Tennessee's Dalton Knecht named SEC Player of the Week for fourth time this season
Dalton Knecht on Monday afternoon was named the SEC’s Co-Player of the Week, sharing honors with South Carolina’s Meechie Johnson. It’s the fourth time Knecht has won the award this season, the most for a Tennessee player in program history.
Knecht, the first SEC player to win the award since Mason Jones did so in 2019-20 at Arkansas, scored 27 of his 39 points in the second half Wednesday night against Auburn at Thompson-Boling Arena, rallying the Vols from down eight points with 12 minutes left to win 92-84. Knecht scored 25 points over a stretch of 10 minutes to spark the comeback.
On Saturday night, in Tennessee’s 81-74 win at Alabama, Knecht finished with 13 points, five rebonds and an assist in 28 minutes.
Johnson in South Carolina’s 82-76 home win over Florida helped the Gamecocks rally from down 10 points with 12 minutes left by scoring 25 points. He had 22 points in a 70-68 road win at Texas A&M on Wednesday.
Up Next: No. 4 Tennessee at No. 17 South Carolina, Wednesday, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN2
Knecht and Johnson will face off on Wednesday, when No. 4 Tennessee (23-6, 13-3 SEC) goes to No. 17 South Carolina (24-5, 12-4) for a 7 p.m. Eastern Time start (TV: ESPN) at Colonial Life Arena.
The Vols need one win this week to clinch at least a share of the SEC’s regular-season championship. They host No. 15 Kentucky on Saturday on Senior Day at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Knecht was the SEC Player of the Week in back-to-back weeks in January.
The first was on January 15, after he scored a combined 64 points in games at Mississippi State and Georgia. He had 28 points in a 77-72 loss to Mississippi State in Starkville and 36 points in an 85-79 win at Georgia.
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Knecht was the SEC Player of the Week again on January 22, coming off a season-high 39 points in a win over Florida and 25 points in a 91-71 home win over Alabama.
Dalton Knecht averaging 20.6 points per game this season, 24.6 in SEC games
He was also named SEC Player of the Week on November 13, after after scoring 17 points against Tennessee Tech and 24 at Wisconsin. He’s the first Tennessee player to win the award multiple times in one season since Grant Williams did so three times in 2018-19. Admiral Schofield won the award twice during the 2017-18 season.
Knecht is second in the SEC in scoring at 20.6 points per game, just behind Alabama’s Mark Sears at 20.7 points per game. Knecht is averaging 24.6 points per game in SEC play. For the season he is shooting 47.8% from the field on 423 attempts and is shooting 40.2% from the 3-point line, going 66-for-164 from deep.
The 13 points at Alabama gave Knecht 15 straight SEC games with at least 13 points. He’s only the fifth SEC player to do so over the last 19 years. He’s the third SEC player in the last 12 years to score 13 or more points in at least 10 consecutive road games in a single season, joining LSU’s Antonio Blakeney (2016-17) and Kentucky’s Jamal Murray (2015-16).
