lanier scored 25 points in the first half, including seven 3-pointers to open the way for the Vols' 77-62 wire-to-wire triumph of the then-top 15 Bears to win the Baha Mar title game on Friday.

Lanier is averaging 17.7 points per game.

"When that first shot goes in, just all the jitters that you have leading up to the game, they just all go out of your body," Lanier said on the Vol Network postgame show. "So it was good seeing that first shot go in. But my teammates were just finding me all game, so I want to give all the credit to them.”

Tennessee hosts UT Martin (2-4) at Food City Center on Wednesday (4 p.m. ET, SEC Network+) in its final tune-up before a month of December that includes games against Syracuse, Miami and Illinois on the road.

The Vols projected to beat the Skyhawks, 86-52, according to KenPom.

"It’s a long way to go. We’re still early into the season," Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said. "We’ve had some good wins over some good basketball teams, but I will tell you, I told our team that it’s good. The winning’s good. It feels good. But if you ever think you’ve arrived this time of year, we’ll find out real quick.

"We’ll get slapped in the face a few times. And I hope we don’t have to do that to keep understanding how much better we can become as a team.”

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