Knecht, Aidoo assistance In March Madness, Tennessee, ranked second, defeats Saint Peter’s, ranked fifteenth.
AP/CHARLOTTE, N.C. Dalton Knecht of Tennessee pushed the ball during a transition, got bumped by a Saint Peter’s defender, and scored a layup before the whistle went up. He tripped over a baseline cameraman upon landing, but he contorted to get back up and landed in a form that was worthy of a superior pushup.
It was too much for the Volunteers. Overly profound. Furthermore, they refused to give the Peacocks the slightest chance for another outstanding March Madness run.
On Thursday night in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Tennessee defeated Saint Peter’s 83-49 thanks to Knecht’s 23 points and a 64% first-half shooting percentage.
For the No. 2 seed in the Midwest Region, Jonas Aidoo scored 13 of his 15 points by halftime.
Tennessee (25-8), the SEC regular-season champion, lost both its SEC Tournament matchup with Mississippi State and its regular-season finale to Kentucky. However, there were no indications of the glitches from some recent March mishaps, paving the way for coach Rick Barnes and his former Texas program to reunite in the second round.
“When we went back on the court and went to work, they did respond,” Barnes stated. Simply put, I’m proud of them. They were highly concentrated on the tasks at hand.”
In the opening eight minutes, Tennessee jumped out to a double-digit lead, then utilized a 9-0 run to extend the lead above 20 points. Just before halftime, Tennessee’s lead reached 29 points.
Regarding the period before the game, Barnes remarked, “We kept trying to tell them to have fun.” “We’ve worked hard to be here.”
The Volunteers allowed 91.2 points per 100 possessions, which placed them third in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency rankings. And they were suffocating, contesting shots early and taking full control of the glass with their powerful frames (47–21).
After being selected as a first-team All-American by The Associated Press earlier this week, Knecht finished with eight rebounds and four 3-pointers, including a 3-pointer on a catch-and-fire inbounds pass in the opening 20 seconds of play.
The Vols were getting clean or point-blank looks all the time, while Saint Peter’s was having trouble knocking down much. The Peacocks (19–14) had little chance of answering. Aside from Corey Washington, who was averaging 16.8 points but only managed two on 1-for-9 shooting, Tennessee also clamped down on him.
Coach Bashir Mason remarked, “Man, those guys are good,” as soon as he took his seat for the news conference following the game.
Saint Peter’s, which made history two years ago as the only No. 15 regional seed to make it to a regional championship, was led by Latrell Reid, who scored 17 points. Despite a nearly full roster and coaching change, the intention was to recapture some of that magic against the Volunteers, but the Peacocks let this one slip away quickly as they missed 17 of their first 20 attempts.
“It’s like playing yourself, but like 3 inches taller,” added Reid. It’s somewhat unique. Windows shut down a bit quicker. They make you pay for your mistakes every time.”
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Saint Peter’s: With victories over Murray State, Purdue, and Kentucky during that 2022 run, the Peacocks broke brackets. Having been picked 10th out of the 11 teams in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, they weren’t expected to return to March Madness this year. However, after upsetting Quinnipiac, the regular-season champion, in the MAAC Tournament semifinals, they defeated Fairfield to win the championship and earn just their fifth NCAA trip. This time, however, there would be no Cinderella tale as Saint Peter’s shot only 4 of 24 from 3-point range and 29.1% overall.
Tennessee: Under Barnes, the Volunteers’ postseason record has been erratic, with five NCAA defeats to lower seeded in a row. Tennessee, which has just twice made it to the second weekend despite always holding at least a No. 5 seed, lost four of those games against teams that were at least five seed lines below than them. There was no worries with this one, as the Vols handling business with ruthless efficiency expected in a 2-vs-15 matchup.
AIDOO’S BURST
The five-foot-11 Aidoo had a fast start, following Knecht´s 3 with a pair of quick dunks. He added a third slam moments later, putting a little extra swing and kick while hanging on the rim after being futilely fouled from behind by Mouhamed Sow – a play that had Mason say to Sow from the sideline simply: “Why?”
“For me, it was just saying aggressive at all times,” Aidoo stated. “Coach preached that to me a lot, so I was just really staying aggressive with that.”
MY DISGRACE
Reid was ejected with 49 seconds left for picking up his second technical foul for what he said was jawing with a Tennessee player. He was called for his first technical for some words with Tennessee’s Jordan Gainey in the first half.
Reid apologized for getting ejected at the news conference.
“I’m a competitor, and I didn’t mean for it to get the best of me today,” said Reid.
Next up
The Volunteers have faced the Longhorns twice in Barnes’ tenure in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, losing on the road in January 2022 but winning the home matchup the following year.
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