KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Dalton Knecht of the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team earned unanimous The Sporting News First All-America status, as announced Tuesday morning.
The Sporting News is one of four outlets—the others are the Associated Press, NABC and USBWA—that, in aggregate, determines the consensus All-America teams. It is the first of that quartet to release its selections
Purdue’s Zach Edey was the only player other than Knecht unanimously voted as first-team honoree by The Sporting News‘ blue-ribbon panel.
In the 41 seasons since 1982-83 when Dale Ellis was a consensus First Team All-American, Knecht is the second Volunteer to earn a first-team plaudit from one of the main four outlets, joining Grant Williams, a consensus first-team pick in 2018-19. Chris Lofton also garnered a first-team nod from the John R. Wooden Award in 2006-07.
A fifth-year guard out of Thorton, Colo., Knecht is averaging 21.4 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game in his first and only season as a Volunteer. He currently ranks No. 12 at the Division I level in scoring, including third among Power Six players and first in the SEC. The newly-minted SEC Player of the Year is shooting 47.4 percent from the floor, including 40.5 percent beyond the arc.
Knecht, a finalist for the Julius Erving Award, leads the nation in outings with 39 points (three) and 35 points (five), while placing third in showings of 30 points (seven) and co-No. 11 in displays with 25 points (11). The former two marks are both tied for the most in a season in Tennessee history.
The 6-foot-6, 213-pounder averaged 25.5 points in SEC play, the top in the league since 2009-10 and the second-best over the last 22 seasons (2002-24). In addition, the figure paced all Division I players in any conference this season, while ranking fourth-best among all Power Six players in the last 10 years (2014-24) behind only Marquette’s Markus Howard in 2019-20 (28.7), Oklahoma’s Trae Young in 2017-18 (27.4) and Iowa’s Luka Garza in 2019-20 (26.2).
A four-time SEC Player of the Week and two-time USBWA National Player of the Week, Knecht averaged 24.8 points per game in true road games this season, the second-best mark in the SEC (min. three games) over the last 20 years (2004-24), behind only Kentucky’s Jodie Meeks in 2008-09 (26.0). He tallied 13-plus points in all 11 of his road outings as a Volunteer, including 22-plus in eight and 32-plus in three, notching 37 at North Carolina on Nov. 29 to tie the Dean E. Smith Center visitor scoring record.
Knecht and fifth-ranked Tennessee (24-7, 14-4 SEC) begin play as the top seed in the SEC Tournament, after a double-bye, with a quarterfinal matchup against a to-be-determined foe Friday at 1 p.m. ET, live on ESPN from Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.
To keep up with the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team on social media, follow @Vol_Hoops on Instagram and X/Twitter, as well as /tennesseebasketball on Facebook.
2023-24 THE SPORTING NEWS ALL-AMERICANS
First Team
Zach Edey, Purdue
Dalton Knecht, Tennessee
Jamal Shead, Houston
RJ Davis, North Carolina
Tristen Newton, Connecticut
Second Team
Hunter Dickinson, Kansas
DaRon Holmes, Dayton
Mark Sears, Alabama
Tyler Kolek, Marquette
Jaedon LeDee, San Diego State
Third Team
Antonio Reeves, Kentucky
Johni Broome, Auburn
Kyle Filipowski, Duke
Caleb Love, Arizona
Baylor Scheierman, Creighton
