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Rick Barnes explains what makes Zakai Zeigler so special: ‘We wouldn’t trade him for anybody’
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Rick Barnes has been around the coaching block a ton of times, and he’s been there, done that when it comes to the NCAA Tournament.
The veteran head coach who took Texas to a Final Four in 2003 has Tennessee, another SEC program that wears a different shade of orange, in the Sweet 16 with a chance to do something special this season. And speaking of special, that is exactly what Barnes believes senior guard Zakai Zeigler is.
Zeigler leads the Volunteers in assists (7.4) and steals (2.0) per game, and he also averages 13.7 points. The Long Island, N.Y., native will be a huge key once again for Barnes and his team as they try to get past rival Kentucky in an all-SEC Midwest Region semifinal showdown on Friday night in Indianapolis.
During Thursday’s press conference, Barnes was asked what makes Zeigler the best point guard in the country, as teammate Jahmai Mashack called him, and how big of an asset is it to have Zeigler on his side.
“Well, I think it’s easy for all of us to look at him and say that because of how he impacts the game in ways, from the way he picks up 94 feet, how often he gets screened with ball screens and the effort that he plays with on both offense and defense, and the fact that he was not a player that was highly sought after coming out of high school,” explained Barnes. “But he’s never flinched in terms of competition. From the time he stepped foot on our campus, he’s never made anything about him. He’s a very unselfish person. He cares about people.”
Barnes marvels at how hard Zeigler goes in games and in practice, as in every single practice.
“I say it all the time, what people see him do during the game, we watch it every day in practice. And that’s who he is. He doesn’t take time off. I worry about him all the time with how hard he goes,” said Barnes. “I watch him go through a practice like it’s the last one he’s going to have. Then he’ll spin it and spend 30 minutes in the gym working on something. That’s why he is and who he is and why, like Jahmai, I wouldn’t — we wouldn’t trade him for anybody in the country.”
Zeigler and the Vols will face off against Kentucky on Friday night for a spot in the Elite Eight.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
