Tennessee basketball picked up a much-needed win Saturday at Thompson-Boling Arena against No. 20 Illinois.

Tennessee is now 6-3 on the season after downing Illinois, 86-79. Dalton Knecht led the way in scoring with 21 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block and 1 steal, but Josiah-Jordan James may have had an even better day, totaling 12 points with 6 rebounds, 7 assists and 1 steal.

Santiago Vescovi filled up the stat sheet as well, finishing with 12 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals in perhaps his 2nd best game of the season.

Vols fans know how badly Tennessee needed that. The Vols have played a grueling schedule this early non-conference season, falling to Purdue, Kansas and North Carolina while beating Illinois, Wisconsin and Syracuse. All 3 losses have come by 9 or less points.

And this one was hard-earned. Illinois entered Saturday’s contest as the No. 2 rebounding team in the country according to KenPom, but the Vols outrebounded the Fighting Illini 43-34.

Tennessee struggled to hit shots at the end of the first half into the opening minutes of the 2nd half, which gave the Illini a lead heading into the half. But Zakai Zeigler and Jahmai Mashack turned up the intensity on defense out of the break, in turn fueling the Vols’ offense to an impressive 2nd half run.

The Illini took some time to go away, though. Tennessee’s Zakai Zeigler and Co. were forced to put the game away with some clutch late free throws. Zeigler finished 6-6 from the charity stripe and all 6 attempts came in the final 3 minutes.

The Vols are back in action this Tuesday against Georgia Southern.