Florida-Tennessee men's basketball matchup rescheduled due to winter weather

Tuesday’s SEC men’s basketball matchup between Florida and Tennessee has been moved to 5 p.m. ET for the opening tip due to expected weather in the area, both teams have announced. The game was originally slated for 7 p.m. ET.

The city of Knoxville is expected to be hit with 3 to 5 inches of snow overnight, according to a report from The Weather Channel. The low temperature on Tuesday in Knoxville will be -1 degrees Fahrenheit.

Florida comes into the matchup having snapped a two-game SEC skid with a 22-point win over Arkansas on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Vols are 4-1 in their last five games and are playing like the SEC is theirs to lose at this point in the season.

Television designation is to be announced as of this report.

Rick Barnes compares Dalton Knecht to Kevin Durant

In four road game appearances this season, Dalton Knecht is averaging 31.3 points per game on a 61 percent clip while also shooting 48 percent from deep.

While the Tennessee guard has been, on paper, the best player in the country on the road — Vols head coach Rick Barnes says this isn’t the first time one of his players has done something like this. 

“Well, I did have Kevin Durant,” Barnes said with a grin after Knecht scored 36 points to beat Georgia 85-79. “So, I saw it a bunch.”

In classic KD fashion, Knecht put his team on his back and scored 13 points in the final eight minutes of the game to complete the comeback from a 14-point deficit against the Bulldogs in the second half. 

Other than their scoring prowess, however, how does Barnes justify comparing his greatest player of all time to Knecht, who is a relative unknown with a few strong games under his belt this season? 

“[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.”

Earlier this week, Knecht scored 28 points against Mississippi State on the road before following it up with his 36-point performance against the Bulldogs. It is the first time any Tennessee player has scored 26 or more points in consecutive games since Chris Lofton did so in 2006. 

Read more here.