Rick Barnes: Zakai Zeigler will play 'limited minutes' in season opener vs. Tennessee Tech

Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said Sunday night during an appearance on ‘The Nation’ radio show that Zakai Zeigler will play in Monday’s season opener against Tennessee Tech at Thompson-Boling Arena. The junior point guard has been out since suffering a torn ACL in February. 

Barnes during the interview also noted that the Vols could still will be shorthanded after transfer guard Jordan Gainey missed practice Sunday after recently becoming ill.

“We haven’t yet got to put the whole team together,” Barnes said. “We were hoping tomorrow will be the first time, and certainly it will be limited minutes for Zakai. But Jordan Gainey today wasn’t feeling well, missed practice.”

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— Zakai Zeigler (@Realzakaiz) November 6, 2023

No. 9 Tennessee and Tennessee Tech are scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time start Monday. The game can be seen on SEC Network+.

Injuries plagued the Vols during the preseason. Freshman forward JP Estrella missed time with a fractured finger and freshman wing Cameron Carr and sophomore forward Tobe Awaka both missed time while in concussion protocol. Carr and freshman Cade Phillips both missed time this summer with shoulder issues, too.

Zakai Zeigler last season: 10.7 points, 5.3 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 1.9 steals

Fifth-year guard Santiago Vescovi missed both the exhibition win at Michigan State and the home exhibition win over Lenoir-Rhyne after flying home to Uruguay to be with his family and ailing grandmother. He returned Tuesday and rejoined his teammates in practice on Wednesday.

Without Zeigler and Vescovi, the Vols got a combined 48 points from Northern Colorado transfer wing Dalton Knecht (28) and Gainey (20) in their unofficial debuts in the 89-88 win at Michigan State last week.

“The fact is,” Barnes said, “I’ve told people that have asked me that if Santi and ‘Z’ would have played in the game against Michigan State, I don’t know they would’ve scored 48 points between them. But I do know this: We would’ve been more physical defensively. And probably offensively, in ways, we would’ve been a more physical team.”

What Barnes said he’s excited to see, or begin to learn, is what this Tennessee team looks like when it is fully healthy and is playing games that count.

“I think we’re all anticipating what is it going to look like?” he said. “Because what we want to do is have a sustainable effort where we can continue to be relentless in pursuit of the ball, pushing the ball defensively, running cutters off, all that. You can’t do that until you start playing games, you can’t. So we’re going to wait and see just how we build this thing going forward.”

Up Next: No. 9 Tennessee vs. Tennessee Tech, Monday, 6:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network+

Zeigler tore his ACL early in a win over Arkansas on February 28, in Tennessee’s final home game last season. He had surgery two weeks later, just before the start of the NCAA Tournament. 

Before the injury Zeigler was averaging 10.7 points, 5.3 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game. Barnes said he attacked the entire rehab process just like he attacks the game on the floor.

“I think if you asked our trainer Chad Newman and our performance coach Garrett Medenwald, I think they would tell you there’s not been a more model athlete working his rehab,” Barnes said. “I mean, when it happened, he was four and a half, five hours a day in there trying to do whatever had to be done.

“He actually changed his shot a little bit, tweaked it a little bit,” Barnes continued. “Every day we tell those guys you’ve got to get better, you have to find a way, some way, some how, to get better as a team. But the way you do that, individually you get better each day, it’s going to come over to the team side and help us all. 

“Zakai, even though he was injured, he made himself a better basketball player. But from a guy that you could not expect anybody to do anymore than what he did through this rehab period.”