Rick Barnes analyzes Zakai Zeigler's improvement through this season

As Tennessee prepares for an NCAA Tournament run as the No. 2 seed in the Midwest Region it’ll do so knowing it has point guard Zakai Zeigler healthy and firing on all cylinders, a luxury it didn’t have a year ago.

Last season Zeigler suffered a torn ACL at the tail end of February, sidelining him for the postseason and leaving the Vols without their veteran captain in the backcourt.

It took a little while for Zeigler to get going this season, playing reduced minutes for the first several games of the season as he got back into the swing of things.

But he’s been himself for quite a while now.

“I do think, and someone asked me last week when did I feel like Zakai was back, and I said I thought during the second half of the North Carolina game I thought he was really pressing, trying to do way too much,” coach Rick Barnes said. “But I thought the second half of the North Carolina game was when he found himself.”

Zeigler scored nine points and dished out seven assists in the loss to the Tar Heels, but he played a season-high-tying 28 minutes in the contest. From there, the minutes were really opened up.

He’s regularly played 30-plus minute since then. And he’s been back to his electric self.

“Since that time I think he’s really had a couple halves that is not characteristic of him, and only one game I can think of where I didn’t think he was very good from start to finish,” Barnes said. “But he’s improved so much. Seeing the game. I think he’ll continue to do that as he moves forward.”

Zakai Zeigler is averaging career highs virtually across the board this season. He’s at 11.9 points, 5.8 assists, 2.7 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game.

He’s been the engine that keeps things operating smoothly in a backcourt that features one of the nation’s elite scorers in Dalton Knecht. But in many ways, Zeigler is the heart and soul for Tennessee.

Barnes is only really worried about one thing when the NCAA Tournament opener against Saint Peter’s rolls around.

“I mean think about where he was a year ago at this time and where he is today,” Barnes said. “He’ll be, I’m going to have to make sure he’s not overly amped up because I know he’s going to be excited to get out there and go after it.”

Zakai Zeigler and Tennessee will take on Saint Peter’s at 9:20 p.m. ET on Thursday, with a national broadcast set for TNT.