Rick Barnes illustrates the unselfishness of Dalton Knecht, his message in the huddle

Fans across the country know Dalton Knecht as a non-stop, fast-paced scoring machine. Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes knows Knecht as a great teammate. After Tennessee downed No. 14 Alabama on Saturday, Barnes discussed Knecht’s selfless play.

“I don’t want our guys standing around watching Dalton play,” Barnes said. “When we call his number, we want him to do what he needs to do. He was the one that said, ‘Hey, put me in a ball, let them double team me and let me get the ball to Jonas [Aidoo] and Jonas will make a play.’

“He said, ‘I’m going get it out of the double team.’ And the other night that worked for us and it worked again tonight because Jonas made a couple good reads out of there and the big threes— I think Jahmai [Mashack] hit one and Josiah James. I think it was like a hockey assist from Dalton.”

In a turn of events, Knecht wasn’t Tennessee’s leading scorer in the Volunteers’ win over the Crimson Tide. The SEC Player of the Year frontrunner only scored 13 points while shooting 5-14 (35.7%) from the field and 1-7 (14.3%) from beyond the arc.

Despite Knecht’s slow shooting day, he played a massive role in Tennessee’s success. He was a distraction for Alabama’s defense, allowing three other Volunteers to score double-figures. Barnes couldn’t be prouder of his team.

“He obviously is a weapon and he didn’t have a particularly great night tonight but we found a way to win,” Barnes said. “This year, we’ve won a lot of games where he didn’t do what he did the other night.

“Like any player if he gets going like that— we’ve had Z[akai Zeigler] like that sometime where we’ll play through him, Santi or somebody. But, we don’t have to solely rely on him to get everybody hitting on all cylinders or executing.”

Dalton Knecht fueling Tennessee toward a terrific postseason

Knecht is averaging 1.9 assists per game this season and boasts a 1.23 assist-to-turnover ratio. With their latest win, the Volunteers own sole possession of the No. 1 spot in the SEC standings. ESPN’s Seth Greenberg recently raved about Knecht’s impact on the team.

“I think they’re Final Four good,” Greenberg said on SportsCenter. “You think about this Volunteer team, they’ve been so close to have one guy that can play through the end of the game that can take over and Dalton Knecht is that guy. Four games with 35-plus games six games 30. Whether he’s gonna spread the ball and screen, whether it’s in isolation, whether it’s in the mid-post, this is a guy that late game you can play through and finish a game. 

“He did it against Auburn, he’s done it all season long. He is a matchup problem because he’s a three-level scorer, shoots almost (38%) from three, can put it on the floor and plays. Dalton Knecht is the difference maker.”