Vols' Dalton Knecht named NABC First Team All-American

The Tennessee superstar guard, who has cleaned up the postseason accolade circuit before the Vols take the floor as a 2-seed in the NCAA Tournament on Thursday, has been named to three of the four recognized selectors for consensus All-American status.

The most recent outlet to pick Knecht was the National Association of Basketball Coaches, which named him a First Team All-American on Wednesday.

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The NABC joins The Sporting News, USBWA and the Associated Press in tabbing Knecht to their respective All-America First Teams.

Knecht, who transferred to Tennessee from Northern Colorado last offseason and burst onto the scene immediately during the Vols' SEC Championship run this season, is the third Tennessee player to be named a NABC First Team All-American all-time. He joins former Vols Grant Williams and Dale Ellis.

Knecht has been impactful in his lone season at Tennessee. He was named the SEC Player of the Year by both league coaches and the AP after averaging 21.1 points, 4.7 rebound and 1.8 assists per game through 32 games. He has scored 22 or more points in 15 games and 30-plus in seven games.

Knecht scored a career-high 40 points against Kentucky in the Vols' regular season finale on March 9.

In conference play, Knecht averaged 25.5 points, which was the second highest average among SEC players in the last 22 seasons and it led all Division I players in all leagues.

"I feel I've always thought I could play at this level. So, I just think it was playing with tons of confidence and it was a big shoutout to my teammates for being super confident," Knecht said. "Whenever during timeouts they'd always just tell me to go out and hoop. Just go play you. Just go out and hoop. Just a big shoutout to my teammates."

Tennessee (24-8) will begin its NCAA Tournament stay on Thursday against 15-seed Saint Peter's (19-13) at Spectrum Center in Charlotte. Tip-off is slated for 9:20 p.m. ET on TNT.

The Vols are 21-point favorites.

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