Rick Barnes reveals what changed for Zakai Zeigler vs. Kentucky

Behind a massive performance by junior guard Zakai Zeigler, No. 5 Tennessee put up a season-high 103 points in its road victory over No. 10 Kentucky on Saturday.

Zeigler tied his career-high with 26 points, but put on a clinic with his passing skills with 13 assists. The Wildcats had 17 total assists on the night. Vols head coach Rick Barnes revealed that he recently spoke with Zeigler in the hopes of switching that gear in his veteran guard. If his performance against Kentucky is any indicator — it seems Barnes has gotten through to him.

“I told him that I thought he had to change his demeanor. I think he’s one of the best point guards in the country,” Barnes said after the victory. “But I told him, and the whole team at some point in time, ‘I can’t be the only guy getting on guys.’ You’ve got to do that because I am relentless in terms of details and those type of things. We can’t be a team that when we’re down saying to each other, ‘we’re good, we’re good’ when it’s not good. We’ve got to be transparent and [the team was] at practice yesterday.”

Before the Kentucky game, Zeigler was going through a bit of a slump. After averaging 20.3 points per game during Tennessee’s first three SEC games, he scored 27 total points across the next four games leading up to Saturday’s matchup inside Rupp Arena.

His season-low scoring performance of two points in 32 minutes during Tuesday’s loss to South Carolina seems like a lifetime away after Saturday.

“The last two days, he did a great job where he took it on himself,” Barnes continued. “He said, ‘Hey, I’m the guy that’s supposed to be driving this car, and I’m going to make sure that guys are doing what they’re supposed to do when they’re supposed to do it and not, I’m going to let them know about it.’ So tonight I thought he went through a stretch a little bit where he was trying to do a little bit too much. Overall, I thought he was terrific.”

Now, Tennessee sits in sole possession of third place in the current SEC standings and 1.5 games back from Alabama. The Vols will host LSU this coming Wednesday but as of this report, they will not face another team ranked in the AP Top 25 until Feb. 28 against No. 16 Auburn.