Kentucky on Zakai Zeigler's viral middle finger photo at Rupp Arena: "It's cute."

Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee Basketball | Saul Young/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images — (Saul Young/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images) Tennessee's Zakai Zeigler (5) tries to get to the basket while guarded by Kentucky's Otega Oweh.

You know Zakai Zeigler and his impact on the Volunteers, a staple of that program for four years now as his career in orange and white comes to a close. Going into his final March Madness of college basketball, the 5-9 guard and his Tennessee team were sent to Lexington for the opening weekend, earning wins over Wofford and UCLA to advance to the Sweet 16.

Before leaving Rupp Arena, Zeigler thought it was a good idea to flip the bird to a University of Kentucky logo on his way out — captured by Nashville photographer Erin Powers.

Needless to say, the photo has since gone viral, Big Blue Nation getting its hands on it.

Thank you. @KentuckyMBB pic.twitter.com/ptyUs9L2Ij
— Kentucky Gameday (@TheKYGameday) March 26, 2025

It’s not just the fans, though. The Wildcats have seen it, too — and they have some thoughts.

“It’s cute when you got a team like that who hasn’t beaten us in how long?” Amari Williams told KSR. “You’re gonna be mad, but we don’t really care about it. They can do whatever. We’ll be ready on the court.”

“Yeah, I have seen it. It just gives us a little bit more motivation,” Lamont Butler added. “We’re just going to go out there and have fun — we’re not too worried about it. We just have to go out there and play.”

Making a statement on the floor on Friday is the priority, not getting bent out of shape about a picture. Zeigler can flip their team off in their home gym, but Kentucky has a chance to send Tennessee home and end his career this week.

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That’d be the sweetest response of all.

“That’s definitely something. We’re just focused on us, we’re going to do what we do,” Trent Noah said. “We want to let what we do on the court do our talking and play our game of basketball.”

“We try not to focus on that, we just try to focus on the game. The game is played on the court, so we don’t want to focus on that now,” Travis Perry added. “People can do what they want, but we’re going to play the game of basketball.”

Collin Chandler had nothing to say about it at all. Instead, he’s just excited to get to the opening tip.

“We did see the picture. No comment on it,” he told KSR. “We saw it, we’re ready.”

Friday. 7:39 PM ET. Indianapolis. Lucas Oil Stadium.

That’s all that needs to be said.