Dalton Knecht one of two unanimous All-American picks by The Sporting News

Dalton Knecht’s first All-American honor arrived on Tuesday from The Sporting News. Knecht and Purdue’s Zach Edey were the only unanimous selections on the The Sporting News All-American team.

North Carolina guard RJ Davis, UConn’s Tristen Newton and Houston’s Jamal Shead were the other Sporting News First Team All-Americans. 

Knecht, the 6-foot-6 Northern Colorado transfer wing has starred for Tennessee this season. He averaged 21.4 points per game this season and averaged 25.5 per game in SEC play, helping him win SEC Player of the Year and First Team All-SEC honors on Monday.

“The Dalton Knecht story may be the most improbable we’ve encountered,” The Sporting News’ Mike DeCourcy wrote, “in an era of college basketball that often finds the impossible happening.”

Knecht is the 25th All-American in Tennessee basketball program history and the just the fourth since 2000. Grant Williams was the last All-American for the Vols in 2018-19, becoming just the third player in program history to earn consensus first-team All-American honors, joining Bernard King and Dale Ellis. 

The Sporting News is one of four outlets that factor into players becoming consensus All-Americans. 

Knecht led Tennessee (24-7, 14-4 SEC) to its first outright SEC regular-season championship since 2008. The Vols clinched the title in the 66-59 win last week at South Carolina.

Up Next: No. 5 Tennessee in the SEC Tournament, Friday, 1 p.m. ET, ESPN

The Vols are the No. 1 seed this week at the SEC Tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, facing either No. 8-seed LSU or No. 9 Mississippi State on Friday (1 p.m. Eastern Time, ESPN) and are chasing the program’s first No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

“We just checked one of our goals, win the SEC,” Knecht said on Monday, “and now we got to move on to the SEC tourney. We know we want to get another ring, so just add that SEC tourney ring and go out and win that/

“And then go out and compete in the big one, and stand out on top.”

He scored a career-high 40 points in Tennessee’s 85-81 loss to Kentucky on Saturday afternoon at Thompson-Boling Arena.

In 31 games during the regular season, he scored 25 or more points 10 time this season, 30 or more points seven times, 35 or more points five times and 39 or more points four times, with three 39-point games to go with the 40 he scored against Kentucky.

Knecht averaged 21.4 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists for the season while shooting 47.4% from the field and 40.5% from the 3-point line. 

He averaged 24.8 points in true road games, shooting 50.8% from the field and 43.0% from the 3-point line. He had 13 or more points in all 11 road games this season and had 22 or more in eight road games and 32 or more in three road games.

Dalton Knecht’s 25.5 points per game in SEC play led the nation in conference play

Knecht’s 25.5 points per game in SEC play made him the league’s highest-scoring player over the last 22 seasons. He was also the highest scoring player in conference play for any Division I team this season and was the highest scoring player from any Power 6 conference since 2019-20.

His 36 points at Georgia on January 13 and 39 points against Florida on January 16 made him the first SEC player with back-to-back 35-point games since Shaquille O’Neal in 1991. 

Knecht’s six straight games with 25 or more points between January 10 and January 30 — 28 at Mississippi State, 36 at Georgia, 39 vs. Florida, 25 vs. Alabama, 32 at Vanderbilt and 31 vs. South Carolina — made him the first player to do so since Devan Downey in 2010.

“His journey,” Tennessee associate head coach Justin Gainey said of Knecht on Monday, “is one that you kind of read about, like fairytale-type deals. And just to see him get to this point, to achieve what he’s achieved, it’s amazing. 

“ … It’s special. It is really special to do what he’s been able to do in this season here at Tennessee. And I hope everybody appreciates it as much as I know we do.”