Tennessee basketball guard Dalton Knecht has been named one of five finalists for John R. Wooden Award, given to the national player of the year, as announced Tuesday night on ESPN2. Knecht was joined by North Carolina’s R.J. Davis, Purdue’s Zach Edey, Connecticut’s Tristen Newton and Houston’s Jamal Shead.
Knecht, Davis, Edey and Shead were also the four players to earn consensus First Team All-American honors this season. Knecht became the fourth consensus First Team All-American in Tennessee history, joining Grant Williams (2018-19), Dale Ellis (1982-83) and Bernard King (1976-77).
The Northern Colorado transfer is just the eighth former junior college player to earn consensus First Team All-America honors in the NCAA Tournament era (1938-39 to present), including the first in 33 years. Knecht played at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, Colo., from 2019-21, before playing two seasons at Northern Colorado and transferring to Tennessee.
Knecht concluded his lone season as a Volunteer with 780 points, the second-most in a single campaign in program history. He averaged 21.7 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game, while shooting 45.8 percent from the floor, 39.7 percent beyond the arc and 77.2 percent at the stripe. His scoring average puts him eighth nationally, including third among Power Six players and first in the SEC.
In SEC play alone, Knecht averaged 25.5 points during SEC play, which is the second-best in the league over the last 22 seasons. It was the highest scoring average of any Division 1 player this season and the best mark of any Power Six player in league play since 2019-20.
Knecht was named SEC Player of the Year by the league’s coaches following the conclusion of the regular season to become the 10th Volunteer to win the award and the first to do so since Grant Williams was honored in back-to-back seasons in 2018 and 2019.
The 6-foot-6 guard recorded one 40-point game this season among seven by a Power Six player, three 39-point games (first nationally), five 35-point games (first nationally) and seven 30-point games (third nationally). He owns five of the top nine single-game point totals by an SEC player, was the first player with back-to-back 35-point games since LSU’s Shaquille O’Neal (Feb. 1991), was the first player with six straight 25-point games since South Carolina’s Devan Downey (Jan./Feb. 2010) and the second player in the last 14 seasons with at least five 35-point games and/or seven 30-point games, joining Arkansas’ Mason Jones.
