Rick Barnes explains sitting Zakai Zeigler with two fouls in No. 6 Tennessee's 76-75 loss at Vandy

NASHVILLE — Rick Barnes said he never considered putting Zakai Zeigler back in the game with two fouls in the first half Saturday afternoon, as Vanderbilt was extending its lead on No. 6 Tennessee before the break. 

Zeigler left the game after fouling on a Vanderbilt 3-point attempt with 7:10 left in the first half. The Vols got outscored 20-9 without the senior point guard on the floor, committing three turnovers and failing to make a shot from the floor for nearly six minutes. 

“No, because I mean, I thought we could stay there,” Barnes said after Tennessee’s 76-75 loss.

There, as Barnes referenced, was down two points, 37-35, with 3.5 seconds left in the first half when Jahmai Mashack fouled Vanderbilt’s Tyler Nickel on a 3-point shot. Nickel made the shot and the free throw, giving Vandy a 41-35 lead and all the momentum at halftime after the four-point play.

Up Next: No. 6 Tennessee vs. No. 15 Mississippi State, Tuesday

Barnes kept circling back to that sequence, instead of the foul count on Zeigler.

If you think about it, it ended, what was the score at halftime?” Barnes asked. “We were down six. It was a two-point game. We were there and switched for no reason and then fouled a 3-point shooter. And if (we) hadn’t switched, we had the coverage we wanted.

“But again, we just switched for no reason and gave a terrific shooter a wide-open shot and we fouled him.”

Zeigler played 13 of the 20 minutes in the first half, then played all 20 minutes in the second half before picking up his third foul with four seconds left. He finished with 16 points, 10 assists, three rebounds and three turnovers.

“We weren’t going to risk that,” Barnes said of playing Zeigler with two fouls, “because I thought (if) we were able to just hold it right there (at a two-point game). Again, we had that defensive lapse and it and hurt us.”

Chaz Lanier scored a team-high 17 points for Tennessee (16-3, 3-2 SEC) but missed what would have been a game-tying free throw with 2.8 seconds left, after making the first to get the Vols within 76-75.

Lanier had a layup blocked at the rim after a drive with five seconds left, looking to tie the game after Tennessee’s frantic rally from down 16 points midway through the second half. 

Vanderbilt went on a 12-0 run early in the second half to turn a 41-40 lead with 18:39 left — after Igor Miliic scored the first five points after halftime — to a 53-40 lead just two minutes later. 

“Give (Vanderbilt) credit,” Barnes said. “It’s still about us. We’ve still got to improve and we can get so much better, but we’re going to have to do it.”

‘I thought Zakai’s 3-point foul was ridiculous, that he would put himself in that situation’

Tennessee has work to do on the 3-point line, where fouling shooters was already far too common before Saturday’s game. The two fouls on 3-pointers in the first half on Saturday being committed by seniors only made matters worse. 

“We could have stayed right there with them,” Barnes said, referencing again Mashack’s foul on the final defensive possession of the first half. “But again, it was just a simple defensive play that we didn’t handle. I mean, it was just no reason for it. And there was never a reason to foul a three.”

There was no reason for Zeigler to pick up his second foul on a corner three, either. 

“I thought Zakai’s 3-point foul was ridiculous,” Barnes said, “that he would put himself in that situation. I mean, he fouled. He can’t do that. I mean, you’re talking about two seniors that, and I love them to death, we can’t foul 3-point shooters. 

“And we’ve done it too much this year. And today we did it and those four points are huge. And it’s just we can’t do that.”