No. 9 Tennessee got its 'heart and soul' back with the return of Zakai Zeigler

Not being able to play basketball the last eight months wasn’t easy for Zakai Zeigler, having to meticulously work his way back through the rehab process after tearing his ACL in February. Keeping him off the floor, now that he’s officially back, might be even harder for Rick Barnes. 

Zeigler checked in for No. 9 Tennessee with 13 minutes, two seconds left in the first half against Tennessee Tech Monday night, receiving an ovation from the home crowd of 17,045. 

The feedback was just as glowing from his head coach after the Vols opened the season with an 80-42 win.

“He changes the floor every time he gets out there,” Barnes said during his postgame press conference. “He changes the floor on both ends of the court.”

Zeigler played 13 minutes in total — six in the first half, seven in the second — and looked like his old self. He scored just three points, going 1-for-4 from the floor, but had five assists, two rebounds and a steal. 

Regardless of the stat line, though, Barnes will continue to rely on team trainer Chad Newman and strength coach Garrett Medenwald when it comes to Zeigler’s pitch count.

“They’re telling me when to (put) him in and (take him) out,” Barnes said, “which is hard on me because I know I want him out there a lot. But I also love him to death and we all do. And again, he feels like he’s ready to go at it all the time. 

“And we’ll see, depending on what type of game, I might have a deaf ear, not hear them, you know, depending what it is. Because he is a comfort. I mean, the blanket where you know that he’s going (to) change the floor. But really, seriously, we’re gonna do what’s right by him … but he thinks he’s ready to go.”

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

Tennessee (1-0) got 17 points in 24 minutes from fifth-year transfer wing Dalton Knecht, who led the team in scoring in two exhibition games. Transfer guard Jordan Gainey scored 14 and Josiah-Jordan James had 12. 

“Josiah said coach, we gotta give the guy the game ball,” Barnes said, replaying the scene from the postgame locker room, “because he said he’s the heart and soul team. And he is. And it was hard on him. He wants to play so much and he wanted to play for the longest time, as you can imagine. But he knew he was gonna be limited to minutes.”

Zeigler has been back on the floor with his teammates during preseason practices, but for Gainey and Knecht, Monday was their first experience on the floor with Zeigler in a game atmosphere.

Gainey checked in alongside Zeigler and watched him blow a kiss to the fans. 

“The crowd was electric for him,” Gainey said.

He was on the floor in the second half, too, when Zeigler hit his only shot of the game. And saw firsthand the benefits of having Zeigler running the point. 

“He knows where guys are,” Gainey said. “I cut through and I’m already spacing to the corner and the ball is already in the air. His IQ is very high. So it was very good to have him back in the court.”

“The pace,” Knecht added, “moves a lot faster when he’s out in the court. It’s just real fun to play with him on both sides of the floor.”

Up Next: No. 9 Tennessee at Wisconsin, Friday, 9 p.m. ET, Peacock

The question moving forward is how quickly Zeigler will get up to pace himself, playing his usual minutes.

He averaged 28.8 over 30 games last season, after playing 22.1 per game as a freshman two years ago.

“We’ll be curious to see how he responded,” Barnes said. “I mean, he’s responded great in practice. He’s actually done more in practice than he did the game tonight. He’s responded well to that, but we just, again, we said all along we’re gonna be cautious with him.

“We’ll get a good read from what he did tonight and see how everything is, from going stop and starting and all that, sitting on the bench halftime, we haven’t been able to see that. We’ll see.”