With the season on the line, Tennessee basketball's star demanded the ball

Charlotte, N.C. — With just seconds left on the clock, Tennessee basketball led by a single possession against Texas in the NCAA Tournament's Round of 32. The Vols had possession and knew they'd be fouled and sent to the line in an attempt to extend the game.

With Tennessee still not in the double-bonus, the stakes were even higher. A miss on the front-end and the Vols would likely fork over the ball back to the Longhorns.

As Zakai Zeigler went to inbound the ball, Tennessee's superstar scorer Dalton Knecht told his point guard that he wanted the ball in his hands. Despite having previous struggles at the free throw line, Knecht was confident he wouldn't let his team down.

TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM

Knecht received the inbound, was fouled and knocked both down. This gave the Vols a five-point lead with 10 seconds to go.

"DK, he looked at me and said, he knew I was taking the ball out, he said, 'You know I'm gonna make them,'" said Zeigler. "I 100% had faith and trust in him."

Following the pair of makes, Texas quickly pushed the ball down the floor in a last-ditch effort to scratch back into the game. Tyrese Hunter let a deep 3-pointer fly and it found its way home to bring the game within one.

Once again, the Vols knew they needed to knock down a pair to put things out of reach. With the double-bonus still not in effect, the pressure couldn't be higher on the first shot.

Knecht was the recipient of the inbound again and was promptly fouled. The 76.8% free throw shooter got another pair to drop to make it a four-point advantage and ultimately slammed the door shut.

"I wanted the ball in my hands," said Knecht. "I told Z that when we were walking out of that timeout, saying I want the ball in my hands. He had trust in me, as well as the whole team had trust in me. Despite my shooting performance today, they had trust in me to go take those shots, and I can't thank my teammates and coaching staff enough."

MORE FROM VOLREPORT: On night where shots weren't falling, Tennessee did what it does best

These four points brought Knecht's total on the game up to 18. However, the production came on an inefficient outing where he sunk just 5-of-18 shots from the field and 1-of-8 from distance.

There was no drop-off in confidence amongst his teammates, though. They see the work he puts in to improve this aspect of the game and knew it was due to pay-off in the biggest moment of the season.

To Jahmai Mashack, he didn't even care who it was at the line. There's a comfort in seeing the teammates you've seen work all season in high-pressure situations.

"We're just as confident in him as anybody else on that line because we work on it," said Mashack. "We work on it. We know how we're built, we know how we're clutch. I think it showed it in this game. It didn't matter who was on that line, we were gonna board like it was a miss, but our mindset was it was going in. I think that's how you go about it. DK is a confident player and so is everybody on this team. If you play confident, you're going to move on in games like this."

With a Sweet 16 matchup against Creighton coming up next weekend, it can be expected that more high-stake moments will arise.

Having a veteran core such as the Vols' certainly helps. Knecht and Jordan Gainey were the only players in the rotation without NCAA Tournament experience but Knecht has already answered the call.

–––––

– TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM.

– ENJOY VOLREPORT WITH A PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION.

– SUBSCRIBE TO THE VOLREPORT YOUTUBE CHANNEL.

– FOLLOW VOLREPORT ON TWITTER: @TennesseeRivals, @ByNoahTaylor, @RyanTSylvia, @Dale_Dowden, @ShayneP_Media.

–––––