Ever since Tennessee coach Rick Barnes and his assistant coaches first laid eyes on Zakai Zeigler, they knew they were getting a tough customer. It was July of 2021, and the Vols coaches were at the Peach Jam, scouting players for 2022 and beyond. They weren’t looking for a point guard because they already had incoming five-star freshman Kennedy Chandler to handle the position.
But the 5-foot-10 Zeigler, who had come to the tournament just hoping to earn a Division I scholarship, caught their attention with his aggressive play. Zeigler also stood out because of a bandage on his head, the result of a violent collision between his skull and the court, suffered while diving for a loose ball in a morning session game. A lesser player might have called it a day, but after getting stitched up, Zeigler was back for the afternoon session. Dude was on a mission.
For Barnes, it was love at first sight.
“We had a scholarship,” Barnes tells Hoops HQ. “You always try to look for a project, maybe save a scholarship for a developmental kid. We loved the way Z played — with intensity, just creating havoc. So we signed him.”
It didn’t take long — this despite Zeigler missing all of summer workouts and not joining the team until August — for Barnes and his coaches to realize Zeigler wasn’t a project, that he would challenge Chandler for minutes or even play alongside him.
“Day one in practice,” says former Tennessee assistant Michael Schwartz, now the head coach at East Carolina. “I’ll never forget it. We threw him in there during five-on-five drills. He has no idea of what we’re doing but just gets by watching and listening to what the coaches tell him. Man, how he competed. We could see his ability to make plays on both sides of the ball. He went right at Kennedy. The team came to half court at the end of practice, and coach Barnes says, ‘Give it up for our guy Z.’ Everybody felt it right away.”
That first practice was a harbinger of things to come. Zeigler, about to begin his final season, averaged around nine points and three assists as a freshman. The next year, after Chandler left for the NBA, Zeigler started at the point and was playing at an All-SEC level until late-February of 2023, when he tore the ACL in his left knee. No one will ever know, but Zeigler’s injury might have cut short Tennessee’s NCAA Tournament trip that year. Thee Vols lost in the Sweet 16 to the one team Barnes feared most in the South Regional, guard-dominated FAU.
This injury was no bonk on the noggin, but Zeigler was determined to not miss a minute of the 2023-24 season. He attacked his rehab like he would an opposing ball handler, and was in the lineup by the Vols’ first game. If he had any reservations about testing his knee, he told no one, and it wasn’t apparent in his play.
Picks Against the Spread: How to Bet a Wild Wednesday Slate of Games
Who should you bet on today?“I didn’t think he would come back and pick up where he left off,” Barnes says. “But I still had it in the back of my mind he might fool us all.”
Overshadowed by the herculean effort of his comeback was the fact that Zeigler was still learning his position. In a December game against eventual Final Four team N.C. State, the Wolfpack didn’t guard Zeigler because they were afraid of him getting into the paint or shooting from the midrange. Barnes and his staff moved quickly to make corrections.
“He had to start shooting better percentages at the rim,” says Tennessee assistant Rod Clark. “You can’t be an efficient scorer shooting 37, 38% at the rim. Regardless of his size, he had to become a better finisher. So we helped him develop a floater, and coach Barnes told him to start shooting jumpers from the elbows. All of a sudden, he starts drawing more attention.”
And with that extra attention, Zeigler’s assist totals rose. He wound up leading the SEC in assists for the second consecutive year and helped the Vols advance one step farther in the NCAA Tournament, where they lost to Purdue in the Elite Eight. Zeigler earned All-SEC honors and was voted by the coaches as the league’s defensive player of the year.
Now Zeigler—the undersized, unwanted point guard who has become a folk hero in Knoxville—is hoping to lead a revamped team even farther into the NCAA Tournament. The portal brought him a new backcourt partner, North Florida transfer Chaz Lanier, who last season led the nation in points per possession; pick-and-roll lob threat 6-11, 250-pound Felix Okpara, formerly of Ohio State; and two versatile veterans who can play multiple positions, make 3s and finish at the rim—6-10 Igor Milicic (12.8 ppg, 8.5 rpg at Charlotte) and 6-8 Darlinstone Dubar (17.8 ppg, 6.8 rpg at Hofstra).
Zeigler, who set the Tennessee career record for assists and double-doubles (five) in a 54-day span in the 2022-23 season, has become a consistent double-figure dime dropper. With all the weapons around him, he’s thinking big. No one in the program would be surprised if he led the nation in assists.
“That’s the goal,” Zeigler says. “We’ve got another great team with a lot of shooters and guys who can go up and get the ball [on lob passes]. “On a team like this, it’s my job to run the show and be a playmaker.”
Barnes compares Zeigler to some of the best point guards he’s coached in the past. Yes, T.J. Ford is among them.
“He’s right there with all of them,” Barnes says. “He’s got toughness. Competitive spirit. Cardio toughness. Mental toughness. He’s got the whole package. He’s not afraid of anybody.”
Chris Dortch is the editor and publisher of Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook.
