Dalton Knecht scored 13 of his team-high 21 points in the first seven minutes of the second half to spark No. 17 Tennessee to an 86-79 nonconference victory over No. 20 Illinois on Saturday afternoon in Knoxville, Tenn.
All five starters scored in double figures for Tennessee (6-3), which limited Illinois to 35.4 percent shooting from the field and improved to 1-3 against ranked opponents. Jonas Aidoo posted 14 points and seven rebounds, Santiago Vescovi contributed 12 points and nine rebounds, Josiah-Jordan James added 12 points and seven assists and Zakai Zeigler had 11 points.
Quincy Guerrier paced Illinois (7-2) with a season-high 22 points. All-American candidate Terrence Shannon Jr. scored nine points in the final two minutes to reach 22 points as well, but he hit just 5 of 16 field-goal attempts. Marcus Domask, who scored a career-high 33 points on Tuesday against Florida Atlantic, managed just six points on 2-of-11 shooting.
Illinois entered the day with the nation’s 11th-most efficient defense according to KenPom.com, but the Volunteers scored on 10 of their first 12 possessions to seize a 21-15 lead at the 13:57 mark of the first half.
The Volunteers couldn’t maintain that pace as they scored just six points over the final 10 minutes of the half, which included a scoreless stretch of over four minutes. Near the end of that dry spell, Illinois took its first lead, 31-30, on Guerrier’s 3-pointer with 4:33 left in the half.
While Tennessee frequently attacked the paint, Illinois relied almost exclusively on 3-pointers during the first half — taking 20 of its 32 shots from beyond the arc. Luke Goode’s 3-pointer from the wing with 20 seconds left gave Illinois a 36-34 lead at the break.
The Illini increased their lead to 39-34 early in the second half, but then Tennessee started running its offense through Knecht. He stacked up 13 points in less than five minutes by scoring in multiple ways — backing down his defender in the post, driving for a finger roll, hitting a 3-pointer, sinking free throws — to stake Tennessee to a 50-44 lead with 13:43 to play.
The Vols gradually pushed their lead to as much as 12 with 7:04 to go as Jahmai Mashack came off the bench to contribute nine points while slowing down Shannon defensively.
–Field Level Media
