KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A University of Tennessee Men's Basketball player is taking home an award given to the top transfer across the U.S., according to a release from Tennessee Athletics.
It said Dalton Knecht was the recipient of the 2023-2024 Riley Wallace Award, named after the former head coach at Centenary and Hawaii who welcomed several transfers. He eventually became the winningest coach in school history, leading the team to nine postseason appearances as well as three NCAA Tournament bids.
Knecht is the tenth player to ever receive the award, ever since it started in 2015. The recipient is decided by a ten-member voting committee, consisting of current and former head coaches. Two senior staff members at CollegeInsider.com are also on the committee, according to the release.
Knecht is the eighth-leading scorer across the U.S. at 21.7 points per game and has the third-highest scoring average among Power Six players, the release also said. He also counted six 35-point games this season — two more than any other player in the country and the most in a campaign in Tennessee history.
Knecht is from Thronton, Colorado, and was the fourth Vols player to earn consensus First Team All-America status. He is also the eighth transfer at any school in the NCAA Tournament era to do so in his first year competing at a new program.
Knecht is a fifth-year guard who stands 6'6" tall and weighs around 213 pounds, and helped steer Tennessee to its 11th SEC regular season crown.
"He scored 780 points on the year, the second-most in a campaign in program history," the release said.
