NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Dalton Knecht is worth the price of admission, even for opposing fan bases.
There were moments, large swaths of them where Memorial Gymnasium felt more like Food City Center Saturday night. So loud was the orange-clad contingent that filled the Vanderbilt home venue on Nashville's West End that music was needed to drown out chants of "Rocky Top" and "Go Big Orange."
But even if Memorial Gym was less friendly, it seems like it would hardly matter to Knecht. Nothing has fazed the Tennessee superstar guard, even the most hostile of environments and the No. 5 Vols keep winning because of it.
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Knecht put on another spectacle, scoring 25-plus points for the fifth-straight game in league play and pacing Tennessee in its latest triumph: a 75-62 win over the Commodores.
"It's just a lot of hard work," Knecht said. "Like I said, my teammates have made it easy for me to transition to this level and also the coaching staff. Big shoutout to them for helping me get ready for this."
Knecht makes it look easy, especially in the second half where he again took over after Tennessee took Vanderbilt's best shot after trailing at halftime and through the first five minute of the final period.
He scored 21 points over the last 20 minutes, headlining an 11-1 run that put the Vols in front with 11 minutes, 57 seconds left. Tennessee never trailed after that.
The outing made Knecht just the fourth SEC player to score 30 or more points four times in a single season in the last 14 years and he's the first Vol to do it since Chris Lofton posted six 30-point games during the 2006-07 season.
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Knecht's season average is 19.5 points per game. Away from Knoxville, he's averaging 31.4.
"Just finding my groove," Knecht said. "I just got hot and my teammates kept feeding me the ball. Shoutout to my teammates and and the coaching staff for putting me in the right spots."
“(Knecht) is a great player. We know he can score at will," Tennessee guard Zakai Zeigler, who finished with 10 points, added. "Whenever he gets the ball, something good is going to happen."
Like the fans that come to watch him, defenders put all of their attention on Knecht, too, which frees up his teammates to make plays on the offensive end.
That much was evident against Vanderbilt during Tennessee's second half onslaught. Knecht may have kick-started it, but a number of other Vols players were contributing, including Jordan Gainey, who hit a critical 3-pointer with less than nine minutes left that put Tennessee up double digits for the first time.
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"I would say tonight, the game, the guy that I thought blew the game up was Jordan Gainey’s three, when they went 1-3-1, in the corner," Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said. "I thought that was a huge play, huge play...But the fact is, Dalton’s teammates, they have confidence and we all do. And but we still think he can get better and the more we play the better he’s going to get."
If Knecht can be better than he's already been, that's good for Tennessee and concerning for the rest of the teams on its schedule.
Stretches of stagnant offense have often spelled doom for the Vols in the postseason, but Knecht being able to put up 25-plus points on any court in the country bodes well for Tennessee's SEC and NCAA Tournament aspirations going forward.
"It's crazy (the journey from Northern Colorado to Tennessee). I love it here," Knecht said. "I wish I had a couple more years to play with my teammates. It's just a blessing. I try to take it all in as much as I can."
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