Tennessee's Zakai Zeigler Repeats as SEC Defensive Player of the Year

Tennessee's Zakai Ziegler repeats as SEC defensive player of the year.

Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes and Tennessee's Zakai Zeigler (5) during Senior Day presentations after a men’s college basketball game between Tennessee and South Carolina at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center, Saturday, March 8, 2025. | Caitie McMekin/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Tennessee's Zakai Ziegler repeats as SEC defensive player of the year.

The Vols are heading into the SEC tournament as the number four seed and have intentions to be crowned as conference champions by the end of the tournament. Throughout the season, the squad has been catapulted by their suffocating defense, leading the conference in scoring defense. 

Their leader, senior guard Zakai Zeigler, has built a reputation as being the engine that makes the Vol defense go. He was named the 2024-2025 SEC defensive player of the year, which makes it his second straight time receiving the honor. His scrappy on-ball defense led him to averaging over two steals per game in conference play. Zeigler is no stranger to SEC honors, as he also took home his fourth All-SEC Defensive Team selection, which no player in conference history has accomplished. 

When asked about Zeigler’s contributions to the program, head coach Rick Barnes praised the stand-out guard, stating,

"Zakai is special. I think about him, and I back to his first year here when he came in, and I remember we were in the Sweet Sixteen game, and I think we had him and Kennedy and Santi on the floor even at that point in time in the game, and I'll most remember he had an incredible freshman year, and hadn't had a bad game all year, had played well, had never seen him show any emotion whatsoever. And we were in Georgia, and that was a day or so after - remember, his house caught on fire in New York - and when his mom walked into the game, he lost it and played his first bad game I ever saw him play. 

The Vols are scheduled to play their first game on Friday March 14 at 3:30 PM eastern time against either Vanderbilt, Texas, or Texas A&M. Behind their defensive anchor in Ziegler, the Vols will be a scary matchup for whoever they face. 

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