Tennessee super senior Dalton Knecht is one of 25 players nationally that landed on the Wooden Award Midseason Watch List on Wednesday night.
A Northern Colorado transfer, Knecht has shined for the Vols this season averaging 15.9 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game. The 6-foot-6 wing was not on the preseason watch list and is one of eight players that were added midseason, joining David Jones (Memphis), Jaedon LeDee (San Diego State), Caleb Love (Arizona), Antonio Reeves (Kentucky), Mark Sears (Alabama), Reed Sheppard (Kentucky) and K.J. Simpson (Colorado).
Knecht was in the midst of a slow stretch entering Tennessee’s 77-72 loss at Mississippi State on Wednesday night and it looked like it would continue after he score just two points on one-of-five shooting in the first half. But then the high-level scorer exploded back onto the scene during a terrific second half that saw him score 26 points on nine-of-13 shooting from the field.
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The 28-point breakout performance comes after Knecht averaged just 7.6 points over his last five games marking a very positive sign in a narrow loss for Tennessee.
“I told you guys weeks ago, the more we play, the more he understands what’s going on,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said postgame. “He’s going to get a feel for it. And I thought he adjusted well. I think that Z(akai) helped him do some things too. But once he got going, we’ve seen him do that.”
Knecht was one of the best scorers in the nation through the first six weeks of the season, averaging just over 19 points per game in his first nine games.
The senior wing looks to carry his success against Mississippi State forward as Tennessee heads to Athens to face Georgia on Saturday afternoon.
