Dalton Knecht has been named SEC Player of the Week four times this season, a feat no other Vol has ever achieved. He is averaging 26 points per game and will most likely be the SEC MVP.

-- Photo By Jerry Denham |The Ledger

Ask anyone in college basketball what makes this season’s Tennessee men’s basketball team more capable of making a Final Four run than in the past, and they all give the same answer: Dalton Knecht.

The graduate transfer from Northern Colorado has been a transformational force for the Vols. Knecht is the offensive weapon the program has been missing as it seeks to break through to the final weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in history.

“He can go out and win a game, whether it be in the first five minutes or the last five seconds,” SEC Network announcer Tom Hart says. “He is an incredible bucket getter and what analysts like to call a three-level scorer. In my mind, that simply says he’s hard to defend with just one defender. He’s a difference maker for UT.”

UT’s postseason journey begins at the SEC Tournament, which runs March 13-17, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. The Vols last won the title in 2022 to end a 23-year drought. It will be Knecht’s first and only appearance at the event.

Although claiming the crown would be nice, it’s not the most important championship on the team’s radar. The Vols are fully focused on capturing an elusive NCAA title, and Knecht gives them a legitimate chance in what has been a wide-open season nationally.

“The two reasons I love Tennessee are defense and Dalton,” says former UT star and current TV analyst Dane Bradshaw. “I think everybody says for the past few years since Grant Williams and Admiral Schofield left that Tennessee needs that alpha dog, that go-to scorer. Dalton Knecht has been more than anybody ever dreamed of as a go-to scorer. He is having the greatest individual season I have ever seen in Tennessee basketball history, especially when combined with how well the team is doing.”

Knecht’s play has taken some of the defensive pressure away from Zakai Zeigler, an All-SEC second team selection last season.

-- Photos By Jerry Denham | The Ledger

Under the UT coaching staff, the 6-foot-6 Knecht has unlocked his full offensive arsenal to put himself in the running for nearly every Player of the Year honor and vault into consideration as a top 20 NBA draft pick

UT’s victory over Auburn last week at Food City Center was a prime example of his dynamic scoring capability. Knecht matched career high with 39 points, including 27 in the second half. He accounted for 20 of UT’s last 23 to pull out the 92-84 win.

“I mean, what he did in the last about 12 minutes, I think, was just one of the great performances that I’ve been able to see,” Barnes says.

An ‘all-time great’

Knecht is the only Division I player this season to record four 35-point performances. Over at least the last 19 years (2005-24), Knecht is the third SEC player with 35-plus points at least four times in a single season, joining Arkansas’ Mason Jones (five in 2019-20) and Kentucky’s Jodie Meeks (five in 2008-09).

“With his size and the versatility there, I just can’t think of anybody quite like him. Right?” Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl says. “If they win the league, if they advance in the tournament, he’ll have a chance to go down as one of the all-time greats. At the end of the day, he knows that, as a great individual. If this team can make a run, then they’ll be talking about it for a long time.”

Auburn tried just about every defensive rotation imaginable to prevent Knecht from taking over the game, but nothing worked. It’s become a widespread problem.

“Coaches I have talked to around the league can’t figure out how to stop him,” Hart says. “The only answer they come up with is to try and slow him down and make him take a lot of shots and make him less efficient.”

It’s a far cry from Knecht’s early college years when he was playing at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, Colorado. He was about as off the radar of major college coaches as possible. But after showcasing his scoring abilities at Northern Colorado, the UT coaches viewed Knecht as the missing link on offense for the Vols.

Since arriving in Knoxville, he’s developed a reputation for his unrelenting desire to improve his game.

“I walked out of here last night at I think 10:30. He was walking back on the court,” Barnes said after the Auburn win. “He deserves what’s happened to him while he’s been here because he’s worked extremely hard.

“He loves it. He’s a very humble person. I think the fact that we have older guys like we have, for our older guys and people that have been with us to embrace him the way they have, I think it speaks a lot about his humility.”

That is the part of the UT equation Bradshaw doesn’t think gets talked about enough.

“Everybody brings in these great transfers, but few teams have a culture strong enough for guys like (Santiago) Vescovi and JJ (Josiah-Jordan James) and others to take a back seat and be OK with a newcomer getting more action and more shots,” Bradshaw says. “I think a big part of this Tennessee team is the existing culture in place.”

The coaching continues

Barnes has been coaching Knecht even harder as the postseason creeps closer, trying to make him a more well-rounded player. One of the main reasons Knecht came to UT was to improve his defense under the guidance of Barnes. He doesn’t want to be a liability on that end of the floor or taken out of games because of foul trouble.

“I don’t wanna see that happen. I still think with whatever time we have left, I want him to leave here knowing that we didn’t stop coaching, did try to help him get better,” Barnes says. “But his work ethic has put him where he is today. In some ways he’s a young 22-year-old guy and I’m telling you, if he has time to continue to develop, like I think he can, he’s got a great future.”

Although he can be a difference-maker for the Vols in the postseason, Knecht is not a magical elixir. The Vols have lost games with him in the lineup. They still need others to perform their roles around him to have a chance at winning the title.

“I think the loss at Texas A&M showed that when Zakai Zeigler is smothered and taken out of the game, it impacts the entire team. He is nearly as important as Knecht,” Hart says. “If a team makes it really hard on him to run the offense, that could be a problem.”

But the usual worry about the Vols not having enough scoring to complement their stingy defense isn’t as pressing this season. Knecht’s presence in the lineup doesn’t guarantee success, but it does provide more confidence in UT’s chances.

“It’s hard to find a scenario where they are not built to have postseason success, whether that is winning four games in a row to make the Final Four or six games in a row to win the national title,” Hart says. “Obviously, both are uncharted territory for the University of Tennessee and for Rick Barnes.”