Rick Barnes Asked For More From Zakai Zeigler. He Delivered At Kentucky.

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Zakai Zeigler played his worst game in months in Tennessee’s loss against South Carolina Tuesday night. Tennessee coach Rick Barnes met with Zeigler one-on-one earlier this week. But he didn’t want to talk about Zeigler’s poor performance.

“In all honesty, I told him that I thought he had to change his demeanor,” Barnes said on Saturday night. “I told him, I think he’s one of the best point guards in the country. But I told him, the whole team at some point in time, I can’t be the only guy getting on guys.”

Zeigler responded the right way in practice and then responded with the best performance of his college career. The junior point guard totaled 26 points on 11 field goal attempts and dished out a career-best 13 assists to just two turnovers as No. 5 Tennessee led wire-to-wire in a 103-92 victory over No. 10 Kentucky at Rupp Arena.

Tennessee’s coaches and players emphasized coming out fast against a Kentucky team that can hit any opponent right in the mouth. Zeigler drilled a three-pointer on the first possession and set the tone for the rest of the game.

The junior point guard set the tone the same way in practice after the South Carolina loss. Barnes, who admittedly is “relentless” on players with his attention to detail, needed a player to step up and be hard on his teammates. He turned to Zeigler.

“He’s used choice words that I can’t use in front of you guys,” Tennessee senior Josiah-Jordan James said of Zeigler. “But he’s been a really, really good vocal leader for us the last couple of days. We know moving forward that we’re going to have to have him and other guys step up in that way just to hold each other accountable.”

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Barnes thought Tennessee’s players were being too easy on one another. There was plenty of encouragement but not enough accountability when things went wrong.

“I said, ‘we can’t be a team that when we’re down saying to each other, we’re good, we’re good when it’s not good,'” Barnes said. “I said, we’ve got to be transparent. … He did a great job where he took it on himself. Said, ‘Hey, I’m the guy that’s supposed to be driving this car, and I’m going to make sure that guys are doing what they’re supposed to do when they’re supposed to do it and if not, I’m going to let them know about it.

Zeigler took Barnes’ message the right way and knew that Tennessee needed what his veteran coach was asking for.

“I just took it on the chin and took it as he has a lot of respect for me and that he trusts me with the older guys to keep them under control and stuff,” Zeigler said.

As a college junior, it’s hard to be the bad guy that’s telling your friends hard truths. But it’s those close relationships that make Zeigler comfortable getting after his teammates.

“We’re more cool off the court with each other than anything,” Zeigler said. “Those guys have trust in me and I have trust in them. If we say anything or there’s anything crazy, even if we were to get in a fight— which none of us do that— even if we were to get in a fight it would be that and (then) it’s over that.”

Zeigler’s play did as much talking as anything else Saturday night. The 5-foot-9 point guard made all five shot attempts he took in the first half and eight-of-11 for the game. His 13 assists were the most for a Kentucky opponent since 1993.

The 5-foot-9 guard turned in a display of point guard brilliance that you’ll have a hard time finding in college basketball this season. He sent a sold out Rupp Arena crowd home upset and propelled Tennessee to a massive win following Tuesday night’s letdown.

“I thought he was terrific,” Barnes said.