Army National Guard of the Week: Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht talks Kevin Durant, defense

College Basketball

Published Jan. 16, 2024 3:40 p.m. ET

Dalton Knecht transferred to Tennessee in part because Rick Barnes coached his favorite player, Kevin Durant. Now, the guard is getting the chance to score at a high level as Durant did for Barnes at Texas in 2006-07.

Knecht earned the Army National Guard of the Week due to his performances against Mississippi State and Georgia, scoring a combined 64 points over Tennessee’s conference tilts.

Knecht’s 28 points weren’t enough for Tennessee to beat Mississippi State on Jan. 10, falling 77-72 for just the Volunteers’ fourth loss of the season. But Knecht stepped up in a big way on Saturday. He scored 20 second-half points to help Tennessee come back from an 11-point deficit against Georgia to win, 85-79. His biggest shot came with just under two minutes left, hitting a spot-up 3-pointer to give Tennessee a two-point lead just seconds after Georgia briefly regained it.

Knecht’s strong second half was just part of his 36-point performance in Saturday’s win, falling just one point short of his season-high (37 vs. UNC on Nov. 29). Following Saturday’s game, Knecht is the first Tennessee player to have multiple 35-point games in a season since at least 2010-11.

Even though Tennessee has three other double-digit players averaging double digits in scoring to take the burden off Knecht’s shoulders, he actually credits the defensive abilities of his Volunteers teammates for helping his scoring prowess recently.

“Jahmai Mashack guards me every day in practice and if you can score on [Mashack], it’s a lot easier to score on a lot more people,” Knecht told FOX Sports’ John Fanta after being named the Army National Guard of the Week. “He’s one of the best defenders in the nation. Big shoutout to Mashack as well as the coaching staff for getting me in the right spots [and] Zakai [Zeigler]. He’s a great point guard. It’s easy to play with him and gets you in the right spots.”

Scoring at a high clip isn’t anything new for Knecht, though. The redshirt senior starred at Northern Colorado over the last two seasons before transferring to Tennessee, scoring 20.2 points per game, which ranked 23rd in the nation.

Knecht isn’t scoring at as high of a clip this season compared to last year, scoring 17.2 points per game so far. But as Tennessee heads into the bulk of conference play, Knecht is also averaging seven fewer minutes and three fewer shot attempts per game than last season.

Knecht leads a Tennessee squad that’s 91st in the nation in offensive rating, but is also 27th in defensive rating. While Barnes’ connection to Durant caused him to be interested in Tennessee, it was ultimately the Volunteers’ defense that sold him on the program.

“He coached my favorite player, Kevin Durant, and also Coach Barnes is a legendary, Hall of Fame coach, so why not go there?” Knecht told Fanta of his transfer decision. “They’re the No. 1 defensive team and that’s ultimately what I wanted to improve on, as well as learning just the overall game. Like, how I take one dribble here and shift the defense? Coach Barnes and the whole coaching staff have been really helpful.”

Watch Fanta’s complete interview with Knecht below and follow along at FOXSports.com and on social media, @CBBonFOX, for our next FOX Sports Army National Guard of the Week interview.