Knecht could be Tennessee basketball's next 40-point man | Mike Strange
One of these nights, Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht might fool around and score 40 points. He’s flirted with it a couple times already.
UT’s list of 30-point scorers in a game is extensive. Scoring 40, that’s where the club gets exclusive.
Only 10 Vols have accumulated 40 or more points in a game. Bernard King did it five times, Tony White twice.
So that’s 15 total 40-point outings out of 2,787 games the program has played (at this writing). It’s happened but once in the past 34 seasons.
Here, in chronological order, is a history of the Vols’ 40-point scorers.
“Lum” Reeder, Jan. 17, 1914: In UT’s sixth season, the game wasn’t far advanced from the peach basket era. Reeder, a Knoxville product, burst onto the scene scoring 41 points in a 49-16 victory over Maryville College.
Carl Widseth, Feb. 25, 1956: The only Minnesotan to play at UT, Widseth scored 47 points in a 91-87 win at Auburn.
He ranks 10th in career scoring with 1,683 points and got fouled a lot. Widseth’s 848 free-throw attempts remain a school record.
Ron Widby, March 3, 1967: Widby broke Widseth’s single-game record, scoring 50 points in an 87-60 win over LSU. One game later, the Vols clinched the SEC title and Widby was named SEC player of the year.
Widby makes a case for UT’s best athlete ever with eight letters: three in basketball, three in football, one in baseball and one in golf. He scored 1,432 career points, averaging 18.1 per game.
Bernard King, 1974-75: The greatest debut by any Vol, King dumped 42 points on Wisconsin-Milwaukee in his first college game.
One month later, King scored 40 in a rout of Vermont. At Georgia, King, still a freshman, torched the Bulldogs for 42 in a 105-69 victory.
Ernie Grunfeld, Jan. 10, 1976: The Vols’ final visit to Kentucky’s Memorial Coliseum – Rupp Arena opened the next year – was a doozie. Grunfeld scored 43 points in a 90-88 overtime win.
That’s not the whole story. Grunfeld, an excellent free-throw shooter, twice “volunteered” himself to the free-throw line after a teammate was fouled – and got away with it. First, he hit two free throws after Irv Chatman was fouled. Then he subbed for King and hit two more.
When the subterfuge was pointed out, UK coach Joe Hall called it “premeditated conspiracy.” Ray Mears called it “gamesmanship.”
King, Jan. 17, 1976: One week after Grunfeld’s big game, King got 43 in a 93-84 win over Florida.
King, Feb. 26, 1977: Even 41 points from King weren’t enough to get the Vols a win at Georgia. He would have just three games left at UT.
Tony White, Dec. 30, 1986: White scored 49 points in a 91-90 loss to Florida State in the Citrus Bowl Red Lobster Classic in Orlando. Widby’s record survived.
White, Feb. 14, 1987: This time White passed Widby, scoring 51 in a 103-84 win over Auburn, one of the last games played at Stokely. He did it despite an 11-minute scoring drought in the second half.
Dyron Nix, Nov. 25, 1988: Nix opened his senior season with 40 against Tennessee Tech. He led the SEC in scoring as a junior and in rebounding as a sophomore.
Allan Houston, Feb. 10, 1990: Houston scored 43 in a 119-113 loss to LSU but didn’t take honors. Chris Jackson got 49 for the Tigers in what is still the highest-scoring game in Thompson-Boling Arena history.
Grant Williams, Jan. 23, 2019: To get his 43 points in an 88-83 overtime win at Vanderbilt, Williams had to establish a school record by making 23 of 23 free throws. And, yes, they were all his.
Mike Strange is a former writer for the News Sentinel. He currently writes a weekly sports column for Shopper News.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Dalton Knecht and Tennessee basketball's 40-point players
