Late last Saturday night and early Sunday morning, the family home of Tennessee freshman point guard Zakai Zeigler tragically burned down. During the Vols’ game against Georgia on Tuesday night, the SEC Network’s broadcast team broke the news and shared their thoughts.
“If you missed the story earlier, Zeigler’s family lost their residence in a house fire out in Long Island [over the weekend] and the Tennessee Athletics department put together plans to show fans how they can help their family get back on their feet,” the broadcast team said during the closing seconds of the game. “So stay tuned for that.”
After the conclusion of the game, a Tennessee spokesperson said that the athletic department will have an announcement on Wednesday regarding those plans.
The Vols took down Georgia on Tuesday night in Athens, but many of the postgame questions revolved around Zeigler and his family’s situation. Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes took some time to speak with the media about his own reaction and how Zeigler is holding up.
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After the tragic event happened over the weekend, Tennessee found a way to bring Zeigler’s mother to Athens to see her son play. In addition, Zeigler’s mother will be heading back up to Knoxville with the team as the family figures out their next move.
“Tough night for Zakai,” Barnes said after the game. “As you all know what he went through. After the game, his Mom losing everything in the fire up in New York. First time he hasn’t really been the Zakai that we’ve known since day one. It’s been a very emotional day. He saw his Mom here for the first time since the fire. But it’s been a tough couple of days for him.”
Zeigler finished the game against Georgia with two points on one of seven shooting. It was clear that Zeigler’s family was on his mind with them being in the crowd.
“He’s been through a lot, yet he never shows his emotions, but today he did,” Barnes said about Zeigler. “At halftime, it was a very emotional time for him. Nothing anything that was said, but just the fact that he is extremely, as you guys know, competitive and he knows he didn’t play very well. Never looked like he was in sync at all. I think honestly, in his shoot-around today, he was locked in. But he did have a chance to see his Mom right before the game and I think the emotion of that just overwhelmed him. You could just tell he wasn’t himself.”
Barnes spoke about how he found out the news and what it’s been like for freshman guard Zakai Zeigler in the last few days.
“All I know is that when I saw him on Sunday he looked like he hadn’t been in bed all night,” Barnes said about when he found out the news. “He actually said that he was up until five, six in the morning. Just think about it. He loves his family, he loves his Mom to death, and his Dad, they were there. And they lost it. He was obviously just very concerned about his mother and his extended family.”
In addition to Barnes, Zeigler’s veteran teammate, John Fulkerson, also spoke about the tragic situation and how Zeigler’s Vol teammates are helping him out.
“I think just being there for him,” Fulkerson said about what he and his teammates are doing for Zakai Zeigler. “Whatever he needs, whenever he needs it. It’s just a time to build him with confidence, uplift him. We can’t really put ourselves in that position, I haven’t been through it, but just being positive. Being there for him whenever he needs it.”
As mentioned previously, Barnes and the Tennessee staff did say that an announcement would be made on Wednesday regarding how fans can help the Zeigler family.
“We’ll have more details tomorrow,” Barnes said when asked about what Tennessee is able to do to help the Zeigler family. “Like I said, his Mom came down tonight, she’s here, and she will head to Knoxville with us. We’ll have details. Our administration did a terrific job once they got the news they jumped on it and got after it. They’ve been doing what they have to do to get things in order.”
Tennessee Communication says that more information and an announcement on how to help Zakai Zeigler's family will be coming tomorrow (Wednesday).
RTI will bring you the announcement as soon as it comes down.
— Rocky Top Insider (@rockytopinsider) March 2, 2022
