Zakai Zeigler details what sparked second half comeback for Tennessee vs. Vanderbilt

Zakai Zeigler and Tennessee woke up in the second half to take down Vanderbilt 81-76 with an epic comeback.

Zeigler finished the game with 22 points but Tennessee was in a whole. At halftime, the No. 5 team in the nation trailed 44-31 and it looked grim in Knoxville.

But a message from head coach Rick Barnes got Zeigler and the boys going in the final 20 minutes.

“Oh, we had some mistakes early on in the game,” Zeigler said on SEC Network postgame. “And you know, the way we started the game, we can’t do that, especially myself, being one of the leaders on the team. Going into the locker room, coach Barnes said some things. You know, I feel like that lit a fire under us. Coming out in the second half, we knew we had to come out with a different type of energy.”

Chaz Lanier aided the cause with 21 points, eight rebounds and one assist in his own right. But Zeigler remembered he was the point guard and had to make things happen for everyone.

He finished with eight assists in the game.

Zakai Zeigler speaks about Tennessee comeback

“Being the point guard of this team … I just got to play well,” Zeigler said. “And if I feel like it doesn’t matter if I’m shooting the ball well. It really matters if I’m running the team and just taking care of the ball.”

As far as the halftime message from Barnes, Zeigler summed it up in his own way.

I’ll put it in shorter terms. I just feel like, you know, some people don’t respect us all the way. And you know, we heard that. I feel like we all looked at each other in the locker room, we was like … We got to show everybody (why the need to) respect us more. And we went back out there (and we were like), we’re gonna earn our respect right now.”

With the win, Tennessee is set up nicely for next weekend in a pivotal conference matchup. As it stands now, the Vols are No. 5 in the country and they’ll take on No. 8 Texas A&M.

Zeigler and company will have a week to prepare for a big time atmosphere and make sure they don’t put themselves in a first half hole.