Florida Gators

What Happened

Fifth-year grad-transfer guard Dalton Knecht scored a career-high with 39 points, grabbed eight rebounds and was the offensive counterpart to Tennessee's trademark defense, as the sixth-ranked Volunteers did a wire-to-wire number Tuesday on the Florida Gators with an 85-66 win at Thompson-Boling Arena in a game that was moved up two hours due to a blizzard that hit town Monday. Knecht, the 6-foot-6 transfer from Northern Colorado, made 13 of 23 field-goal attempts, four of six from distance and all nine of his free throws over 32 minutes, at one point scoring eight consecutive baskets on his way to 22 first-half points when the Vols were kicking in their blowout. Forward Jonas Aidoo had a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds, as UT shot 52 percent for the game and won the glass 44-37. The loss was UF's third in four Southeastern Conference games to start the season and a seventh straight in Knoxville, dating to the 2016 season. The game turned in Tennessee's favor early, with runs of 8-0 and 7-1 helping push the Vols ahead by a dozen at 24-12. After that, it basically was Knecht versus the Gators. He hit his team's next eight field goals on the way to going 9-for-10 from the floor in the period, including 3-3 from the arc, and staking the Vols to a 44-32 lead at the break. The lead grew to 20 four minutes into the second half. The Gators managed to cut it in half, at 59-48 with just under 13 minutes left, before a UT 9-0 run, with seven points from Knecht, took it back out to 19 with less than 10 minutes to play.  UF was led by junior guard Walter Clayton Jr., but the Gators were held to a season-low point total, shot just 29 percent for the game and were completely stymied as far as ball movement in finishing with just seven assists. The Gators hit only five of 22 from the 3-point line (22.7 percent). 

What it Means

UF is winless in three road games this season and now 0-5 in Quadrant 1 opportunities, per the NCAA Evaluation Tool, including 2-19 the last two seasons. Yeah, it's early in the '23-24 campaign, but the Gators will be no better than tied for 11th in the conference standings by night's end. 
 

In the Spotlight

Knecht (pronounced "Connect") starred at Northeastern Junior College in Colorado for two seasons, then transferred to Northern Colorado, where he was an All-Big Sky Conference standout. He grad-transferred to UT last spring and is now averaging 27.8 points on 57-percent shooting from the floor and 61.5 from the 3-point line. Knecht had 35 in UT's win Saturday over Georgia, so make that 74 points in two games. His previous career-high was 37 earlier this season in a loss to North Carolina. 
 

Staggering Statistic

The seven-game road losing streak at Tennessee equals the longest for Florida at one SEC venue since Kentucky beat the Gators seven straight from 1999-2005.  
 

Up Next

Florida (11-6, 1-3) heads back on the road, this time to even colder place, with a date against Missouri (8-8, 0-3), which heading into a Tuesday night game at Alabama was still looking for its first league victory. Tennessee (13-4, 3-1) is home against Alabama.