Zakai Zeigler goes in depth on his return from torn ACL

Zakai Zeigler made his long-awaited return on Monday at Thompson-Boling Arena, scoring three points to go with four assists and two rebounds in 21 minutes off the bench for No. 9 Tennessee in the season-opening win over Tennessee Tech.

The junior point guard met with reporters before practice on Wednesday afternoon, going in depth on his return to the court 251 days after suffering the torn ACL that ended his sophomore season back in February.

What it was like checking in and hearing the crowd on Monday night against Tennessee Tech

“I felt good to be back. You know, I’ve been waiting for that moment since the day I went down, but just felt really good to be back for Vol Nation and for my brothers.”

When he first decided he was going to be back for Tennessee’s season opener

“Well, it really wasn’t my decision. It was really on the medical staff and what they were telling me. How my testing was going. So it was really on those guys. If it was up to me, I would’ve been back the day I started walking. But it was really up to them.”

If it was his vision to get back for the season opener from the time he got hurt

“Yeah. Right away I was just thinking like, if this year’s over with next year I wanna be back for sure. Whether it’s this season opener or within the first week of the games, I want to be back.”

Balancing the frustration of being on a minute count and cheering on his Tennessee teammates

“Well at the end of the day, those are my brothers out there. We go through war together every day, whether we arguing with each other or we’re having laughter and making jokes. I love to see them win out there and it just felt good to see them back out there and just see the crowd give us energy and just be, be in that type of vibe.”

Being a pass-first point guard with the weapons Tennessee has added 

“Yeah, it is really good because, you know, we got a lot of guys around me that can score. We are all around each other that can score. Santi, DK (are) two of the best shooters in the country. Josiah’s a really good shooter. Jordan (is a) really good shooter. So it’s a lot of opportunity for assists, not only for myself but Freddie and Jahmai too. So it’s really good to have those type of guys on the team and just around us.”

What his plan is over the next month in regards to minutes increasing

“Well the plan is really just on the medical staff 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.”

If he felt different after the Tennessee Tech game versus how he feels after a practice

“Not really because I feel like I’ve been building up to be able to play in game situations. So going out there, building up to going to the game, I felt really good.”

If Jordan Gainey’s impact has surprised him

“No, not really because what you guys see, we see every day and he’s been, he’s somebody that’s been around. I’ve seen him work out multiple times even before he came to UT or decided that he’s gonna be here with us. So I’ve seen him working out and I’ve seen him in open gym and I always knew his capabilities. So it’s no different to me now. He just got the same jersey on as me.”

What Dalton Knecht has most brought to the offense

“He’s a threat in all three levels. He could, whether we wanna play a small ball, we could play him at the four or five even. Because he’s a tall guy at the end of the day, so he’s just somebody that could step out and shoot it. He could play inside. He’s just an all around three level threat and it helps us out tremendously.”

What the ovation from the Tennessee fans meant to him

“It meant a lot because people were saying it to me, asking me how I feel like if the crowd stood up or, 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 and, like I said earlier, it was just felt good just to be back in front of everybody and being able to play.”

If his steal and pass in transition to JP Estrella was an ‘I’m back’ moment 

“Yeah, pretty much something like that. But it was, it kind of reminded me a little bit of Texas game, even though I didn’t come up with a steal and throw a pass or anything like that. But just that energy, it just gave me a quick reminder of something like that and just to tell everybody like, yo, I’m back on the court. I’m here. I’m still me at the end of the day.”

The depth of this year’s Tennessee team, if he’s been apart of a team this deep

“No, I have not because like when I was sitting on the side, I was always saying to myself like, I gotta hurry up and get back out there. I gotta figure out how I’m gonna be a big piece of the team. Cause we got so many guys on the team that— whether I’m out there or not we’ll be okay. So it is great. It is great to have more because last year, I wouldn’t say we didn’t have enough, but last year we didn’t have as many weapons as we do this year. So I guess it’s better to have more than have less.”

What the improved depth, competition for playing time says about the program

“It just shows the type of program that we are. That we just keep building off of each year and we just plan on getting back and getting better every year. And we don’t go off of what we did last year. We just go off how we can get better.”

Josiah-Jordan James calling him the heart and soul of the Tennessee program

“It is a really good feeling. cause you know, Josiah’s a vet. He’s been here for a while and he’s my brother too. So just to hear him say that and the team go along with it and clap for me and just cheer and be okay with that, it meant a lot and it just showed me how much I really mean to this team and it meant a lot to me.”

If he chose the song that played when he checked in against Tennessee Tech

“Nah, I didn’t. What song played? It was just so many people clapping and cheering. I couldn’t really hear, I couldn’t hear myself.”