So much for Dalton Knecht’s reputation for only being a stupendous scorer in Tennessee’s road games.
The graduate transfer guard from Northern Colorado followed up Saturday afternoon’s 36-point performance at Georgia with a career-best 39 points Tuesday night as the No. 6 Volunteers plastered Florida 85-66 in the Food City Center. Knecht became Tennessee’s first player since Allan Houston to rack up 35-plus points in consecutive contests, and he became the first Southeastern Conference player to turn that trick in the last 25 seasons.
“I’m just playing with confidence out there,” Knecht said afterward on a Zoom call. “It’s a lot easier with my teammates out there every single day in practices as well as the games, because they just make it super easy for me, and I have a coaching staff that keeps putting me in the right spots. I’m just playing with confidence — that and a lot of hard work.”
Knecht’s total topped the 37 points he amassed during a 100-92 loss at North Carolina in the ACC/SEC Challenge on Nov. 29, which equalled the most points ever scored by an opposing player in the Dean Dome.
Tuesday’s game was moved up two hours due to inclement weather in Knoxville, but the change in time didn’t alter the change in production for the 6-foot-6, 213-pound offensive machine. Knecht went 13-of-23 from the floor, including 4-of-6 from 3-point range, and he made all nine of his free-throw attempts.
An impressive crowd of 17,332 filled the 21,678-seat facility, with the majority sticking around to see whether Knecht could crack 40.
“I tried to get 40, and a big shout-out to my teammates for letting me get the ball and for trying to lead me to that 40 mark,” Knecht said. “I had multiple chances throughout the whole entire game to get that. I had a couple of missed layups and mid-range shots.
“My teammates were getting me in those spots and really helping me get there.”
Tennessee coach Rick Barnes appeared upset with Knecht’s shot selection in the waning moments before later saying, “To be honest with you, I was oblivious to Dalton getting close to 40 points. They were trying to get it for him.”
Jonas Aidoo added 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Vols, who improved to 13-4 overall and 3-1 in SEC play. Aidoo now has three double-doubles in Tennessee’s four league games.
Florida (11-6, 1-3) shot just 29.4% from the floor and was led by 16 points from Walter Clayton Jr. and 12 from Riley Kugel. The Gators have not defeated the Vols in Knoxville since 2014.
A Knecht dunk and a Josiah-Jordan James 3-pointer helped Tennessee stake a 9-4 lead at the first media time out, and an Aidoo jumper off the glass at the 8:13 mark of the half gave the Vols their first double-digit lead at 22-11. Knecht’s 3-pointer from the corner with 5:05 left in the half extended the advantage to 31-17, and his 3-pointer with 39 seconds before the break made it 44-28.
Knecht had 22 points at halftime, going 9-of-10 from the floor and 3-of-3 from 3-point range.
“That was pretty impressive, and I thought his teammates started feeling it, too,” Barnes said. “They knew he was obviously in a good rhythm and a good place and really tried to get him the ball. We talked about how we didn’t close the half at Georgia really well, but that was a good stretch by him and by our team.”
Said Knecht: “I felt like that if I shot a corner 3 that it was going in. My teammates were just getting me the ball and kept looking for me. I was running off of screens. My teammates just made it super easy.”
Zakai Zeigler’s 3-pointer less than five minutes into the second half provided Tennessee a 20-point bulge at 57-37, but the Gators sliced that margin in half at 61-51 on a Clayton layup with 12:27 remaining. The Vols answered with a 12-0 run, with Knecht and Aidoo combining for all 12.
The Gators entered Tuesday ranked ninth nationally in scoring offense with 86.4 points per game.
“They’re an outstanding offensive team and one of the fastest-playing teams in the country,” Barnes said. “Our transition defense was good for the most part, and I thought overall defensively that we were good. If you hold a team to 29%, you’re doing a good job.”
Tennessee will stay at home this Saturday when Alabama visits.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.