Tennessee clinched the SEC regular season title Wednesday night, beating South Carolina 66-59.
Star shooting guard Dalton Knecht poured in 26 points in the victory, continuing his standout season after transferring in from Northern Colorado. After the game, Knecht acknowledged the Volunteers’ accomplishment by making a “ring me” gesture with his left hand.
That didn’t sit well with CBS Sports’ Radio’s Andrew Perloff, who thought Knecht was going overboard for a regular season conference championship.
“Winning a regular-season SEC title gets the ring celebration? Dalton Knecht is incredible but gotta have bigger Tournament goals,” Perloff tweeted.
While it’s true that LSU women’s basketball star Angel Reese saved her “ring me” celebration for the Tigers winning the national title last year, it’s understandable that Knecht was excited for this milestone.
It sounds like a lot of people feel the same way. Perloff indicated that he’s heard from angry Tennessee fans on X/Twitter.
“Last week I picked Tennessee to root for in March and Knecht as the most exciting player in the sport. Loved watching them. Wanted them to win it all. Now I’m out b/c Vols fans are just too mean,” he said.
Maybe he’s being a little facetious with that statement, or perhaps Vols fans really did get under his skin that badly. They are a passionate bunch, after all.
This is only Tennessee’s second outright conference regular season in the last 57 years, and their first since 2008. They’ve earned a share of the conference title five times, most recently 2018.