How Dalton Knecht has 'injected new life' into Tennessee

Tennessee star guard Dalton Knecht has exploded onto the scene from the second he set foot on the floor for the Vols in the 2023-2024 campaign. The Colorado native has quickly established himself as one of the best players in the nation, stuffing the stat sheet with 18.5 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game. Not only that, but he’s also shooting 41.7% from beyond-the-arc, displaying one of the most complete skills sets of any player in America. On the Thursday night edition of Andy Staples On3, On3’s Joe Tipton discussed how much Knecht has transformed the Tennessee program.

“Yeah, I mean, he has injected new life into Tennessee basketball. This is a team whose offense kind of struggled in the past couple of years. And he came in and Tennessee is really fun to watch on the offensive end again. Obviously, we know their defense. Top in the country. But Dalton Knecht, I mean, SEC Player of the Year type of performance we’ve seen,” Tipton said.

In his last three outings, Knecht has been unstoppable, erupting for 39 points (win over Florida), 36 points (win over Georgia), and 28 points (loss vs. Mississippi State). With those kind of outings under his belt, there’s undoubtedly some serious hardware in his future.

Knecht talks about historic scoring streak

The Tennessee Volunteers earned a 19-point win over the Florida Gators on Tuesday, largely on the back of a 39-point performance from Dalton Knecht. For Knecht, this was the next game in a growing historic streak of scoring success.

After the win, he attributed the success he’s had to working hard with his teammates and playing with confidence.

“Just playing with confidence out there,” Dalton Knecht said. “I mean, I’ve had a couple stretches where I’ve done that but it’s a lot easier with my teammates every single day, and practicing as well as the games just making it super easy for me and also just getting into the right spots with the coaching staff for putting me there and just playing with confidence. A lot of hard work.”

In the last three games, Knecht has scored 103 total points. That’s the most for a Volunteer over a stretch of three games in 25 years. It tops the 89 points former Tennessee guard Chris Lofton delivered in 2006. He’s also the first Volunteer to score 35 points in back-to-back games since Allan Houston in 1990.

Before arriving at Tennessee, he was dominant at JUCO

Before joining the Vols, Knecht was a dominant player at JUCO (Northeastern Junior College) and then later at the University of Northern Colorado for two seasons (2021-2023). He earned second team All-Big Sky honors in 2023, after pouring in 20.2 points per game and bringing home the Big Sky scoring title.

Knecht was one of the most complete players in the conference, finishing in the top ten in the Big Sky in the following stat categories in 2022-2023: minutes played (35.3 minutes per game), defensive rebounds per game (6.5 defensive rebounds per game), field goal percentage (47.9%), rebounding (7.2 rebounds per game), and free throw percentage (77.7%).

On3’s Justin Rudolph also contributed to this article.