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Zakai Zeigler did more than just play the full 40 minutes at Mississippi State

IMG_3593by:Grant Ramey•01/19/23•

GrantRamey

STARKVILLE, Miss. — Zakai Zeigler wasn’t gasping for air or bent over, trying to catch his breath Tuesday night. Instead, with his back to a locker stall, showered and changed into his Tennessee basketball team-issued sweats, the sophomore point guard looked refreshed.

He said he was ready to run it back. 

“I’m good,” Zeigler said after leading No. 9 Tennessee to a 70-59 comeback win at Mississippi State. “I’m not tired. I could go play again right now.”

Zeigler never left the floor at Humphrey Coliseum, playing the full 40 minutes — the first Tennessee player to do so since Jordan Bowden at Missouri in January 2020 — while scoring a career-high 24 points.

He was the only option at point guard for the shorthanded Vols (15-3, 5-1 SEC) who were without senior guard Santiago Vescovi (shoulder) and Tyreke Key (illness).

Zakai Zeigler in second half at Mississippi State: 16 points, 5-6 FG, 4-4 3FG

After committing five turnovers early in the first half, Zeigler shook off the sloppiness to score 16 of his 24 points in the second half, going 4-for-4 from the 3-point line after halftime. He added six rebounds, four assists and three steals in his final stat line. 

Vescovi was out after aggravating his left shoulder early in the loss to Kentucky Saturday in Knoxville. He suffered a shoulder sprain in the shooting shoulder last month, sidelining him for two games.

Key went through shoot around Tuesday morning, but wasn’t feeling well at the time and got a temperature he couldn’t shake later in the day at the team hotel.

“We knew Zakai was going to have to play a lot of minutes,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said. “We told him you can’t get in foul trouble.”

Barnes told Zeigler around 20 minutes before tipoff that he was back in the starting lineup. He had been coming off the bench since Barnes publicly benched him following a sloppy start in the loss to Colorado at Bridgestone Arena in November, when Zeigler committed two turnovers in the first two minutes. 

“When they said I might have to play 40 minutes,” Zeigler said, “I was just like, ‘okay.’”

He had five turnovers in the first 12 minutes Tuesday night at Mississippi State, including three in a span of 76 seconds. But there was no quick hook from Barnes, with no other usable options in the bullpen. 

“I was letting the game get to me too much,” Zeigler said. “I was just being too fast and not being myself. I wasn’t composed.”

Eventually Barnes told Zeigler just to shoot the ball. A deep three early in a possession beats a turnover later in the shot clock. 

“We told him,” Barnes said, “you come off these ball screens or you come off these money sets, you have to shoot it.”

That was all Zeigler needed to hear.

“Not too many coaches are going to say shoot the ball rather than pass it or turn it over,” he said, “so him just giving us that green light, I would say it felt like we had more freedom and we always have freedom honestly. 

“We just have to know when to make the right plays and when to shoot it rather than turn it over.”

Zeigler hit his first three of the second half with 14:30 left, building Tennessee’s lead to six, its biggest of the game at the time. He hit another 34 seconds later.

The third came with 6:43 to go, getting the lead back to four after Mississippi State had cut into the deficit. The next was at 5:19 for another six-point lead. 

“The shots,” he said, “it just came from me being composed and being confident. And I would say my teammates boosting me. When we were getting stops, it boosted our energy. Going into the half, we were down six or nine, and we started getting stops and we tied the game at half. We just built off that.”

Up Next: No. 9 Tennessee at LSU, Saturday, 4 p.m. ET, ESPN

Tennessee had just 15 points with three minutes left in the first half, with the new-look rotation struggling to find anything on the offensive end. The Vols scored six straight to close the half, going into the break tied at 23-23, before the floodgates opened in a 47-point second half. 

“Just played like I know Tennessee basketball is played,” Zeigler said. 

His teammates took notice and followed suit. 

“It rubbed off on everybody,” five-star freshman Julian Phillips said. “Everybody contributed well. When he’s playing at his highest like that and real confident it just makes the team better.”

Phillips finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds, matching Zeigler’s big moments in the second half with 13 points and seven rebounds of his own after halftime. 

Josiah-Jordan James scored 13 points to go with four rebounds and two assists in 34 minutes, the most he’s played this season. Olivier Nkamhoua had seven points and eight rebounds. 

But it started with Zeigler, who started the game at point guard, never left the floor and bucked adversity along the way to lead his team to a needed win.

“That’s just who he is,” Phillips said. “He doesn’t quit no matter how the game goes and obviously you can’t be perfect in any games you play so just not being down on yourself and continuing to stay aggressive and great things will come out of that, just like how he did. He had a great performance.”

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