The Associated Press released its two All-SEC teams on Tuesday morning with a pair of Tennessee basketball players landing on the teams.
Super senior shooting guard Chaz Lanier was a First Team All-SEC selection while senior point guard Zakai Zeigler landed on the second team. The AP flipped the voting from the coaches on Tuesday. The SEC’s 16 coaches voted Zeigler on the first team and Lanier on the second team.
Lanier spent just one season at Tennessee after transferring in from North Florida this offseason. The 6-foot-4 shooting guard is averaging a team-best 17.9 points on 40.5% shooting from three-point range. He added 3.9 rebounds per game this season and has totaled four-plus rebounds in his last 11 games.
The SEC’s coaches voted Lanier the SEC Newcomer of the Year in the inaugural year of the award. The sharp shooter wasn’t quite as good in SEC play but was still effective, averaging 16.7 points on 36.5% three-point shooting while grabbing 4.6 rebounds per game. Over the course of the season, Lanier scored 20-plus points 12 times including six times in SEC play.
Zeigler enters the postseason averaging 13.1 points, 7.5 assists, three rebounds and 1.9 steals per game. The senior point guard was even better in SEC play, averaging 14.1 points, seven assists and 2.1 steals per game.
It’s the second straight season that Zeigler has been a First Team All-SEC selection by the league’s coaches but a second team selection by the AP.
Tennessee was the only team that had two players on the two All-SEC teams with Auburn, Alabama, Florida, Texas A&M, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Missouri and Texas all having one player on the All-SEC teams.
The Vols open up postseason play later this week at the SEC Tournament in Nashville. The Vols earned a double-bye to the quarterfinals where they’ll face one of Texas, Vanderbilt or Texas A&M.
Here’s a look at the two All-SEC teams and a few other honors
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First Team
Walter Clayton Jr, Florida
Mark Sears, Alabama
Chaz Lanier, Tennessee
Tre Johnson, Texas
Johni Broome, Auburn
Second Team
Josh Hubbard, Mississippi State
Wade Taylor IV, Texas A&M
Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee
Collin Murray-Boyles, South Carolina
Mark Mitchell, Missouri
