Is Dalton Knecht playing today vs St. Peter's? Tennessee guard's availability for first-round game explored

The No. 2 seed Tennessee Volunteers (24-9) have a secret weapon in Dalton Knecht as they open their NCAA tournament against the No. 15 seed the St. Peter's Peacocks (19-13). The SEC regular season champions have exited the NCAA Tournament before the Sweet 16 in the past five editions, an unwanted tag.

Will Dalton Knecht play tonight against St. Peter's?

On the day that he became a consensus All-American, Tennessee ace Dalton Knecht is available for the game against the Peacocks.

Tennessee Coach Rick Barnes challenged the rest of his team to step up and help Dalton Knecht since he will get plenty of attention as the reigning SEC (Southeastern Conference) Player of the Year.

“Obviously he would be a No. 1 target for a team getting ready to play us,” Barnes said (via AP News). “We need him to do what he does, but we need his teammates to do what they need to do to help him.”

Bashir Mason, the St. Peter's coach, praised Knecht's way of playing at his pregame news conference.

"That kid always has his foot on the gas, and he's trying to score, putting pressure on the defense," Mason said (h/t Yahoo Sports). "You've got to be ready to defend him for 40 minutes, 30 seconds, the entire game."

Dalton Knecht stays focused

The Tennessee Volunteers were highly favored to be a No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tournament before two damaging defeats dropped them to a No. 2 seed and caused jubilant Vols fans to worry.

The Volunteers lost their regular season finale against the Kentucky Wildcats 85-81 before dropping the SEC quarterfinal game 73-56 against the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

Before the game against St. Peter's, Knecht spoke about his first Big Dance appearance and summarized the precarious situation facing the Vols in the NCAA Tournament.

“It's been real cool. I'm trying to take it all in because it's my first March Madness. My teammates will be there, make sure that the team's locked in, all of us that haven't made it or are gonna be the first ones. It's gonna be make sure we're in check. So we're gonna be fine,” Knecht said (h/t 247 Sports).

"We need to be -- we're gonna be more competitive, especially because we know it's win or go home and this could be our last game. We definitely don't want that to happen. So we're gonna come out ready to fight and be the aggressors,” Knecht added.

Should they win against St. Peter's, Dalton Knecht and crew have the chance to play against the No. 10 Colorado State or the No. 7 Texas for a place in the Sweet 16 and a chance at redemption for Rick Barnes' team.