Tennessee basketball waiting for Zakai Zeigler update following left knee injury
Rick Barnes spoke to his Tennessee basketball team at halftime against Arkansas on Tuesday. Then he went to see Zakai Zeigler.
"He is such an unbelievable, wonderful person," Barnes said. "He had been crying, as you would imagine. He was hurt. It is tough."
Zeigler suffered a left knee injury in the opening minutes of Tennessee's 75-57 win against the Razorbacks on Tuesday. UT did not have a further update available after the win and Zeigler will undergo "a scan," according to UT spokesperson Tom Satkowiak.
"I don’t think there’s anybody in the nation that can replace Zakai and what he brings to the table outside of just assists, shooting," guard Jahmai Mashack said. "I think it’s energy. It’s irreplaceable, but I think, to answer your question, we were always going to be focused whether he was in or he was out. Whatever was going on, we were going to have that laser focus. I think it continues to go on from there.”
INJURY: Zakai Zeigler leaves Tennessee basketball vs. Arkansas with left knee injury
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What happened to Zakai Zeigler
Zeigler, who has played at an elite level for much of the past two months, went down with a non-contact injury at the 17:06 mark Tuesday. The sophomore drove baseline looking for a pass to make but tumbled to the court after stepping out of bounds. He immediately grabbed toward his knee and was in visible pain as Thompson-Boling Arena fell silent.
He had to be helped off the court after UT trainer Chad Newman and strength coach Garrett Medenwald evaluated him. He was not putting any weight on his left leg.
“They know that he pops right back every single time when he goes down," Barnes said of Zeigler's teammates. "I think they knew it was serious."
Zeigler is averaging 11.0 points and 5.5 assists in 29.6 minutes per game. He has five double-doubles this season, including a 13-point, 11-assist effort against South Carolina on Saturday.
How Tennessee handled point guard play without Zeigler
Barnes indicated UT would go point guard by committee if Zeigler's injury causes him to miss games. He mentioned Mashack and Tyreke Key as options. Santiago Vescovi played the bulk of point guard minutes Tuesday against Arkansas. Josiah-Jordan James also ran the offense. Barnes also said he would not "count out" freshman B.J. Edwards, who has earned occasional minutes lately after playing sparingly for much of the season.
UT anticipates Key will play at Auburn on Saturday after missing the past two games because of an ankle injury.
Zeigler scored the opening points against Arkansas, then threw a perfect alley-oop to Olivier Nkamhoua for UT's second field goal. He turned over the ball on the possession in which he was injured. His assist to Nkamhoua gave him 161 this season, matching the total that Kennedy Chandler amassed last season in 34 games.
"It’s really unfortunate, and we need Z and we’re hoping that everything is OK with him and he’s doing well, but whenever somebody is struggling, we have they back," Nkamhoua said.
Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on Twitter @ByMikeWilson. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Zakai Zeigler has knee injury, Tennessee basketball waiting for update
