INDIANAPOLIS — Tennessee point guard Zakai Zeigler is the SEC’s new single-season assist king. Zeigler broke the conferences single-season assist record in the Vols’ Sweet 16 matchup against Kentucky on Friday night.
Zeigler broke the record in fitting fashion, throwing an alley-oop to Felix Okpara to give Tennessee a 23-15 lead with 9:21 to play in the first half.
The Vols’ senior point guard entered the game tied with Ole Miss’ Sean Tuohy with 260 assists. Tuohy achieved the feat in the 1979-80 season and it took 45 years for someone to break it. Kentucky’s Tyler Ulis is in third place all time with 246 assists with Kentucky’s John Wall and Alabama’s Terry Coner not far behind him with 241 assists.
Zeigler is on a run of breaking assist records. He broke Tennessee’s single-season assist record during its SEC Tournament opener against Texas before breaking the Vols’ career record in their NCAA Tournament win over Wofford.
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The 5-foot-9 point guard is currently third in the SEC career assist rankings with 733 assists. Zeigler won’t catch Tuohy who is in first place with 830 assists but he could pass Arkansas’ Kareem Reid (748) for second all time if Tennessee makes deep enough of a run.
Zeigler is also ranked ninth in SEC history with 250 career steals and needs just two more steals to pass Reid for sole possession of eight place.
The Long Island, New York native earned First Team All-SEC honors from the league’s coaches this season and enters the Sweet 16 matchup averaging 13.7 points, 7.4 assists, three rebounds and two steals per game. The Associated Press tabbed Zeigler a Second Team All-SEC selection and a Third Team All-America selection.
Zeigler comfortably led the SEC in assists this season by 2.3 assists per game. It’s the second straight season that Zeigler has led the SEC in assists.
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider all night for complete coverage of Tennessee basketball’s Sweet 16 matchup against Kentucky.
