After making 30 points seem normal, Jonas Aidoo wants to know when Dalton Knecht is going to get 40

Apparently Jonas Aidoo isn’t all that impressed with a 30-point night anymore. Tennessee’s junior center is ready to watch Dalton Knecht go to another, even crazier level. When he’s getting 40?

That’s what Aidoo wanted to know when Knecht’s teammates crashed his postgame press conference after another dazzling outing, scoring 32 points to lead No. 5 Tennessee to a 75-62 comeback win over Vanderbilt Saturday night at Memorial Gymnasium. 

“Are you going to keep flirting around 40 points?” Aidoo asked, drawing a laugh from the crowd. “When are you going to get it? 40 points?”

Knecht dealt with the question with a smile and a laugh of his own, but he wasn’t going to offer much more than that to his teammate turned reporter.  

“Next question,” Knecht said, “… sorry, Jonas.” 

Dalton Knecht’s last 5 games: 160 points, 32.0 ppg, 54.9% FG, 17-36, 47.2% 3FG

Knecht’s latest eruption gave him 160 points over his last five games, averaging 32.0 points per game. He has 30 or more points in three of his last four games alone, going for 36 at Georgia and 39 at home against Florida before getting 32 more at Vanderbilt. 

He’s only the fourth SEC player with four 30-point games in a season — he scored 37 points in Tennessee’s 100-92 loss at North Carolina on November 29, tying a scoring record for an opposing player at the Dean Smith Center — and is the first Tennessee player to do so since Chris Lofton did it six times during the 2006-07 season.

And he’s seemingly more comfortable on the road than at home, too, scoring 157 points (31.4 points per game) in five true road games this season, not to mention the 28 he had in the exhibition win at Michigan State in October.

At this point, his teammates just expect it. Knecht scores 30 and everyone keeps moving forward. 

“Honestly, I would say it’s kind of a weird feeling,” Tennessee junior point guard Zakai Zeigler said, “because he’ll get 30, 35, 39 or whatever he gets and we walk into a locker room like, ‘Oh, this is what he does every day.’ 

“So it’s crazy for everybody else to see it, but for us it’s just regular DK. It’s just him being himself.” 

Knecht had a couple opportunities to get 40 in the closing minutes against Florida two weeks ago, but had to settle for 39. He had 25 in the 91-71 home win over Alabama last Saturday, only for Nate Oats to describe it as a quiet night. 

“Knecht’s been killing everybody,” the Alabama coach said after the game, “and he probably would’ve had 35 if this would’ve been a close game … he killed us when it mattered.”

Rick Barnes knew he could’ve had more at Vanderbilt Saturday night, leaving four points at the foul line after finishing 3-for-7 on free throws. But even Barnes, equal parts perfectionist and critic as a coach, had to credit Knecht first.

“You think about the night he had,” Barnes said, “13 buckets on 21 attempts, pretty good night. And if he made his free throws, which he should be making more than he did tonight.”

Up Next: No. 5 Tennessee vs. South Carolina, Tuesday, 6:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network

Knecht had 11 points in the first half, with Tennessee trailing Vandy by as many as nine points with 1:17 left before halftime. At the break he was 5-for-10 from the field, 0-for-2 from the 3-point line and just 1-for-4 at the foul line. 

Then Knecht hit his first 3-pointer at the 15:16 mark of the second half and went on the kind of scoring run that only he can provide. The three started a run of 12 straight points, including another three with 11:57 left that put Tennessee up for good.

Knecht made eight of his first 10 shots in the second half and reached 30 points on a contested corner 3-pointer, falling to the floor as yet another shot hit the bottom of the net. The shot built Tennessee’s lead to 13 with 5:40 left as the Vols were on their way to outscoring Vanderbilt 45-27 in the second half.

“Just finding my groove and I just got hot,” Knecht said. “And my teammates kept feeding me the ball. So shoutout to my teammates and the coaching staff for just putting me in the right spots.”

“His teammates know what he’s capable of doing,” Barnes added. “They obviously start looking for him.”

Knecht just wishes he had more time to chase 40 and play with these teammates. The Northern Colorado transfer is out of eligibility after this season and will be off to the NBA Draft whenever and wherever his run with the Vols comes to an end.

“It’s crazy,” Knecht said. “I mean, I love it here. I wish I had a couple more years to play with my teammates.”

But that’s another conversation for another day. For now, Knecht has more records to chase.

“It’s just a blessing,” he said. “I try to take it all in as much as I can.”