Tennessee’s Chaz Lanier Isn’t Dalton Knecht, But No One Asked Him to Be

It seemed like an impossible task. The 6-foot-6 Knecht, a graduate transfer from Northern Colorado, had put together a monster season, averaging 21.7 points and shooting 39.7 percent from three-point range. Knecht racked up six games of 35 points or more and wound up filling his trophy case — SEC Player of the Year, Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year, first-team All-American, and the Riley Wallace Award as the nation’s top transfer.

Assistant coach Rod Clark remembers his first thought when Barnes put in his request for another shooter who could take over games the way Knecht did.

“There’s no way,” he told Hoops HQ. But it turned out Clark knew of a guy. Like Knecht, 6-foot-5 grad transfer Chaz Lanier, who’s from Nashville, had gone largely unnoticed as a high school player. He would up at North Florida, where he sat behind more experienced players before finally getting his chance in 2023-24.

Lanier made the most of it, averaging 19.7 points, shooting .440 from behind the arc and leading the nation in points per possession. He was the only player in Division I to post a 50/43/87 shooting split and the only one to shoot at least 43 percent from three with at least 3.3 makes per game. Like Knecht, he wanted to test his game against a higher level of competition, and he wanted to be pushed like Barnes pushed Knecht, who eventually became the No. 17 pick in the first round of the NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Lakers.

Lanier was a highly coveted prize in the portal — at least two power conference schools offered seven-figure NIL deals. But Lanier wanted to play his final season in his home state, and he wanted to be coached by the demanding Barnes. The deal has worked out for both.

“I think I’ve had a pretty good season,” Lanier says. “I’ve grown in a lot of different areas that I planned to come in and improve. Coach has been amazing in helping me develop. You have to have tough skin to play for coach Barnes, but he just wants to bring out the best in you. When he stops coaching you hard, that’s when you’ve got to worry.”

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Lanier hasn’t put up quite the insane numbers Knecht did, but the Vols wouldn’t be the No. 2 seeded team in the NCAA Tournament’s Midwest Regional without him.

The Tennessee staff found out quickly Lanier was an even better shooter than Knecht. Barnes puts his players through a shooting gauntlet called the “K.D. Drill.” Yes, so named for Kevin Durant, who Barnes coached at Texas. The drill requires the Vols to shoot from seven positions behind the arc and make nine of 10 at each. Fail to do that, and it’s back to square one.

In the preseason, Lanier breezed through the K.D. Drill twice.

Knecht never could finish it.

Tennessee’s opponents also learned in a hurry what Lanier could do. The Baha Mar Championship in the Bahama last November was his coming out party. He scored 26 points on 6-of-12 three-point shooting against Virginia in the first round and then toasted Baylor with 25 points, including 7 of 8 from three. Lanier made his first five shots from behind the arc in that game.

Lanier started Southeastern Conference play with the same impact, scoring 29 points against Arkansas in his first league game. He willed the Vols to a huge win at Texas A&M with 30 points, scored 23 points in a win over Mississippi State and 19 in in an improbable win over Florida when the Vols were playing without All-American point guard Zakai Zeigler and starting four-man Igor Milicic.

Lanier became public enemy No. 1 in the SEC as game plans were built to stop him. Barnes spent most of the season trying to get Lanier, who’s a good finisher at the rim, to drive more and take advantage of the off-ball screens his offense utilizes. It’s been a slow process, but Lanier has been as good as the Tennessee staff could have hoped.

Lanier earned first-team All-SEC honors and the league’s first newcomer of the year award, which Knecht would surely have bagged last year. He’s averaging a team-high 17.7 points and etched his name in the program’s record books; he’s just the third player in history to make more than 100 3-pointers in a season. With 110, he’s got a shot at hallowed ground —Tennessee legend Chris Lofton’s school record is 118.

Lanier should cut into Lofton’s lead on Thursday night, when the Vols take on 15^th-seeded Wofford in an NCAA first-round game.

Barnes couldn’t be more pleased how Lanier’s played this season. He’s not Dalton Knecht, but he was never supposed to be.

“He’s secure in who he is,” Barnes says. “We never said to him you need to come in and take Dalton’s spot. We told him [being a go-to scorer] is the role we need you to play. Defensively he’s done a terrific job. He’s gotten better all year and really gotten better the last three weeks.”