Zakai Zeigler undergoes ACL surgery, not with Tennessee basketball for March Madness in Orlando
ORLANDO, Fla. − Zakai Zeigler had surgery to repair his torn ACL in his left knee Monday in Knoxville and is not with Tennessee basketball for the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Zeigler suffered the season-ending injury on Feb. 28 against Arkansas at Thompson-Boling Arena. He was with UT for its final regular-season game at Auburn on March and at the SEC Tournament in Nashville.
The No. 4 Vols (23-10) open the NCAA Tournament against No. 13 Louisiana (26-7) on Thursday (9:40 p.m. ET, CBS) as part of the East Region.
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Zeigler will not join the Vols here, but would be with the team if the Vols advance to the East Regional at Madison Square Garden in New York. Zeigler is from New York and earned a late scholarship offer to play for Tennessee in August 2021. He took off as a freshman, earning All-Freshman and All-Defensive team honors. He averaged 8.8 points and shot 35.2% on 3-pointers last season.
Zeigler averaged 10.7 points and 5.4 assists in 28.7 minutes per game during a sensational sophomore season. He rapidly developed into a top point guard in SEC play and had five double-doubles this season, including a 13-point, 11-assist effort against South Carolina on Feb. 25.
He was named All-SEC second team after the season.
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: Tennessee basketball: Zakai Zeigler has ACL surgery, not with Vols
