While there’s still more basketball to be played in March, Tennessee posted a historic and memorable regular season chock-full of impressive statistics.
The Vols won the outright SEC regular season championship for the first time since 2008, Rick Barnes surpassed 800 career wins, and Dalton Knecht posted numerous jaw-dropping scoring runs throughout the SEC season.
Tennessee finished the season with 24 wins and 7 losses, going 14-4 in SEC play. The Vols racked up wins over No. 20 Illinois, No. 22 Ole Miss, No. 10 South Carolina, No. 11 Auburn, and No. 14 Alabama with losses to No. 2 Purdue, No. 1 Kansas, No. 17 North Carolina, and No. 15 Kentucky.
Here’s a look at some of the most impressive feats from Tennessee’s 2023-2024 regular season:
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From UT Stats & Info:
Tennessee’s 14 SEC victories tie their fourth-highest total in program history.
- The Vols’ 14 wins helped the team win the outright SEC regular season championship for the first time since the 2008 season.
Dalton Knecht reached the 30-point mark seven times during the regular season, tying Dale Ellis (1982-83), Ernie Grunfeld (1975-76), and Bernard King (1975-76) for the fifth-most in Tennessee history.
- Knecht closed the season with a career-high 40 points against Kentucky.
Josiah-Jordan James moved to 9th place on Tennessee’s all-time rebounding list with 813 total rebounds over his five-year career.
- James crossed the 800-rebound mark against South Carolina in the second-to-last game of the season.
Rick Barnes became the 24th coach in conference history to win 100 games in the SEC during his career.
- Barnes has a record of 199-99 at Tennessee including regular-season games, conference tournament games, and NCAA tournament games.
Tennessee is the second team in the last 24 years to play Kansas, Kentucky, and North Carolina a total of four times during the regular season.
- Tennessee went 1-3 in those games, falling to Kansas in the Maui Invitational, losing to North Carolina in Chapel Hill, and splitting the series against Kentucky.
Dalton Knecht finishes the season with a conference-best 25.5 points per game.
- Knecht’s mark is the first by any player in the SEC since South Carolina’s Devan Downey averaged 26.2 PPG in 2009-2010.
Dalton Knecht joins Grant Williams as the only two Vols to score 40 points in a game in the last 34 seasons.
- Knecht and Williams sit alongside Allan Houston (43 points on Feb. 10, 1990) and Dyron Nix (40 points on Nov. 25, 1988).
Tennessee has a 14-4 record against Top 15 teams dating back to Dec. 22, 2021, in the game against Arizona.
- Tennessee found wins against No. 10 Kentucky, No. 11 Auburn, and No. 14 Alabama this season.
Josiah-Jordan James became the second player in Tennessee history to record 1,200 points, 750 rebounds, 250 assists, 150 steals, and 100 blocks during his career.
- James joins Vincent Yarbrough (1998-2002) as the only players to do so in a Vol uniform.
Santiago Vescovi became the second player in program history to record 200 career steals.
- Vescovi’s 207 total only trail Vincent Yarbrough’s 211 total career steals.
Zakai Zeigler became Tennessee’s all-time leader in point-assists double-doubles for a career.
- Zeigler set the record against Ole Miss for his sixth-career point-assist double-double and then added another during the season against Kentucky with 26 points and 13 rebounds.
Tennessee HC Rick Barnes became the 15th coach in D1 history to record 800 career wins.
- Barnes finished the season with 803 career wins.
Tennessee’s 29-point road win against Arkansas was the second-largest D1 road win in the last 49 years.
- The win was also the largest margin of victory for either team in their all-time series history.
Tennessee became the fourth team to ever score 100 points at Kentucky’s Rupp Arena and was the first to do so since the 2008 season.
- The Vols defeated Kentucky 103-92 in Rupp Arena this season.
Dalton Knecht became the first SEC player to score 32+ points three times in a four-game stretch since the 2006-2007 season.
- Tennessee’s Chris Lofton was the last player to do so in December 2006.
Tennessee earned its first lone No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament since the tournament returned from a 26-year break during the 1979 season.
- Tennessee achieved the East No. 1 seed on three occasions when the tournament was played in a division format from 1992 to 2011.
