Tennessee awaiting update on the status of Zakai Zeigler after win over Arkansas

Tennessee basketball is awaiting further evaluation for the left knee injury suffered by Zakai Zeigler early in the first half of the 75-57 win over Arkansas Tuesday night at Thompson-Boilng Arena. The sophomore point guard went down with a non-contact injury with 17:06 left in the first half after driving baseline.

Zeigler crumpled in pain and was carried off the floor by team trainers. He did not put any weight on the injured left leg while being taken off the court.

“We knew when he laid down like that, it was serious,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said during his postgame radio show, “… him being (down) like that, I’m concerned”

Santiago Vescovi stepped into the point guard role and scored 14 points and Olivier Nkamhoua added 16 points and seven rebounds to lead Tennessee to a 75-57 win over Arkansas in yet another shorthanded performance.

The Vols (22-8, 11-6 SEC) got 11 from Josiah-Jordan James and eight from Jonas Aidoo. Tobe Awaka had seven points and eight rebounds and Jahmai Mashack scored six points and had five assists. Julian Phillips scored seven points to go with five rebounds and three assists while making his return from a hip injury.

“Really proud of them,” Barnes said of his team. “We’ve dealt with a lot of adversity this month, we really have. We thought we were getting rolling then things come up. I think because of that, I said it I think the last game or the game before, this team has shown a lot of resiliency. They really have. I don’t think at any point in time they stopped believing in whatever guys we have available, they’re going to find a way to grind it out.”

Rick Barnes: Zakai Zeigler ‘is such an unbelievable, wonderful person’

Tennessee does expect graduate-transfer shooting guard Tyreke Key to be available for Saturday’s game at Auburn.

Zeigler opened the scoring for Tennessee with a layup then added an assist on a Nkamhoua dunk before suffering the injury. Barnes said he spoke with Zeigler at halftime, after addressing the team.

“He is such an unbelievable, wonderful person,” Barnes said. “He had been crying as you would imagine. He was hurt. It is tough …  it is just the way he has grown as a point guard and a leader.”

Tennessee has dealt with injuries all season with James missing 12 games with knee soreness and an ankle sprain, Vescovi missing three games with a shoulder injury and Phillips missing four and a half games with a hip injury.

James made his return Saturday in Tennessee’s 85-45 win over South Carolina, scoring 18 points in 21 minutes off the bench. Phillips made his return early in the first half Tuesday against Arkansas, while Key missed his second straight game.

Up Next: No. 12 Tennessee at Auburn, Saturday, 2 p.m. ET, ESPN

Zeigler is Tennessee’s second-leading scorer, averaging 11.0 points per game. He leads the Vols in assists, with 161 through 30 games, and steals, with 59. He recorded his fifth double-double of the season in the win over South Carolina on Saturday.

Barnes said it will be a committee approach at the point guard spot without Zeigler. Vescovi, James, Phillips and Mashack all shared ball-handling responsibilities against Arkansas.

Obviously, we won’t rely on one person to do it as much, which is fine. 

“We will get Tyreke back (against Auburn),” Barnes said. “We need him to get back. We know what he is capable of. We will do it I guess by committee if that is how you look at it but we have always kind of done that the last couple years.”