KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Ron Slay looks fully recovered from his knee surgery.

Slay, who had torn cartilage removed from his right knee less than a month ago, scored 14 points and added seven rebounds to lead Tennessee (No. 18 ESPN/USA Today, No. 17 AP) to an 86-47 win over Long Island on Friday night.

"My knee feels really good now," said Slay, who had arthroscopic surgery Nov. 1. "It's feeling now like it did before the injury. It's really going to be a show now."

Tennessee coach Jerry Green is just happy that Slay, who was the prep Player of the Year in Virginia last season at Oak Hill Academy, has been able to contribute so quickly.

"We've been able to get a lot of production out of Ron Slay," Green said. "He's playing really well and we believe he will just continue to get better and better."

For the Volunteers (3-0), it was their 23rd non-conference win in a row at home and the 18th under Green. Tennessee has not lost out of the SEC in Knoxville since falling to Tennessee Tech in 1996.

The game was the season opener for the Blackbirds, and they showed their rustiness early. Tennessee forced Long Island into 20 first-half turnovers and 27 percent shooting.

The Vols had some of their own offensive problems, going scoreless for the game's first 4:01 and missing eight of their first 11 shots.

But Tennessee's pressure defense and depth allowed the Vols to put together a 13-4 run midway through the first half to take control of the game. An 8-0 run to close out the half gave Tennessee a 35-15 lead at halftime.

"We played really good defense in the first half," said Tennessee forward Isiah Victor, who had 12 points and 10 rebounds. "We hadn't played really good defense in the first half of our first two games. We had a goal to hold them under 20 points in the first half and we were able to do that."

The Vols cruised in the second half, never managing to let the lead get lower than 17 points. A 12-2 Tennessee run just after the midway point in the final period basically put the game away.

"We obviously have a lot of work to do," said Long Island coach Ray Martin, a former assistant at Tennessee. "Offensively, we had a tough time running our stuff. Give Tennessee credit. They played impressively. We had some droughts and their defense has a lot to do with that."

Center C.J. Black had 12 points and nine boards for Tennessee.

Guard Antwan Dobie led the Blackbirds with 12 points, while forward Virgil Smiley had 10. Forward Karim Smith was Long Island's leading rebounder with six.