The Tennessee Volunteers remain undefeated with 10 games in the season and with yet another AP Poll putting them as No. 1, no one has been able to usurp them. Auburn came close with their decisive victory against Illinois last week, but their loss to Duke in the first week of December still haunts the Tigers. Nevertheless, the Vols, who have somehow maintained their top position, still have a chink in their armor and it has to do with Dalton Knecht.
On the Mark Titus Show, the host discusses how Tennessee’s defense puts them in a great position and the Vols know how to use it. What about the offense though? “They’re number one in the country, they’re undefeated, their defense looks great. The question with Tennessee this year…is ‘are they gonna get enough scoring?’” asks Titus.
“The question is does it infect themselves? Do you get to situations with Tennessee where the offense falls apart because the tone of the game is so gross that they themselves can’t make shots? Where is the offense going to come from?” There is Jordan Gainey, there is Chaz Lanier, and there is Igor Miličić Jr. But none of them is Dalton Knecht.
“I have that question about Tennessee going into every single year. Last year, I got answers very quickly with Dalton Knecht, where I was like, ‘oh, they’re gonna be fine. They got Dalton Knecht, they’re gonna be absolutely fine,” Titus says. With the Vols last year, transfer Knecht averaged 21.7 points and 4.9 rebounds per game on 45.8/39.7/77.2 shooting splits. But then the senior graduated and now he moonlights as a talented NBA rookie with the LA Lakers.
“The question remains – can they get enough offense?” asks Titus. “I do think between Lanier and Gainey that you do have two go-to guys that can get by.” In Lanier, the Vols have yet another top transfer who has been a major reason Tennessee keeps its No. 1 position. With 15 points in the first half alone, only foul trouble kept him away from the court in the last game vs. Illinois.
Not to mention Gainey’s buzzer-beater that helped the Vols win 66-64 in a game that they were struggling in severely with offense. For the first time in 25 years, Tennessee has won its first 10 games. And even coach Rick Barnes couldn’t help but be impressed by his year two transfer.
Coach Barnes is “proud” of Jordan Gainey
It helps that Jordan Gainey’s dad, Justin, works as an assistant coach for the Tennessee Vols, because it was easier for head coach Rick Barnes to convince him to get Jordan on the team. Barnes wanted to respect the time Gainey wanted to spend upstate but when it was time to transfer, he didn’t want anyone else to take him. And the star guard is proving exactly why.
“That was a high-level game, man. Hard fought, hard to get a basket, hard to guard, whatever,” Barnes said after their win over Illinois. “But obviously proud of this guy (Jordan Gainey), stepping up when we did get in foul trouble. They give a lot of attention to Chaz (Lanier). Zakai (Zeigler) wasn’t having a particularly great day. But when those guys were out, we turned to him (Gainey) and he got it done. And we worked through a lot of different situations with the fouls, but just a high-level game.”
While he praised Coach Brad Underwood, Illinois HC, for building up the team the way he has, the Tennessee coach also knows there is work to be done with his own team. Now, no one may be Dalton Knecht or have his exact shooting prowess. But as Mark Titus put it, there are still a few guys the Volunteers can count on.
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