Rick Barnes discusses impressive scoring stretch by Dalton Knecht

In their Tuesday night victory at home over the Florida Gators, the Tennessee Volunteers men’s basketball squad left little doubt as to who was the better team on the court after a not-so-strong showing against Georgia in their previous matchup. For much of the first half, Florida kept the game close; that is until Volunteers star guard Dalton Knecht went on a monstrous run of its own before halftime.

Following the game, Tennessee men’s basketball head coach Rick Barnes addressed the scoring clinic his star guard put on to end the first half against their SEC foe.

“Yeah, it’s pretty impressive,” said Barnes. “I thought his teammates started filling it too, knew that he was in a little bit of a good rhythm, good place, and then, trying to really get him the ball. [They] know that when he gets that look, he was going to go with it. But we talked about it, that last four minutes about [how] we didn’t close the half at Georgia very well… but that was a good stretch for our team.

Knecht would score 20 of Tennessee’s 22 points before heading into the locker rooms at halftime, giving the Volunteers a 44-32 12-point lead. From there, competency will continue their dominant offensive play in the second half, adding another 41 points on their way to an 85-66 victory. Knecht would finish as the game-leading score with 39 points, connecting on 13-23 attempts, 4-6 from beyond the arc, and a perfect 9-9 from the free throw line.

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 game from Dalton Knecht. For Knecht, this was the next game in a growing historic streak of scoring success.

After the game, 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 103 points scored over the last three games. 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.

Along with the win over Florida, Tennessee also has wins against Mississippi State and Georgia during that stretch.