KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Dalton Knecht of the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team is the recipient of the 2023-24 Riley Wallace Award, given to the nation’s top transfer, as announced Thursday morning by CollegeInsider.com.
The honor is named after the former head coach at Centenary (1976-78) and Hawaii (1987-2007). At the latter, Wallace welcomed many transfers and became the winningest coach in school history, leading the program to nine postseason appearances, including three NCAA Tournament bids.
Knecht is the 10th player to win the Riley Wallace Award since its inception in 2015. He joins Pittsburgh’s Blake Hinson (2022-23), North Carolina’s Brady Manek (2021-22), Utah Valley’s Fardaws Aimaq (2020-21), Siena’s Elijah Burns (2019-20), Colgate’s Rapolas Ivanauskas (2018-19), Buffalo’s Wes Clark (2017-18), UC Davis’ Chima Moneke (2016-17), Grand Canyon’s Grandy Glaze (2015-16) and Maryland Eastern Shore’s Mike Myers (2014-15).
The recipient of the annual award is determined by a 10-member voting committee, which consists of current and former head coaches, as well as two senior staff members of CollegeInsider.com.
Previously, Knecht has been named the Transfer of the Year by ESPN and Field of 68, as well as by NCAA.com’s Andy Katz. He was also the Associated Press’ SEC Newcomer of the Year.
The nation’s eighth-leading scorer at 21.7 points per game, Knecht has the third-highest scoring average among Power Six players, including the top mark in the SEC. His six 35-point games this season are two more than any other player in the country possesses and give him the most in a campaign in Tennessee history.
A finalist for both the Naismith Trophy and the John R. Wooden Award, as well as the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award, Knecht won SEC Player of the Year distinction from the league’s head coaches and, in unanimous fashion, the Associated Press.
Knecht, who hails from Thornton, Colo., became the fourth Volunteer to earn consensus First Team All-America status and just the eighth transfer, at any school, in the NCAA Tournament era (since 1938-39) to do so in his first year competing at a new program.
Those who proceeded Knecht on the latter list are Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe (2021-22), Syracuse’s Wesley Johnson (2009-10), Mississippi State’s Lawrence Roberts (2003-04), North Carolina’s Bob McAdoo (1971-72), Detroit Mercy’s Spencer Haywood (1968-69), Denver’s Vince Boryla (1948-49) and Notre Dame’s Billy Hassett (1944-45). Only 11 others have even notched second-team honors in their first year active for a new program.
Furthermore, just 11 other transfers—12 occurrences, as Indiana State’s Larry Bird did it twice—have been named a consensus First Team All-American in even their second or third season competing for a new school, including a 2023-24 honoree, Tristen Newton of Connecticut.
A fifth-year guard who checks in at 6-foot-6 and 213 pounds, Knecht helped steer Tennessee to its 11th SEC regular season crown, including its sixth outright title, as well as its second Elite Eight berth. He scored 780 points on the year, the second-most in a campaign in program history.
