After another stellar week in which Tennessee basketball won games against two top-15 teams, Dalton Knecht has been named Co-SEC Player of the Week. It is the fourth time this season that he has won the weekly conference honor.
He shared the honor with South Carolina’s Meechie Johnson Jr. Knecht is the first Vol to win four SEC Player of the Week honors in a single season.
Knecht is averaging 20.6 points per game, the second most in the conference. He is the first Vol ever to win the award four times in one season and the first SEC player to do so since Arkansas’ Mason Jones in the 2019-20 season.
Against Auburn, Knecht scored 39 points, tying his career high and leading the Vols to a comeback victory. In the final 12:01 of the second half, Knecht scored 25 points and outscored Auburn by himself as the Tigers only scored 21 points in that stretch.
This performance was Knecht’s fourth 35-point performance of the season which is the most in Division 1 this season. He has also scored 30-plus points in six games in the 2023-24 season
Against Alabama, Knecht was the Vols’ second-leading scorer with 13 points in another second-half comeback victory that put the Vols in sole possession of first place in the SEC. In what was a quieter performance by Knecht’s standards, he still was one of the most reliable scorers for Tennessee in a hostile environment.
He hit one of the most important shots of the game with Tennessee leading by one point with 2:33 left. Knecht faded away from the free throw line and gave the Vols a 72-69 lead that the Vols would hold onto for a huge road win.
While Knecht drew lots of attention, it opened up other Vols to hit shots.
“He obviously is a weapon and he didn’t have a particularly great night tonight, but we found a way to win,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said following the win over Alabama. “This year, we’ve won a lot of games where he didn’t do what he did the other night.”
Up next
Knecht and the No. 4 Vols will next take on No. 17 South Carolina on Wednesday night in Columbia.
