Tennessee basketball is in the midst of one of its best four year stretches in program history. They won the SEC Tournament in 2022, made the Sweet 16 in 2023, won the SEC Regular-Season Championship and made the Elite Eight and sit at 17-2 and No. 6 in the AP Poll in late January.
The biggest common denominator in that four-year stretch is Zakai Zeigler. The Long Island native’s gone from spark plug scorer off the bench to one of the best pass first point guards in the country.
In the process, he’s seemingly become one of Rick Barnes’ favorite ever players.
“Zakai Zeigler has impacted this program in four years in a way that nobody in their wildest imagination (expected),” Barnes said at the Big Orange Tipoff on Thursday. “In ways that you can’t even imagine. He’s been a fighter his whole life. He’s been told he’s too small. He can’t do this. He can’t do that. And he, I don’t care what anyone else thinks, I know what he thinks.
“To have him every day do what he does, is an incredible blessing that God gave me. Because I don’t know if I’d still be doing it, I’ll be honest with you. I don’t. Because of him, he makes me enjoy practice every day.”
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It’s not the first time that Barnes has made a similar statement. The 10th-year Tennessee coach called Zeigler his “security blanket” earlier this month and also talked about how difficult it is going to be without Zeigler.
“I don’t know why I actually woke up the other morning (and) thought about Z being a senior,” Barnes said. “I don’t know if I’d still be doing it, I’ll be honest with you. I don’t. Because of him, he makes me enjoy practice every day.”
Barnes it notoriously tough on his point guards and Zeigler has become a trusty veteran for Tennessee and a calming force for his head coach.
A reigning First Team All-SEC selection and SEC Defensive Player of the Year, Zeigler is averaging 12.2 points, 7.6 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game this season.
The elephant in the room surrounding Barnes’ foggy vision of his coaching future without Zeigler is that the 5-foot-9 point guard is a senior.
There is a possibility that the NCAA could pass a rule that provides all athletes five years of eligibility this spring but it’s unclear whether it will pass in time for current fourth-year basketball seniors to take advantage of it. If it does, Zeigler will likely return for a fifth college season but if not then he’ll be moving on to professional basketball.
Perhaps the most telling remark Barnes made at the Big Orange Tipoff was the one about Zeigler making practice fun. Barnes has long said that he’ll continue to coach until he isn’t excited to show up to practice every day.
Tennessee will be back in action on Saturday night when they head on the road to face No. 1 Auburn at Neville Arena. Tipoff is at 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.