Dalton Knecht drops 39 against Florida, notches highest-scoring three-game stretch in 25+ years

The Tennessee basketball team is rolling and it’s due, in no small part, to the absolute heater that guard Dalton Knecht is on. On Tuesday night in a game against Florida, Knecht continued his blazing hot streak.

In fact, Knecht went off against the Gators for 39 points, doing something that nobody in Tennessee basketball has done in the last 25 years.

Knecht’s 39-point outing against Florida gave him 103 total points over the last three games, topping the 89 points former Tennessee guard Chris Lofton poured in over a three-game stretch in 2006. Knecht’s 103 points are the most anyone wearing a Tennessee jersey has scored in a three-game span in the last 25 years.

The former Northern Colorado star scored 28 points in a game against Mississippi State, then scored 36 points in a win over Georgia before his similar outburst against Florida.

After the Mississippi State and Georgia games, Dalton Knecht was named the SEC Co-Player of the Week.

The talented Tennessee transfer has been good enough that he’s even earned some lofty NBA comparisons from his current head coach. Rick Barnes, who coached at Texas for a long time before taking the Tennessee job, compared Knecht to Kevin Durant.

Barnes coached Durant at Texas.

“[It’s their] mindset,” Barnes said, comparing Knecht to KD. “It’s a mindset where, you know, short memory. Not afraid of the moment, willing to go make the big play, and if they don’t — they’ve got a great ability to bounce back. … Dalton, you guys have seen him know that when he gets that look in his eye, he can go do this. And he did. He did it.”

Dalton Knecht has had the look in his eye for multiple games now, and if he keeps it going it’s going to be hard to beat the Volunteers going forward.

On top of the stat for scoring in three consecutive games, Knecht also hit a few other marks.

He became the first Volunteers player to score 35 in back-to-back games since Allan Houston in 1990, while becoming the first player with three straight 25-point games since Lofton in 2006.

The former Northern Colorado star is now averaging 17.2 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. He also chips in 1.7 assists per game.