Tennessee point guard Zakai Zeigler landed on the Preseason First Team All-SEC voted on by the league’s media on Monday afternoon.
There were three preseason All-SEC teams and Zeigler was the only Vol to land on any of them. A number of other Tennessee players could potentially land on the end of season All-SEC teams, chief amongst them Ohio State transfer Felix Okpara, Charlotte transfer Igor Milicic Jr and shooting guard Jahmai Mashack.
Zeigler is coming off an All-SEC junior season and is one of the best point guards in the country entering his senior season. The 5-foot-9 point guard averaged 11.8 points and 6.1 assists per game a season ago but those numbers were skewed negatively by a poor opening month of the season while he was recovering from a torn ACL.
In 18 SEC games, Zeigler averaged 14.1 points, seven assists and 2.1 steals per game while shooting 37% from three-point range. Zeigler continued his strong play on to the NCAA Tournament where he averaged 11 points and 7.8 assists in four games.
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The offense is building off of Zeigler being a truly elite defender who is the heart-and-soul of the Tennessee basketball program. Last season, Zeigler became the second Tennessee player to ever earn SEC Defensive Player of the Year honors.
Alongside Zeigler on the first team were Alabama’s Mark Sears, Texas A&M’s Wade Taylor IV, Florida’s Walter Clayton and Auburn’s Johni Broome. Sears was the preseason player of the year in the conference.
Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn and Florida all had two total players on the three teams. Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Kentucky, South Carolina and Texas all had one player like Tennessee.
Expectations are high for Tennessee basketball entering Rick Barnes’ 10th season as head coach. The Vols landed at No. 12 in the preseason AP Poll and the league’s media picked Tennessee to finish third in the 16-team conference.
