Tennessee shows its mettle in road win over Wisconsin

It’s WAY early, so let’s not get too carried away just yet. However, in an admittedly small sample size, Tennessee has looked exactly like the basketball team that many Vol were hoping to see this season following tonight’s 80-70 win on the road at Wisconsin.

College basketball is a long, long season. A lot is going to happen between now and March. Players and teams are going to change, get better, get worse. And it’s impossible to draw any concrete conclusions after just two games.

With all that hedging out of the way, let’s just say it. Tennessee looks as good as just about any fan could have hoped and Dalton Knecht looks better.

Knecht carved Wisconsin up for 24 points tonight on 8-of-15 shooting and he was clutch. He scored nine points in the final 10 minutes of the game after Wisconsin had cut the Vols’ lead down to three points.

His three point play off of a driving baseline drive with 7:33 to play that put Tennessee up 62-56 was one of the biggest plays of the night.

“I mean, he’s effective offensively. You guys know that, you have seen him play,” Barnes said of Knecht. “He played a lot of minutes (team high 36). And offensively, he’s a very talented player.

“I thought his teammates really helped him tonight. They said, hey man, we know what you do on the other end, you’ve gotta help (on defense.

Tennessee signed Knecht to be a scorer after he led the Big Sky Conference with a league best 20.2 ppg average last season.

Two games into his Tennessee career it’s safe to say he’s exceeding expectations. Not only have Tennessee fans instantly fallen head over heels in love with him, he’s quickly become a guy that college basketball insiders in the media are absolutely gushing over.

He’s now led the Vols in scoring in both games to start the season after going for 17 in the opener against Tennessee Tech.

Knecht has been so good that he’s overshadowed the very welcome contributions of fellow transfer Jordan Gainey.

Gainey had 10 points off the bench tonight after having 14 in the opener. He’s shooting 50% from three-point range (4-of-8). He’s also shown that he’s more than just a long-range shooter, totaling five assists in two games and proving that he’s a capable and willing defender.

Regardless of the sport, when you dip into the transfer portal you’re looking for immediate help. It feels like Tennessee has hit a home run with these two additions.

Adding that duo is also a big reason that the Vols’ depth is going to be a strength of this team. Tennessee had 23 bench points tonight compared to just eight for Wisconsin.

Knecht in particular, and Gainey to a certain degree because he’s a new face, are getting tons of attention right now, and deservedly so.

But I thought two of the most encouraging things for Tennessee in the win are what you saw from Josiah-Jordan James and the production the Vols got out of the post tandem of Jonas Aidoo and Tobe Awaka.

James quietly had 14 points tonight on 4-of-8 shooting while going 5-of-7 at the line. Some of those free throws were late and clutch, but I thought what you had to like the best about James’ game was how he put the ball on the floor and aggressively got to the rim where he either converted or drew a foul.

It felt like he showed more of a willingness to do that as well as a penchant for being successful at it than we’ve seen from him previously.

James also added six rebounds, tying for second on the team, and that’s significant. James’ ability to do work on the glass and defend in the paint while playing the four is key for the kind of line-up flexibility Barnes wants to work with.

No one is surprised that Awaka grabbed six rebounds in just 12 minutes of floor time. But the six points he scored—all in the second half in CRUNCH time—was a little unexpected.

Awaka had a huge bucket off an offensive rebound and put-back that made the Vols’ lead 59-54 after Wisconsin had cut it to three.

A few possessions later Barnes went so far as to actually call a set for Awaka (unthinkable a year ago) and the sophomore rewarded the decision with a nifty bucket in the paint.

“I thought Tobe’s buckets were huge. I thought they were really big,” Barnes said. “I thought he gave us a lift, obviously rebounding the ball and I told the coaches we gotta get him in the game more. And we actually tried to isolate him and let him go at it because we’re gonna need him to do that.”

Tennessee is absolutely loaded on the perimeter to the point where they can sustain an off night or even an injury, but that’s not the case in the post where Awaka and Aidoo are likely going to need to show up every night.

Aidoo turned in a fantastically efficient performance tonight, scoring 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting to go with seven rebounds and four blocks. He altered or affected at least twice as many shots and it’s hard to appreciate just how much his length can impact opponents at or near the rim.

Knecht stole the show with his scoring tonight, and that’s totally understandable, but there’s a lot to like about this Tennessee basketball team in the early going.

The Vols are deep, they’re experienced and just maybe, they’ve got the offensive firepower they’ve been lacking to pair with a defense that’s been elite for years now.

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