Tennessee rules out Igor Milicic against Florida due to illness
No. 8 Tennessee has ruled out senior forward Igor Milicic for Saturday’s game against No. 5 Florida (Noon Eastern Time, ESPN) at Food City Center. Senior point guard Zakai Zeigler was ruled out with a right knee injury Saturday morning, leaving the Vols with seven scholarship players available for the game.
Jordan Gainey is starting in place of Zeigler and Darlinstone Dubar is starting for Milicic, alongside Chaz Lanier, Jahmai Mashack and Felix Okpara.
Milcic did not practice Friday afternoon because of the illness and was not seen during on the floor before Saturday’s game, leaving the Vols with seven scholarship players. He was removed from Saturday morning’s SEC injury report, meaning he was thought to be available to play, after being listed as probable Friday night.
Zeigler suffered the right knee injury late in the first half of the 78-73 loss to No. 12 Kentucky Tuesday night in Knoxville, despite Zeigler playing all 20 minutes in the second half against the Wildcats.
Rick Barnes on Friday had no concerns over Zakai Zeigler’s knee injury
Head coach Rick Barnes said before practice Friday afternoon that he had no concerns with Zeigler’s knee injury. Zeigler didn’t practice Thursday or Friday.
“My gut feel is, knowing him, that he’ll be ready to play,” Barnes said.
“No (concern),” Barnes added. “Not at all. Not one bit.”
Milicic had a game-high 19 points in the loss against Kentucky, going 6-for-10 from the floor and 4-for-8 from the 3-point line. He had gone 6-for-21 fro three over his previous six games.
Milicic is Tennessee’s fourth-leading scorer this season, averaging 10.4 points per game, and is the team’s leading rebounder at 8.1 per game.
“I thought he was relaxed,” Barnes said of Milicic after the loss on Tuesday. “I liked both he and (Darlinstone Dubar’s) demeanor. I really did. I thought they settled down and played, and I thought honestly, they should have probably taken more threes.”
Top 10
- 1
Rick Pitino
New sheriff in Big Ten?
- 2
Ryan Day
Buyout revealed from new contract
- 3
UNC president
Belichick hire fall out
- 4
'I'm 1-0 vs. PETA'
La. Gov. defends LSU live tiger
- 5
2025 CFB odds
Key game point spreads
Get the On3 Top 10 to your inbox every morning
By clicking "Subscribe to Newsletter", I agree to On3's Privacy Notice, Terms, and use of my personal information described therein.
Zeigler is having a career year, averaging 12.3 points, 7.4 assists and 3.5 rebounds. He finished with 13 points, six assists and four rebounds in a team-high 35 minutes against Kentucky.
Vols started the season with 11 scholarship players
Tennessee started the season with 11 scholarship players, out of a possible 13, and since then have lost sophomore wing Cameron Carr to a midseason transfer and sophomore forward JP Estrella to season-ending foot surgery.
Tennessee’s other ball-handling options behind Ziegler most notably include Jordan Gainey and Bishop Boswell. Gainey scored 18 points in the second half at Illinois in December while playing 18 minutes at point guard in the second half, after Zeigler was sidelined with four fouls.
Boswell is averaging 3.6 minutes per game and played four minutes Tuesday against Kentucky, his most since playing a season-high 11 at Florida on January 7.
Barnes said Friday that Boswell needs to continue to play the way he did against Kentucky to earn more minutes.
“Played really hard,” Barnes said. “I thought he was a real bright spot. I thought he went in and his effort was what we needed and if he’ll continue to do that and take care of the ball, he’ll get more minutes.”
