Tennessee basketball guard Dalton Knecht split SEC Player of the Week honors with South Carolina’s Meechie Johnson after the Vols picked up two massive wins last week.
Knecht 26 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals over the course of Tennessee’s week as the Vols knocked off Auburn in Knoxville and Alabama in Tuscaloosa. But those numbers don’t tell the full story of Knecht’s massive week.
The super senior played perhaps the best game of the college basketball season on Wednesday night, willing Tennessee past 11th-ranked Auburn with a 39 point performance. With Tennessee trailing by eight points with 12 minutes to play, Knecht took over the game.
Knecht scored 23 points in the final 12 minutes and did it on an unbelievable nine-of-10 shooting from three-point range.
“That’s what you hope. You have a guy like that,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said postgame. “I’ve had a couple, not many. Not many of those guys let him do it at the way he did it tonight. And we’ve seen him do it. I mean, you guys have seen him do it in other games.”
“I think, was just one of the great performances that I’ve been able to see.”
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Knecht had a much more quiet performance as he battled foul trouble in Tennessee’s 81-74 win at Alabama. The fifth-year senior scored just 13 points on five-of-14 shooting from the field while adding five rebounds in the win.
It’s the fourth time that Knecht has earned SEC Player of the Week honors this season. The guard becomes Tennessee’s first ever player to earn the honor four times in one season and the first player in the SEC to do so since Arkansas’ Mason Jones in 2019-20.
South Carolina guard Meechie Johnson also had a huge week, averaging 23.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and three assists in the Gamecocks’ tight wins over Texas A&M and Florida. Johnson also hit a number of clutch shots late in both games.
Johnson and Knecht will face off on the hardwood this week as Tennessee basketball travels to Columbia on Wednesday night for a critical SEC matchup. The Vols are looking to avenge their loss to South Carolina in Knoxville last week. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
