Dalton Knecht sparks No. 17 Tennessee again in win over No. 20 Illinois, 86-79

Dalton Knecht has starred at every turn for Tennessee basketball early this season. At Michigan State in October. At Wisconsin and North Carolina in November. At the Maui Invitational, too.

On Saturday afternoon, though, Knecht took center stage inside a sold-out Thompson-Boling Arena and stepped confidently into the spotlight in the first marquee home game of the season, scoring 21 points to lead No. 17 Tennessee to an 86-79 win over No. 20 Illinois.

Knecht scored his 13 of his 21 points in the second half and finished 7-for-14 from the field to lead Tennessee (6-3). Santiago Vescovi looked like his old self, starring alongside Knecht with 12 points, nine rebounds and three assists before fouling out.

Jonas Aidoo scored 14 points, had seven rebounds and a pair of blocks and Josiah-Jordan James had 11 points points and six rebounds.

Illinois (7-2) got 22 points from Quincey Guerrier and 12 from Coleman Hawkins. Terrance Shannon Jr. had 22 points and Marcus Domask had six, shooting a combined 7-for-27 from the field, after the duo combined for 66 points on Tuesday, scoring 33 each in a 98-89 win over No. 11 Florida Atlantic.

Knecht scored 13 of Tennessee’s first 16 points in the second half, with the exclamation point coming on a 3-pointer at the top of the key to put the Vols up 50-44 with 13:43 left, forcing an Illinois timeout.

Tennessee trailed by five in the opening minute after halftime, but the home crowd came to life after a Zakai Zeigler steal and James transition dunk off the turnover at the 15:29 mark, in the midst of a 10-0 run by the Vols. 

Jordan Gainey scored five straight — a drive to the rim and a 3-pointer on an assist from Knecht — to get the lead to nine with 11:14 to go. The lead stretched to 10, the biggest of the game at that point, three minutes later when Vescovi hit a corner three falling away and Jahmai Mashack followed with a bucket in the paint.

Illinois rallied from down eight to lead 36-34 at halftime

Tennessee didn’t score over the final 2:09 of the first half and trailed 36-34 at the break after Luke Goode hit a 3-pointer with 20 seconds left before halftime. 

The Vols led for 18 minutes in the first half, but finished 1-for-7 from the floor and missed its last four shots as Illinois rallied from down 28-20, closing the half on a 16-6 run.

Tennessee scored 23 points in the first eight minutes — the Vols started 11-for-18 from the floor, but closed 3-for-17 —  but had just 11 more over the final eight minutes. The Vols shot 40% from the field but just 27.3% from the 3-point line.

Knecht had eight points in the first half but played only 11 minutes while dealing with foul trouble. Vescovi had seven points, seven rebounds and two assists in his 18 minutes in the first half and Aidoo (6) and Zeigler (5) combined for 11 points. 

Guerrier led Illinois in the first half with 12 points, going 4-for-8 from the field and 3-for-6 from the 3-point line. Shannon had four points at halftime after starting 1-for-7 from the field and going 0-for-3 at the 3-point line.

Up Next: Tennessee-Georgia Southern, Tuesday, 7 p.m. ET, SEC Network

Tennessee is in the first week of a stretch on the schedule that includes six out of seven games at Thompson-Boling Arena. 

After back-to-back home games against George Mason and Illinois, the Vols host Georgia Southern on Tuesday and face North Carolina State in a neutral-site game in San Antonio on December 16.

Tarleton State comes to Knoxville on December 21, the final game before the Christmas break, and Tennessee hosts Norfolk State on January 2 in the final non-conference game on the regular-season schedule.

SEC play starts with Ole Miss coming to Thompson-Boling Arena on January 6. The Vols go on the road in conference play for the first time on January 10 at Mississippi State.