INDIANAPOLIS — Zakai Zeigler’s watched Tennessee basketball’s Elite Eight loss against Purdue last season “about 20 times” in the past year. In those first watches early in the offseason, Zeigler remembered a feeling he didn’t want to have again.
“I’ve thought about it a lot and really what I was thinking from it was conditioning,” Zeigler said on Saturday. “I was tired going into the game and tired in the game, in the Elite Eight, last year. That was something in the offseason I prided myself on, making sure through this time of the year I’ll be fine and be able to play as many minutes as I need to.”
Fate provided Zeigler the perfect opportunity. An early summer thumb injury put Zeigler and a cast and kept him from handling and shooting a basketball. Zeigler turned a setback into opportunity.
“I told (strength and conditioning) Coach G(arrett Medenwald), I can run though,” Zeigler said.
“Well, here’s what I know about Z,” Medenwald told RTI. “Z’s always gonna do whatever it takes to be prepared. And so for him, the kicker was what can you do right now to enhance your ability to improve? So when you come back you’re hitting on all cylinders.”
Working collaboratively, Medenwald and Zeigler built a plan that maximized the rising senior’s conditioning with his ability to hit the ground running when he returned later in the summer and to be more fresh later in the season.
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“Some days we’re more aerobic based, some days were more power based,” Medenwald said. “Some days were more VO2 max based, and so every different day was different. And so it was fun to watch the course of that timeframe.”
“Those workouts, they were terrible,” Zeigler said. “They were brutal and I wanted to even quit some times, to be honest, but I pushed myself. Spending a lot of time asking Coach G for extra work and willing to, if he can’t be there, shooting me a text with what to do. He’d meet me at the gym and either get on the treadmill or run on the court. Just run all day pretty much. That helped me out a lot.”
The offseason work was a big part of Zeigler’s sustained success physically. Another aspect was how Zeigler handled recovery during the season.
“He does a phenomenal job of taking care of his body,” Zeigler said. “So I’ve been really proud of his ability to do his restoration recovery work, and get in the ice tubs and hot tubs and do contrast stuff and different restoration stuff.”
Zeigler’s offseason conditioning and in season recovery work paid dividends. He’s played 35-plus minutes in all three of Tennessee’s NCAA Tournament games and is averaging 15 points and nine assists in the process.
The veteran point guard gets another crack at the game he’s spent the last year thinking about on Sunday when Tennessee faces off against Houston with a spot in the Final Four on the lin.
