Five firework worthy moments for Tennessee Basketball ... and Dalton Knecht

Dalton Knecht exploded at Tennessee. The Northern Colorado transfer wing had a relatively quiet recruitment, only to show up in Knoxville and quickly begin to look like the first-round pick in the NBA Draft that he became last week. 

Now, with Volquest celebrating the Fourth of July by looking back at the biggest firework moments for Tennessee football, baseball and basketball, there’s only one place to go. Knecht provided nearly all the fireworks on his own — 40 points against Kentucky, 37 points in the Elite Eight, 39 against Florida and 32 at Vanderbilt, just to name a few — during his one dazzling season at Tennessee. 

All he did was average 21.7 points per game, including 25.5 in SEC play, winning the SEC Player of the Year Award, the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year award and becoming a consensus First Team All-American, leading Tennessee on a long-awaited return to the Elite Eight.

Here’s a look at the biggest booms for the Vols during the 2023-24 season:

The 18-0 Run

Creighton, the No. 3 seed in the Midwest Region, was always going to be the team standing in the way of No. 2 Tennessee finally getting back to an Elite Eight. After pummeling No. 15 Saint Peter’s and holding off No. 7 Texas in the first two rounds, the matchup between the Vols and Bluejays was set for Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. 

Creighton led 35-34 at halftime and 39-37 after the first minute of the second half. But that’s when everything changed. Two Dalton Knecht free throws. A Josiah-Jordan James jumper. Knecht jumper. A Jahmai Mashack layup after a Knecht steal. Another Knecht jumper. A Zakai Zeigler 3-pointer. Another Mashack layup and a James corner three. 

Over a span of five minutes, Tennessee went on an 18-0 run to take control of the game with the Vols on their way to an 82-75 win for a spot in the Elite Eight for just the second time in program history. 

Dalton Knecht’s second half vs. Auburn

Tennessee was on the ropes in front of a capacity crowd at home. Auburn had turned a nine-point deficit into an eight-point lead over the first eight minutes of the second half and looked to be on its way to a huge road win. Then Dalton Knecht woke up.

He scored 27 of his 39 points during an unthinkable second half. Not only that, he scored 25 of the 27 points in a span of just 10 minutes, seven seconds. Auburn led 63-55 with 12:17 left, only to see Knecht outscore the Tigers by four from there — all by himself.

“I’m telling you,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said after the game, “when you sit there, you feel helpless because of the shots he makes. And (you’re) just trying to guard him the best you can. But when he gets it going, it’s hard to guard.”

Dalton Knecht’s record-tying night at North Carolina

Dalton Knecht erupted onto the scene at Michigan State in the exhibition win in October. He made a statement in a road win at Wisconsin in the first week of the regular season, too. But Tennessee’s trip to North Carolina for the first edition of the ACC-SEC Challenge might have been the moment Knecht really separated himself. 

The Vols trailed 61-39 after a disastrous first half and were down 24 with 16 minutes left. But Knecht nearly carried Tennessee all the way back on his own. He tied the scoring record for an opposing player at the Dean Smith Center with 37 points, going 13-for-17 from the field, including 4-for-8 at the 3-point line, and helped get Tennessee back within six points late in the second half.

Knecht left the game in the closing minutes after spraining his ankle on a drive to the rim. He scored 22 of his 37 points in the second half, going 8-for-9 from the field after halftime.   

Dalton Knecht’s late heroics at Georgia 

Georgia’s Blue Cain hit a three to put the Bulldogs up 75-64 with 6:24 left in front of a raucous home crowd at Stegeman Coliseum in Athens. Tennessee looked dead and buried. Again, though, Knecht took over. The Vols rallied for an 85-79 win after Knecht scored or assisted on 14 of Tennessee’s 19 points to turn the 11-point deficit into a four-point lead over a span of five minutes, 28 seconds.

Knecht tied the game on two free throws with 2:33 left then put Tennessee up for good on a deep, pull-up three with 1:56 to go, silencing the home crowd. He hit two free throws with 40 seconds left to give the Vols a four-point lead. He finished with 36 points, going 12-for-20 from the field and 5-for-8 from the 3-point line.  

Dalton Knecht’s statement at Wisconsin

The secret was out on Dalton Knecht after he scored 28 points in the exhibition at Michigan State and went viral with his transition dunk. A little less than two weeks later he was back on the road in the Big Ten with his star shining just as bright at Wisconsin. 

The Vols went to the Kohl Center in Madison and led wire-to-wire in an 80-70 win thanks to a game-high 24 points from Knecht, who finished 8-for-15 from the field in a team-high 36 minutes. Knecht in the first half had 14 points on six shots and added four rebounds and two assists in 18 minutes, helping Tennessee lead 43-35 at halftime. He scored 10 in the second half on nine shots. 

“Dalton’s a bad man,” sophomore forward Tobe Awaka said after the game. “A very bad man.”