Matt McMahon breaks down Zakai Zeigler's impact on Tennessee's fast start

Plenty of players in Tennessee’s lineup are difference makers in their own respective ways. Still, G Zakai Zeigler remains as important as any of them on Rocky Top, both in the eyes of his team and of their opponents.

Matt McMahon shared his thoughts on Zeigler’s impact, specifically early on, during his postgame press conference after the 88-68 loss for LSU in Knoxville. He sees him as a top-notch floor general based on how he has continued to play for the Volunteers. That was further evidenced by how he ran the show against the Tigers, especially since he was making shots.

“Well, he is a terrific point guard,” said McMahon. “We all know the importance and value of elite point-guard play. You saw how he played on Saturday in Lexington. Really carried that over to tonight.”

“We were late on some closeouts to him and he hit some big threes,” McMahon said. “Just does a great job of organizing their team and getting the ball where it needs to go. And, then, when he is shooting it well from three? It makes him a really difficult cover because of his speed and quickness off the bounce.”

Zeigler finished with 17 points, third most behind Dalton Knecht and then Jordan Gainey off the bench, by shooting 6-9 (66.6%) from the field and 3-6 (50%) from three. He also posted a game high of nine assists and a career-high tying five steals in 36 minutes of action.

This comes a game after Zeigler put on another major performance inside Rupp Arena against Kentucky. He tied a career-high against the Wildcats with 26 points while also setting a new career-best in assists with 13.

Combine the two games versus the Wildcats and Tigers and his 22 overall assists makes for the most by any player in the Southeastern Conference over a two-game span in regulation in six years.

Through 22 games as a junior, Zeigler is now averaging career highs with 10.8 points and a team-best of 5.5 assists on 41.8% shooting. He is also knocking down 34.5% of his threes while getting 1.9 steals per contest as the Volunteers’ leader in that department as well.

For all the options on the team in Knoxville, Zeigler still remains as their heartbeat out on the floor. His team’s opponents know it as well as they do too, especially considering the praise of coaches such as McMahon following his outings such as this one.

Zeigler: ‘Every game we’ve got to bring it’

Tennessee had the opposite of a letdown at home against LSU following their massive, 11-point road win over Kentucky last weekend. They dominated from the opening tip to win by 20 and improve to 7-2 in conference play.

After the smoke settled and the Volunteers picked up their 17th victory, SEC Now caught up with one of the stars of the game in G Zakai Zeigler. He shared a few thoughts on his performance and how his team was able to avoid a flat performance.

“I just say I’m playing really well,” said Zeigler. “My teammates have confidence in me. Coach Barnes and all the coaches have confidence in me and they instill it in me every day. My teammates told me I’m the best guard in the country and to go out there and believe it. That’s how I feel like I’m going out there and playing right now.”

“Coach Barnes told us that we had to have that same type of energy. We can’t just be a one-hit-wonder type of team and he put it on the leaders. He told me, Santi (Vescovi), Josiah (Jordan-James). He called us out and told us every game we’ve got to bring it. We can’t have no let-ups and let one go just like we did in South Carolina.”