Vols and Tigers battle back and forth, Knecht’s 39 lift Tennessee to 92-84 win

A MASSIVE second half from Dalton Knecht

It was the Dalton Knecht show again tonight, with the 6-6 scoring machine dropping in 39 points, hitting the 30-plus mark for the sixth time this season, as the Vols held off the Tigers 92-84.

Jonas Aidoo scored six of UT’s first eight points — six of which came on his patented, left hook in the paint. Auburn turned the ball over twice during a 6-0 run that put the Vols ahead 8-4. Two FTs put it at 8-6 as the first subs came in around the 16-minute mark.

Josiah-Jordan James hit a mid-range jumper from the far side of the floor, and Tennessee took a 10-6 lead into the under-16 timeout.

Tobe Awaka scored his first bucket under the hoop after the timeout, and Auburn’s KD Johnson hit a couple FTs to cut UT’s lead to 12-9. Three-straight Tennessee turnovers slowed the offense., the final of which was a lazy, backcourt pass from Aidoo that was intercepted and led to two more free throws and made it a one-point game at 12-11.

The offense went nearly three minutes without a basket and was kept afloat by FTs from Aidoo and Awaka. Zakai Ziegler turned the ball over twice by overdribbling and got taken out of the game around the 13-minute mark. Still, the Vols took a 16-13 lead into the under-12 break. At this point, UT had missed five-straight shots — none of which came from Dalton Knecht.

As soon as I mentioned that, Knecht pulled down a defensive rebound, took the ball across half court and drilled a deep 3. Auburn’s Johni Broome answered right back with a 3 of his own.

Aidoo got blocked on a layup attempt he should have dunked, and Auburn made an and-1 layup, the foul of which Knecht’s second. Knecht responded with another 3 at the other end. An empty Tiger possession led to a Knecht layup and his eighth-straight point before Barnes took him out with that second foul.

The Vols’ sixth turnover came on a moving screen by JP Estrella at the seven-minute mark, but Auburn responded with its own eighth turnover the next trip down the court. Auburn hit a 3, and another Estella turnover, this one off an offensive rebound as the offense went three-ish minutes without a field goal. Aidoo ended the streak with a free-throw jumper to put UT’s lead back to 28-24 with five minutes left until half.

Zakai turned the ball over for his fourth time of the game on a flubbed pick-and-roll attempt, but Auburn turned around and threw the ball out of bounds on its next possession to give UT the ball back after the under-four broadcast break. Ziegler was 0-2 from the field with two made FTs, four assists and four TOs through 16 minutes of the first half.

An Auburn 3 pulled the Tigers within one point with two-ish minutes left, and Awaka missed the front end of a one-and-one chance to give the Tigers a chance to take the lead.

Jordan Gainey hit his first 3 of the game off a Zeigler dribble-drive kick out to the far corner to put the Vols up four with under a minute until halftime. Those were Gainey’s seventh points in just seven minutes of playing time. Auburn answered with its own 3 from Johnson giving UT the ball for the final shot of the half. Zielger drilled an off-the-dribble 3 with the clock running down, and Tennessee went into half leading 44-40.

Tennessee opened the second half on a 5-0 run, including another Ziegler 3-pointer.

But Auburn went right back on its own 5-0 run. Johni Broome hit a layup and picked up Aidoo’s third foul. Broome missed the layup, Auburn got the rebound and missed an open 3.

The Vols missed an open layup on the other end and a Tiger fast-break bucket made it a two-point game at 51-49. UT held a nine-point lead just minutes earlier.

The two teams went back and forth down the court with the Vols missing 2-10 from the field, before UT doubled Johni Broome and Broome hit an open man in the corner for a 3. UT missed the front end of a one and one, and the Tigers hit an and-1 layup to take a 59-54 lead.

By the 12-minute mark, the refs called 16 fouls in the eight minutes since halftime. During the first half, they called 18 fouls total. Knecht hit a 3 to make it a 63-58 game, but Awaka picked up his fourth foul directly after with Aidoo already on the bench with three fouls.

Knecht hit two FTs for his 19th and 20th point around the 10-minute mark, and Broome hit one of two at the charity stripe on Auburn’s next possession. Knecht answered with a game-tying 3, but the Tigers went down and drilled a 3 of their own.

Ziegler hit his third 3 to tie the game back up at 69, and the Tigers turned it over on their subsequent possession. Knecht hit an absolutely silly pull-up jumper from 20-something feet on the near court, giving him 29 points, but then he picked up his third foul on Auburn’s next trip down the floor.

Knecht scored, again, on another mid-range jumper, Auburn committed a foul and the Vols led 73-70 at the 7:33 mark.

Dalton gave the Vols a 79-75 lead with a driving dunk, giving him 20 of UT’s last 24 points.

He missed one of two FTs when Bruce Pearl picked up a technical foul, but the Vols led 80-77 with 4:32 remaining.

Knecht’s 37th points came on a driving layup — going left — after he navigated his way past a double team, and Auburn followed with an empty possession. Aidoo hit a bucket at the rim on the Vols’ next possession and Tennessee led 84-77 with under three minutes left.

Dalton hit another layup driving to his left for his 39th points, giving UT a six-point lead. Auburn didn’t answer, then Knecht threw up a 3 that missed everything but the backboard and Santi snagged the rebound and laid it up to put Tennessee up eight, 90-82.

Ziegler hit four free throws in the last minute to ice the game.

Knecht finished with 39 points on 12-21 shooting, 5-8 from 3 and 10-12 from the free-throw line. 27 of his points came in the second half and 25 of those came somewhere inside the final 7-8 minutes.