The Dalton Knecht Show comes back to Knoxville in No. 6 Tennessee's 85-66 win over Florida
The Dalton Knecht Show came back home to Thompson-Boling Arena Tuesday night. After combining for 64 points in two road games last week, Knecht scored a career-high 39 points to lead No. 6 Tennessee to an 85-66 win over Florida in Knoxville.
Jonas Aidoo added 19 points and nine rebounds for the Vols (13-4, 3-1 SEC) and Zakai Zeigler had seven points and four assists. Jahmai Mashack had six and freshman forward JP Estrella scored seven. Florida (11-6, 1-3) got 16 points Walter Clayton Jr. and 12 from from Riley Kugel in the loss.
Knecht, the star transfer wing from Northern Colorado, had 22 points in the first half alone, scoring 20 of the final 22 points for the Vols before halftime, all in the final seven minutes of the half.
It was his fourth half with 20 or more points this season. Knecht finished with 36 points at Georgia on Saturday, helping Tennessee come back from down 11 with six minutes left, scoring 20 in the second half and 13 in the final eight minutes.
The 22 points in the first half against Florida on Tuesday was third straight game with 20 or more points in a single half. He had 28 at Mississippi State on Wednesday, after scoring just two points in the first half. He also did it at North Carolina, where he scored 37 points to tie the scoring record for an opposing player against the Tar Heels at the Dean Smith Center.
Knecht set a Tennessee program record for scoring in a three-game span, with 103 points. He also became the first Tennessee player with back-to-back 35-point games since Allan Houston in 1990.
Dalton Knecht finished 22-point first half on fire
Knecht scored his first points at the 17:11 mark in the first half and didn’t score again until he dunked with 7:05 left in the half. From there, it was all Knecht. He hit 3-pointers with 5:01 left, 1:07 left and 38 seconds left. He had layups at 6:16 and 3:26 and the dunk at 7:05.
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Knecht finished 9-for-10 from the field, including a perfect 3-for-3 at the 3-point line. Meanwhile, Florida made 10 shots from the field in the first half as a team. If it wasn’t for two JP Estrella with 3:02 left in the first half, Knecht would’ve had all of Tennessee’s points in the final seven minutes of the first half.
The 22-point first half gave Knecht gave him 84 points over his previous four halves.
Knecht’s 26 in the second half at Mississippi State came on 9-for-13 shooting, including 4-for-6 at the 3-point line. At Georgia he had a pedestrian 16 points in the first half, going 6-for-9 from the field and 3-for-4 from three, before getting his 20 in the second half on 6-for-11 shooting.
Up Next: No. 6 Tennessee vs. Alabama, Saturday, 2 p.m. ET, ESPN2
After two straight road games last week — the Vols lost 77-72 at Mississippi State on Wednesday and won 85-79 at Georgia on Saturday — Tennessee plays three of four games at home.
Alabama at home is next on Saturday (2 p.m. ET, ESPN 2).
Tennessee, which does not have a midweek game after hosting the Crimson Tide, goes to Vanderbilt on January 27 (6 p.m. ET, SEC Network) and is back home against South Carolina on January 30 (6:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network) to round out the January schedule.
The February schedule starts at Kentucky on Saturday, February 3, an 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time start on ESPN at Rupp Arena in Lexington.
