Zakai Zeigler on Tennessee's No. 1 ranking: 'We're ducking no smoke. We're ducking no competition.'
There wasn’t much different in the Tennessee Basketball locker room on Monday. The Vols had just moved up to No. 1 in the rankings, but there was no celebration taking place.
“Everybody came in,” Zakai Zeigler said on Tuesday night, “we had little smirks on our faces. We were happy about it, but we know the end goal.”
The goal is to be No. 1 in April, not December. But Tennessee (9-0) will take it, with the program off to its best start under Rick Barnes.
The Vols matched the 2000-01 team’s 9-0 start with a 75-62 win over Miami in the Jimmy V Classic Tuesday at Madison Square Garden. The next mark they can aim for is the 11-0 start that the 1999-2000 team had.
But it’s all just numbers. It’s all just the result of the process.
“I’ll just say our work that we put in every day, we take our work very serious,” Zeigler said. “We take practice very serious. Take our individual (work) very serious, weight training, everything.”
Tennessee ranked No. 1 for third time in program history
The Vols got some help, too. A lot of it.
Tennessee was ranked No. 3 last week. Then No. 1 Kansas lost. Then No. 2 Auburn. Then No. 4 Kentucky. Then No. 5 Marquette.
That all cleared the path for the Vols to take over the No. 1 spot for just the third time in program history and the second time under Barnes.
But the veteran head coach both acknowledged those circumstances while talking to his team Monday night and also spun it forward. If Tennessee is going to be ranked No. 1, the Vols might as well play like it. They might as well meet the challenge head on.
“We moved up because the teams in front of us lost,” Barnes said. “ … We lose, somebody’s going to move up here and all that. But I said, while you’re there, you guys have a chance to play as the No. 1 team in the country tonight and we should embrace it. And if you embrace it, you look forward to the challenge that’s coming your way.
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“Because with college basketball, everybody building for the NCAA Tournament, everybody is building resumes. But if we are who we think we are and who we want to be, you embrace it. You say we expect your best shot. They’re going to give it to us.”
Up Next: No. 1 Tennessee at Illinois, Saturday, 5:30 p.m. ET
Tennessee handled that shot against Miami. Now the Vols go on the road to face Illinois on Saturday in a 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time start on FOX. The target will be much bigger inside a hostile road environment at the State Farm Center in Champaign.
Just like Tennessee’s players had a smirk on Monday, they now know they have a target on their backs on Saturday. And for as long as they have that No. 1 by their name.
“Honestly,” Zeigler said, “we just noticed that the bullseye on our back got bigger. The work we put in everyday, we want everybody to have their A-game, and play their best game against us. So once we knew we were No. 1, now we’re really going to get everybody’s best shot.”
Tennessee’s senior point guard isn’t backing down. He’s not about to let his teammates back down, either.
“We’re ducking no smoke,” Zeigler said. “We’re ducking no competition. And we do that every day. We go at it every day like we don’t know each other in practice.
“So once we see that No. 1 ranking, it’s just like, ‘oh, yeah, now it’s really on.’”
