Tennessee Basketball’s Zakai Zeigler Says He’ll Return Against Missouri

Photo By Andrew Ferguson/Tennessee Athletics

Tennessee point guard Zakai Zeigler plans on returning to the court on Wednesday night against Missouri, Zeigler shared on the Volunteer Club Locker Room show Sunday night.

Asked when he’ll return to the court, Zeigler made his intentions quite clear.

“I’m good. I’ll be back next game. Simple as that,” Zeigler said on the show.“I’ll be back. Yeah, I was a little banged up and it was bothering me. Had some like, number stuff that was going on with the strength coach. It was a little off and I was in some pain, but I’ll be back next game.”

The senior point guard suffered a knee injury late in the first half of Tennessee’s loss against Kentucky on Tuesday night. He returned and played the entirety of the second half but then missed the Vols’ Thursday and Friday practices and was not able to go against No. 5 Florida on Saturday.

Zeigler suffered the knee injury driving hard to the basket and falling to the ground while drawing contact and a foul late. He quickly popped up and speedily limped straight past the Tennessee bench and all the way up the tunnel towards the Vols’ locker room.

Following Tennessee’s win over Florida, Barnes said that Zeigler had a MRI on Friday night that revealed no structural damage to his knee. That was major and important news for Tennessee as they now look to get their star point guard back in the fold as soon as possible.

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Despite not playing, Zeigler was hard to miss during the Vols’ game against Florida. Dressed in sweats, Zeigler stood at the end of the bench the entirety of the game and was very active coaching and cheering on his teammates.

“I mean, it got to me the day before a little bit, that I couldn’t play in the game,” Zeigler said. “And like going through all the film sessions and everything, like the night before it was a little like bothering me something, (that) I might not play. And then being out there, I was just like, I got to just take it on the chin. There’s nothing I can really do at this point and I just got to have my brothers’ back because I know they’re going to go out there and do whatever they could do.”

Tennessee used a dominant defensive effort to beat Florida 64-44 on Saturday without Zeigler. The Vols used the one-game boost that teams often receive without a key player. But playing without him will become harder and harder if he continues to miss time.

The Vols have an extra day to get ready as they return to the court on Wednesday night against a strong Missouri team. After going winless in the SEC a season ago, Missouri is 18-4 (6-2 SEC) and sit in third place in the conference standings here at the halfway point.

Dennis Gates squad also bolsters a strong backcourt with guards Tamar Bates and Caleb Grill each averaging over 13 points per game.

Tennessee basketball’s Tuesday practice will be open to the media and the Vols will post their first injury report on Tuesday night. Both of those things will give us a good gauge at the likelihood that Zeigler will return against the Tigers.

Tipoff between Tennessee and Missouri is at 7 p.m ET on Wednesday night at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center. The SEC Network is broadcasting the game.

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