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Tennessee

Rick Barnes raves over play of Zakai Zeigler

Barkley-Truaxby:Barkley Truax•01/29/23•

BarkleyTruax

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KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE - JANUARY 03: Zakai Zeigler #5 of the Tennessee Volunteers celebrates a three point basket against the Mississippi State Bulldogs in the first half at Thompson-Boling Arena on January 03, 2023 in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Eakin Howard/Getty Images)

No. 4 Tennessee sped past No. 10 Texas 82-71 at home Saturday afternoon behind a Zakai Zeigler double-double. Playing all but three minutes in the contest, Vols head coach Rick Barnes couldn’t say enough good things about his point guard after the game.

“He’s got to be right there with the very best point guards in the country when you think about what he does night in and night out, consistently doing it and learning the position as he goes through with it,” Barnes said postgame. “Defensively, he does it. Always asking him how are you feeling, he says, ‘I’m fine coach.’

“The fact is, he’s distributing the ball. … Z got a little excited and turned it over, I think they scored six-straight points off turnovers that we were trying to force too much. What he’s learning how to do is make his teammates better, which is the sign of a point guard — Zakai becoming a point guard and understanding that’s his job. He’s finding a way to make his teammates better on the offensive end.”

Zeigler finished with 22 points and 10 assists in the win. The performance saw Zeigler score 20 or more points for the second time in four games, while notching his second double-double in three games as well.

The Texas win improved Tennessee to 18-3 overall this season, and earned the Vols their fourth-straight victory.

They’ll hop right back into SEC competition next week tied for second place with Texas A&M (7-1) in the conference standings behind the 8-0 Alabama Crimson Tide. Alabama is wounded after a blowout loss to Oklahoma Saturday, so seeing Tennessee surpass the Tide in the near future in the stadnings is a real possibility if the Vols can keep their hot streak going.

Tennessee will be back in action Wednesday night on the road inside Exactech Arena to face the Florida Gators. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET live on ESPN2.