Tennessee basketball opens up its 2024-25 season on Monday night when the Vols face Gardner-Webb at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center.
Over the last two days, we’ve looked at five things I think I know about Tennessee and five questions that I have about them ahead of Rick Barnes’ 10th season as head coach.
Now, let’s look at three bold predictions for the 2024-25 Tennessee basketball season.
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Zakai Zeigler Breaks Tennessee Single-Season Assist Record
Senior point guard Zakai Zeigler landed as a Preseason First Team All-SEC selection after a strong junior season that was the best of his career.
His 218 assists last season were the third most in a single-season in Tennessee basketball history. I think Zeigler unseats Rodney Woods (1974-75) and totals over 227 assists this season. Zeigler got off to a slow start last season as he was working back from a torn ACL.
But by SEC play, Zeigler was averaging seven assists per game and was very consistent getting other guys involved. Tennessee went into the transfer portal this offseason and added good shooters and a great lob threat. That should lead to an abundance of assist opportunities.
I’ll add one more semi bold prediction here at the bottom. Zeigler lands on one of the three All-American teams at the end of the season.
Tennessee Breaks Program Record For Three-Pointers Taken and Made
Tennessee has been shooting more-and-more three-pointers in recent seasons and there’s no reason to think that will change this season. In fact, my belief is they’re going to keep shooting more-and-more of them with how they constructed the roster this offseason.
The Vols shot 35 three-pointers in their exhibition loss against Indiana and while I don’t see them staying at that rate, I don’t think that’s just one crazy one off. If you look at the offensive strengths of the offensive players that are going to be in Tennessee’s rotation, about half of them would be spot-up shooting. And as we previously noted, Tennessee has the point guard to help create open looks for them.
Tennessee’s record for three-pointers taken is 915 last season. Its record for three-pointers made is 327 in 2006-07. I think the Vols set new records there this season.
Jordan Gainey Averages 12-Plus Points Per Game
When talking about Tennessee’s roster this offseason and where the offense would come from, very few people (including myself) discussed Jordan Gainey. But as the season approaches, I just have a hunch that he’s going to have a bigger role than I expected.
Gainey averaged 6.8 points per game last season. I’m betting on him nearly doubling the production and averaging over 12 points per game. After shooting it well from three-point range in two seasons at USC-Upstate, Gainey shot 29% from deep last season including a miserable slump in SEC play.
But the shooting guard ended the season strong with a nice NCAA Tournament. I’m banking on the game at the SEC level slowing down for him and his shooting percentage spiking. Combine that with more playing time and I think his scoring takes a big jump this season.
