Tennessee freshman Zakai Zeigler has been through a whirlwind in the last two weeks.
On Feb. 26, Zeigler and the Tennessee basketball team found one of their biggest wins of the season against No. 3 Auburn in Knoxville. However, later that night, tragedy would occur when Zeigler’s family residence in New York burned down. In the following week, Zeigler would launch a GoFundMe with the support of Tennessee Athletics, and was able to watch it soar past 360,000 dollars in less than 72 hours.
Then, just a few days later, Zeigler had 13 points and six assists in a win over No. 14 Arkansas.
Now that the regular season is over and the Vols have a few days to catch their breath before the SEC tournament, Zeigler had a chance to speak with the media on Monday.
It was the first time since the tragedy that Zeigler was available to the media, so, many of the questions for him revolved around that event. While speaking about what those few days were like, Zeigler also shared a story about the day he officially launched the fundraiser. And Zeigler’s reaction is nothing short of priceless.
See Also from RTI: Zakai Zeigler and Tony Vitello Are the Dynamic Duo Tennessee Should Have Seen Coming
Zakai Zeigler on how he reacted to the GoFundMe hitting the $50,000 goal in just about half an hour.
— Rocky Top Insider (@rockytopinsider) March 7, 2022
“At first I refreshed it like two or three times, and then I just let it sit,” Zeigler said on Monday. “Somebody was like, ‘Have you seen it?’ and I was like, ‘No.’ I looked back up I was like what the… This… This is at the goal already! And it’s like yeah, I know, I told you. I was not expecting it to be like that. My eyes just lit up.”
Zeigler’s full press conference from Monday can be found here.
