Saint Peter's knows another Cinderella run starts with stopping Tennessee's Dalton Knecht

CHARLOTTE — Saint Peter’s players sat down for their press conference Wednesday afternoon and it was like the Peacocks never left. The first question they faced was about the lasting impression the program left the last time it was here, on the national stage in March Madness. 

How does this team, two years removed from Saint Peter’s making a run to the Elite Eight as a No. 15 seed, go about doing it again?

“One game at a time,” senior guard Roy Clarke said. “I don’t feel like we’re thinking about that right now. Just looking at the task ahead of us.”

The task ahead is Saint Peter’s (19-13), again with a No. 15 seed next to its name, staring down Tennessee (24-8), another No. 2 seed from the SEC. In 2022, it was Kentucky that the Peacocks stunned. 

“Try to win that game,” redshirt sophomore Mouhamed Sow said. “After that, we’ll think about the next game.”

Two years ago, upsets followed over No. 7 Murray State in the second round and No. 3 Purdue in the Sweet Sixteen, before a loss to No. 8 North Carolina in the Elite Eight.

“Start thinking ahead,” sophomore forward Corey Washington said, “that’s when mistakes start being made. You don’t want that.”

‘We just want to come out and set the tone early on the task ahead’

Senior guard Latrell Reid is the last man standing now, the only player left from the Cinderella run.

Not head coach Shaheen Holloway, who in just three days turned the the run into a new job as head coach at Seton Hall, his alma mater. Not Daryl Banks or Doug Edert, the guards who starred in their shining NCAA Tournament moment.

Banks left for St. Bonevanture, Edert to Bryant. But the Peacocks made it back to the tournament before either of them.

“Survive and advance,” Reid said. “We just want to come out and set the tone early on the task ahead of us, and then we’ll let everything else work itself out.”

The task is a big one. If Saint Peter’s is going to put Cinderella’s slipper back on, the Peacocks will have to shut down Dalton Knecht, the 6-foot-6 Tennessee wing who on Wednesday became a consensus First Team All-American.

The Northern Colorado transfer starred for the Vols, winning SEC Player of the Year and leading his team to an outright SEC regular-season championship, the program’s first since 2008. 

Second-year Saint Peter’s coach Bashir Mason during his press conference Wednesday was asked what the biggest challenge will be in slowing Knecht.

First he mentioned size — “I’ve watched multiple games. I’ve heard commentators say he’s from 6-7, 6-8, down to 6-6. My wing players are around 6-3, 6-4. So instantly the size differences is huge.” — but then shifted to mindset.

“Just his confidence,” Mason said. “That kid always has his foot on the gas, and he’s trying to score, putting pressure on the defense. You’ve got to be ready to defend him for 40 minutes, 30 seconds, the entire game.”

No. 2 Tennessee vs. No. 15 Saint Peter’s, Thursday, 9:20 p.m. ET, TNT

Knecht averages 21.1 points points per game on 46.5% from the field and 39.7% from the 3-point line. He averaged 24.8 points per game in true road games, shooting 50.8% from the field and 43.0% from the 3-point line, and 25.5 points per game in SEC play during the regular season, becoming the league’s highest-scoring player over the last 22 seasons.

Keeping the ball out of the hands of Knecht, who ranks 85th in college basketball in usage rate, will be the biggest struggle. 

That’s where another bid at a Cinderella run for Saint Peter’s will start.

“They go so simple in terms of getting Dalton the ball,” Mason said, “it will be tough to take him away. But we do want to load it up and make him have to play against our team defense and try to make those other guys make shots, specifically early into the game where I think it’s going to be thick. 

“I don’t want him getting off to the greatest of starts and now everybody else sort of follow. I’d rather him play the takeover role for 40 minutes.”