'He finally clicked': Tennessee's Dalton Knecht got back on track in second half at Mississippi State

If there was a silver lining Wednesday night at Humphrey Coliseum in Starkville, it wore an orange No. 3 jersey and it at long last showed up in the second half for No. 5 Tennessee.

Dalton Knecht scored 26 of his 28 points after halftime, helping the Vols rally from down 15 points against Mississippi State and tie the game three times in the second half before the Bulldogs held on in the final minute in a 77-72 win.

“I think he got some looks,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said after the loss, “and I think … the more we play, the more he understands what’s going on. He’s going to get a feel for it. And I thought he adjusted well.”

The transfer wing from Northern Colorado spent the first month of the season exploding onto the scene and starring for the Vols, averaging 19.2 points over Tennessee’s first nine games. 

He scored in double figures in all nine and had 37 in the loss at North Carolina, tying a record for points scored by an opposing player at the Dean Smith Center.

Then it looked like lost whatever feel he had early in the season.

After scoring 21 points in the win over Illinois on December 9, Knecht had just 38 total points over the next five games, including just two against North Carolina State in San Antonio on December 16.

Dalton Knecht in second half at Mississippi State: 26 points, 9-13 FG, 4-6 3FG 

He had 15 against Norfolk State on January 2, showing signs of life with a flurry of points in the first half, but followed it with eight points in 19 minutes against Ole Miss on Saturday.

Knecht had just two points in the first half Wednesday night, going 1-for-5 from the field, including 0-for-3 at the 3-point line, in 17 minutes. 

Then the second half started. He scored his 26 points on 9-for-13 shooting, going 4-for-6 from the 3-point line and 4-for-6 at the foul line while adding three rebounds in 20 minutes, never leaving the floor after halftime. 

“He finally clicked,” Tennessee junior point guard Zakai Zeigler said, “but I feel like he was taking the same shots that he took in the first half. But the difference was they just dropped.”

Knecht dunked with 34 seconds left, tying the game at 72-all, but Mississippi State’s Tolu Smith scored the go-ahead points on the other end, putting the Bulldogs up 74-72 with 17.4 seconds to go.

Knecht tied the game at 62 at the free-throw line at the 5:17 mark then again, at 63, at the 4:38 mark.

The game turned on back-to-back Knecht 3-pointers, followed quickly by another from Zeigler, as Tennessee used the lightning quick 9-0 run — it took just 35 seconds off the clock — to turn a 12-point deficit into a one-possession game, with the Vols trailing 49-46 with 13:52 to play. 

Zeigler stayed hot with a career-high 26 points and added seven assists — he scored 16 in the second half to spark the comeback alongside Knecht — giving him 93 points and 34 assists, 13 steals and 12 rebounds over his last five games. 

“I think that ‘Z’ helped him do some things too,” Barnes said. 

Up Next: No. 5 Tennessee at Georgia, Saturday, Noon ET, ESPN2

Barnes described Knecht as “a little anxious” even in the second half when he started scoring. 

“He took one that was not a great look at it,” Barnes said. “I mean, it is a great look, but I didn’t think he was set the way he needed to be.”

Knecht was blocked from behind on a jumper near the elbow, too, another moment Barnes wanted back. 

“That was a big play, that block,” Barnes said. “I thought he should have kept going there.”

But the fact that Knecht finally got going again in the second half at Mississippi State provided some solace after the comeback failed in the final minute. 

No. 5 Tennessee (11-4, 1-1 SEC) is back on the road at Georgia (12-3, 2-0) on Saturday (Noon Eastern Time, ESPN2) at Stegeman Coliseum in Athens.

“We all know that he’s one of the top players in the country,” Zeigler said, “and that he can do that night in night out. But I’m glad that he did what he did tonight and just to get his confidence back up and next game and let that carry on.”