Zakai Zeigler and Felix Okpara are already playing like 'the perfect complement to each other'
It was late in the shot clock during a Tennessee Basketball practice Monday inside Pratt Pavilion. Zakai Zeigler had the ball in his hand and a big man in front of him after a defensive switch. That meant a guard was stuck on Felix Okpara, the 6-foot-11, 235-pound transfer center from Ohio State.
So Zeigler did what is quickly becoming a habit. He threw the ball toward the rim, knowing his new big man would be there … somewhere.
“And Felix just jumped up and got it and just scored it over the top,” Tennessee assistant coach Rod Clark told reporters on Tuesday.
Clark told Zeigler after the practice that he did exactly what he was supposed to do in that situation.
“He was like, ‘I didn’t even know (where Okpara) was,'” Clark said, recalling the conversation, “‘I just kind of threw the ball up.’”
Felix Okpara at Ohio State last season: 6.6 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.4 blocks per game
That’s the kind of chemistry that Zeigler and Okpara have already established, despite the fact that Okpara has only been on campus for a little over two months.
“If I’m being completely honest,” Clark said, “watching them play together, you would think they played together for years. I think that they’re probably the perfect complement to each other.”
Okpara entering the NCAA Transfer Portal this spring was perfect timing for the Vols.
Tennessee had just lost both junior center Jonas Aidoo and sophomore forward Tobe Awaka to the portal, with Aidoo leaving for Arkansas and Awaka going to Arizona. The Vols suddenly had big needs down low.
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Okpara was recruited heavily by Tennessee out of Hamilton Heights Christian Academy in Chattanooga as a four-star prospect in 2022 and the Vols worked fast to schedule a visit with him after he entered the portal. He committed just days after the visit.
Felix Okpara gives Tennessee ‘physicality and aggression down in the paint’
Okpara averaged 6.6 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks at Ohio State last season, known more for his defensive presence as a rim protector at the back of the defense. But he should have plenty of opportunities to score above the rim at Tennessee, with Zeigler pulling the trigger.
“I think we said that as a staff when we first got Felix,” Clark said, “that he was going to be a welcome addition here because of his vertical ability and going up and catching lobs. And (with) Zakai being a guy that’s grown that part of his game as he’s been in college … it’s kind of like a safety valve for him.”
It will be a change of pace for Tennessee’s new-look post.
“I think that’s the benefit of having somebody like Felix,” Clark said, “and that’s the kind of dynamic that he changes with us is just someone that’s so talented vertically, but also a guy that plays with a lot of physicality and aggression down in the paint.
“I think he has another dimension to us that it’s kind of similar to what we’ve had in the past, but it’s a little bit more pop to it, I would say.”
