Rick Barnes addresses how Tennessee must adjust after Zakai Zeigler injury

Looking for further NCAA Tournament resume ammunition, Tennessee started off hot against Arkansas but quickly saw a Zakai Zeigler injury that could change the course of the entire season.

The savvy sophomore point guard left the game after his left knee buckled on a play on the baseline. Tennessee is left without its best distributor, with Zeigler ruled out for the game.

“It’s going to make other guys do some things that they haven’t done a lot of, that’s what it really gets down to,” coach Rick Barnes told an SEC Network broadcast crew. “But you know what? We’ve gone through so much adversity the last couple weeks with injuries. We think, hey, whoever’s got to go do something is going to go do it and we’ll find a way to get through it.”

Still, it’s hard to overstate Zeigler’s importance to the team. He makes it run.

The sophomore had averaged 11.0 points, 5.5 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game this season. Still, Tennessee managed to get out to a 34-25 halftime lead on Arkansas.

That impressed Barnes.

“Well I really thought with what happened with Zakai, you just feel like something wasn’t good,” he said. “But I’m really proud of our guys. I thought they really fought. We put some guys out there that haven’t practiced very much together lately.”

Barnes gave his assessment on how things went in the first half following the Zakai Zeigler injury as the teams went to their respective locker rooms.

“I thought defensively we stuck pretty well to our gameplan on the defensive end,” Barnes said. “Offensively not as smooth as we want to be, but they’re a good defensive team too. They’re really taking away cuts and jumping into heavy gaps. Both teams are kind of gapping it and taking away a little bit of everything.”