BamaCentral Courtside: No. 5 Kentucky 66, Alabama 55
Tennessee point guard Zakai Zeigler is the SEC Freshman of the Week after recording 32 points, six assists and five rebounds in a pair of UT wins.
The Long Island, New York native set the tone for the week against Texas A&M, scoring eight first half points and taking Aggies’ guard Quentin Jackson’s ankles in the process.
I'm editing player melts from Tennessee's win over Texas A&M the other night and had to re-post this beauty.
Zakai Ziegler out here SNATCHING ankles. Then pulled up for a triple. #Vols pic.twitter.com/CvJ7ElaEPL
— Kellyanne Stitts (@KellyanneStitts) February 3, 2022
The 5-foot-9 freshman posted 14 points, three assists and two steals in the 10-point win over Texas A&M.
Zeigler one-upped his performance at South Carolina. The point guard struggled in the first half, but provided the juice that pushed Tennessee way ahead of the Gamecocks.
Zeigler hit back-to-back transition threes forcing South Carolina coach Frank Martin to take a timeout. The fearless guard proceeded to throw up on the sideline before re entering the game.
“Zakai hit those two big threes, they called timeout,” Barnes said. “He came to the bench and threw up. He spit up on me and then got up and went to the trashcan and threw up. Came back and sat down, we said, ‘are you okay?’ He said ‘I’m good’ and came back out and scored a basket. It was one of those days for him in the second half where he really responded well.”
The point guard kept his momentum rolling after the timeout, scoring four straight points to push Tennessee’s run to 12-0 and his personal run to 10-0.
The legend grows … pic.twitter.com/tqZy9AdosX
— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) February 6, 2022
Tennessee’s spark plug scored 18 second half points on six-of-nine shooting from the field and four-of-four shooting from beyond the arc. Zeigler added three assists, three steals and two assists.
The point guard is playing the best basketball of his season, scoring in double-digits in four straight games. This is Zeigler’s first time earning SEC Freshman of the Week honors. Kennedy Chandler has also earned the award once this season.
