College basketball rankings: Dalton Knecht's long journey to Tennessee is paying off for both player and team
Knecht has scored more than 100 points in his last three games with the Volunteers
By
Gary Parrish
•
1 min read
Purdue pounded Indiana at Assembly Hall while reminding everybody that the best program in the state calls Mackey Arena home. Samford extended the sport's longest winning streak to 16 games with a victory at Western Carolina. Kansas State's Jerome Tang guided his Wildcats to an overtime victory over Baylor to improve to 3-0 against former boss and forever friend Scott Drew.
It was a fun Tuesday.
But the story of the night was Dalton Knecht -- Tennessee's 6-foot-6 wing who has been on some kind of heater over the past week. After scoring 28 points last Wednesday at Mississippi State, and 36 more on Saturday at Georgia, the transfer from Northern Colorado finished with a career-high 39 points in Tuesday's 85-66 victory over Florida.
Knecht was 13 of 23 from the field. He made four of the six 3-pointers he attempted.
"He's been doing that to everybody," said Florida coach Todd Golden. "He did a lot in transition and broken plays. We weren't good enough to protect the rim."
Knecht's path to college basketball stardom has been unusual. He was only 6-foot-1 when he graduated high school, and with limited options he enrolled at Northeastern Junior College. While there, Knecht grew five inches and became a First Team National Junior College All-American, which led to him transferring to Northern Colorado, where he led the Big Sky in scoring as a senior before deciding to use a fifth year of eligibility playing for Rick Barnes at Tennessee.
It's going brilliantly.
Knecht is now averaging 18.4 points after scoring a total of 103 in UT's past three games. He's the main reason the Vols are now 13-4 overall, 7-4 in the first two quadrants (with zero losses outside of Quadrant 1) and ranked fifth in Wednesday morning's updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings, where Purdue remains No. 1 for the seventh consecutive day.
Purdue improved to 16-2 on Tuesday with an 87-66 win at Indiana. The Boilermakers now have a national-best six Quadrant-1 victories and a national-best 11 wins inside the first two quadrants. No other team has more than eight wins inside the first two quadrants.
Top 25 And 1 rankings
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9
BYU
3
Wisconsin
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Zach Edey finished with 33 points and 14 rebounds in Tuesday's 87-66 win at Indiana. The Boilermakers' next game is Saturday at Iowa. | -- | 8-0 |
| 2 |  | Alex Karaban finished with 26 points and five rebounds in Sunday's 80-67 win over Georgetown. The Huskies' next game is Wednesday against Creighton. | -- | 7-1 |
| 3 |  | Kevin McCullar finished with 18 points and eight rebounds in a 90-66 win over Oklahoma State. The Jayhawks' next game is Saturday at West Virginia. | -- | 6-3 |
| 4 |  | RJ Davis finished with 22 points and five steals in Saturday's 103-67 win over Syracuse. The Tar Heels' next game is Wednesday against Louisville. | -- | 7-1 |
| 5 |  | Dalton Knecht finished with 39 points and eight rebounds in Tuesday's 85-66 win over Florida. The Vols' next game is Saturday against Alabama. | -- | 7-2 |
| 6 |  | L.J. Cryer was 2 of 14 from the field in Saturday's 68-67 loss at TCU. The Cougars' next game is Wednesday against Texas Tech. | -- | 7-1 |
| 7 |  | Jahvon Quinerly finished with 23 points and 11 assists in Sunday's 112-86 win at Wichita State. The Tigers' next game is Thursday against South Florida. | -- | 3-4 |
| 8 |  | Caleb Love was 10 of 25 from the field in Saturday's 73-70 loss at Washington State. The Wildcats' next game is Wednesday against USC. | 1 | 7-0 |
| 9 |  | Kyle Filipowski finished with 30 points and 13 rebounds in Saturday's 84-79 win over Georgia Tech. The Blue Devils' next game is Saturday against Pitt. | 1 | 9-0 |
| 10 |  | Johni Broome finished with 18 points and seven rebounds in Saturday's 93-78 win over LSU. The Tigers' next game is Wednesday at Vanderbilt. | 2 | 7-2 |
| 11 |  | Chucky Hepburn was 0 of 4 from the field in Tuesday's 87-83 loss at Penn State. The Badgers' next game is Friday against Indiana. | 3 | 6-2 |
| 12 |  | RayJ Dennis was 2 of 14 from the field in Tuesday's 68-64 loss at Kansas State. The Bears' next game is Saturday at Texas. | 1 | 6-1 |
| 13 |  | Tre Mitchell was 3 of 13 from the field in Saturday's 97-92 loss at Texas A&M. The Wildcats' next game is Wednesday against Mississippi State. | 1 | 5-3 |
| 14 |  | Javian McCollum had six turnovers in Saturday's 78-66 loss at Kansas. The Sooners' next game is Wednesday against West Virginia. | 1 | 6-2 |
| 15 |  | DaRon Holmes finished with 29 points and 14 rebounds in Tuesday's 70-65 win over Saint Louis. The Flyers' next game is Saturday against Rhode Island. | 2 | 7-2 |
| 16 |  | Darius Brown II was 4 of 13 from the field in Tuesday's 99-86 loss at New Mexico. The Aggies' next game is Saturday against Fresno State. | 3 | 7-1 |
| 17 |  | Matthew Murrell finished with 24 points and six rebounds in Saturday's 69-56 win over Vanderbilt. The Rebels' next game is Wednesday at LSU. | 1 | 5-3 |
| 18 |  | Spencer Johnson finished with 28 points and five assists in Tuesday's 87-72 win over Iowa State. The Cougars' next game is Saturday at Texas Tech. | NR | 7-1 |
| 19 |  | Tamin Lipsey was 4-of-12 from the field in Tuesday's 85-72 loss at BYU. The Cyclones' next game is Saturday at TCU. | 3 | 8-0 |
| 20 |  | Jaedon LeDee had four turnovers in Saturday's 88-70 loss at New Mexico. The Aztecs' next game is Wednesday against Nevada. | 1 | 4-3 |
| 21 |  | Nique Clifford finished with 17 points and six rebounds in Tuesday's 78-69 win over Air Force. The Rams' next game is Friday against UNLV. | 1 | 6-2 |
| 22 |  | Kam Jones finished with 22 points and six rebounds in Monday's 87-74 win over Villanova. The Golden Eagles' next game is Saturday at St. John's. | 1 | 5-4 |
| 23 |  | Quincy Guerrier was 2-of-10 from the field in Sunday's 76-67 loss to Maryland. The Illini's next game is Thursday at Michigan. | 1 | 6-2 |
| 24 |  | Ryan Kalkbrenner finished with 18 points and nine rebounds in Saturday's 66-65 win over St. John's. The Bluejays' next game is Wednesday at UConn. | 1 | 5-3 |
| 25 |  | Joe Toussaint finished with 12 points and two assists in Saturday's 60-59 win over Kansas State. The Red Raiders' next game is Wednesday at Houston. | 1 | 6-2 |
| 26 |  | Al-Amir Dawes finished with 21 points and one assist in Tuesday's 80-65 win over St. John's. The Pirates' next game is Saturday against Clemson. | NR | 8-1 |
