Rick Barnes: Zakai Zeigler's minutes 'will continue to go up'

Rick Barnes hasn’t settled on a determined rotation for his Tennessee basketball team in the first week of the regular season. Those experiments could take place for weeks as the Vols navigate their way through a tough-non conference schedule.

But when it came to sending Zakai Zeigler into the game Monday night against Tennessee Tech, the head coach had no control over that. He didn’t have any control over when his junior point guard came out of the game, either. 

“I mean, it was hard on him,” Barnes said before practice on Wednesday, “because he wants to play so much and our medical staff was telling me when to let him play, when to take him out and all that. And that frustrated him.”

Zeigler had waited 251 days for that moment — from the second he was laying on the floor at Thompson-Boling Arena on February 28, after crumpling with a non-contact ACL tear early in a win over Arkansas. 

The moment finally arrived in the season opener, in the 80-42 win over Tennessee Tech. 

“The first time he’s been out there,” Barnes said, “you can imagine the emotion that he feels because of who he is and how he goes about everything.”

Zakai Zeigler: ‘It just felt good to be back in front of everybody and be able to play’

That emotion was only fed by the Thompson-Boling Arena crowd, which greeted Zeigler with a loud ovation. In return, he blew kisses toward the stands, soaking in the moment early in the first half.

“It meant a lot,” Zeigler said on Monday, “because people were saying it to me (before), asking me how I would feel if the crowd stood up and gave me like a loud ovation and I honestly didn’t know how I could picture it in my head. 

“But when it happened it was just a really good feeling … it was just felt good just to be back in front of everybody and being able to play.”

Zeigler played 13 minutes — six in the first half, seven in the second — and had four assists without a turnover. He scored three points on 1-for-3 shooting, finally getting a 3-pointer to drop in the second half. 

“To have four assists and no turnovers, I told him that’s a great way to start,” Barnes said. “And making shots, he’s gonna make shots, I’m not concerned about that with him.”

Zeigler said his body reacted to the game just like it had reacted to practice, where he had slowly been working his way back in through the fall and preseason.

“I feel like I’ve been building up to be able to play in game situations,” he said. “So going out there, building up to going to the game, I felt really good.”

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

The emphasis on Zeigler’s return, though, is that this is just another starting point. There’s more building to do. 

His minutes will continue to be restricted when No. 9 Tennessee (1-0) goes to Wisconsin (1-0) on Friday (9 p.m. Eastern Time, Peacock) for the first road game of the season.

“You could tell he was frustrated because he wants to play,” Barnes said of the minutes limit. “But we’re gonna still do what we need to do to give him a chance to have the best year he can have. And I think his minutes will continue to go up, but we’ll still watch it.”

Zeigler knows it’s continuation of the path he’s been on since having surgery in March.

“The plan is really just on the medical staff,” he said, “and I’m just listening to them and whatever their ways are, I gotta follow it whether, no matter if I get frustrated or not. 

“I gotta learn that it is my body first and my body’s the most important thing. So whatever they tell me, I’m just following through.”