Tennessee Volunteers clashed with Auburn Tigers at the Thompson–Boling Arena on Wednesday. At the cusp of March Madness, Volunteers edged past Tigers in this contest by a decent margin of 92-84. But what stood out for Tennessee was an extraordinary performance by their guard Dalton Knecht. 

Knecht dropped his career-high 39 points that helped him defeat Tigers. The spectacular point about the performance was that most of it came during the second half when Knecht scored 27 points. With the result, Volunteers had an unlikely win since they were behind by 63-55. It was undoubtedly Knecht’s contribution that provided the boost for the team.

Knecht’s kick tamed Tigers

Knecht’s exceptional three-pointer tied their score at 66 before he made a jumper at 69 that took Tennessee ahead of their rivals. He had previously scored 39 points this season against Florida Gators but no one knew that Knecht would be so instrumental in a day when Tennessee were on the verge of losing.

Knecht demonstrated an exceptional display, particularly during the last minutes and went on a scoring spree that played spoilsport to Auburn’s plans of dominance. In the next 23 points that Tennessee scored after 69, Knecht had a contribution of 14 out of those. It only goes to prove how Knecht is the key for Volunteers if they want to make a lasting impression going ahead into the conference tournaments and then the March Madness.

Their head coach Rick Barnes applauded Knecht after the game and even went onto state: “The last 12 minutes was one of the great performances I’ve been able to see.”

Overall, Knecht had an impressive 12-for-21 field goal with 5-for-8 three-pointers. Other than that, he also had an 83.3% free throw percentage. He topped his extraordinary performance with 2 rebounds.

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Even Auburn’s coach Bruce Pearl couldn’t help but laud Knecht by enunciating: “Dalton is terrific. We thought we had guys who could guard him. When he went downhill, we could have offered more resistance.” However, credit also goes to Tennessee’s team for matching step for step with Knecht.

How did other Volunteers perform?

Guard Zakai Zeigler and forward Jonas Aidoo contributed with 17 and 14 points respectively for Volunteers. Zeigler also thrashed 4 rebounds and 9 assists. He played the role of a second fiddle to perfection, helping Knecht pot exceptional pointers. Aidoo too came to the fore and nabbed 7 rebounds and supported with one assist. The team cohesion shown by Volunteers was nothing short of magical.

Whereas for Tigers, the best gameplay was displayed by their forward Johni Broome. He shot 23 points with 9 rebounds and 5 assists. Other than that, four more players scored in double digits which was a welcoming sign for Tigers who fell short in defense.

Volunteers now have a 22-6 stat and a 12-3 tally in the conference. They have only three games left in the regular season and would be looking to capitalize on Knecht’s brilliant run of form in the upcoming games. Hopefully, Volunteers will earn a call to the March Madness and realize their dream of going for the championship title.