How Tennessee Will Adjust Without Zakai Zeigler
You could hear a pin drop at Thompson Boling Stadium on Tuesday night when Zakai Zeigler went down with what ended up being a Torn ACL. Vol fans were all collectively silent as they pondered if and how Tennessee could replace their star point guard.
Once it was announced that Zeigler was done for the season, that question became an unfortunate reality. With no true point guard backing up Zeigler, the question has to be asked: What adjustments will Rick Barnes make to replace Zakai Zeigler?
The answer is simple regarding what Barnes will do. Santiago Vescovi is going to have to play the point guard. Whether that will work is up for debate. Vescovi has a 17.7 assist rate and 15.3 turnover rate compared to Zeigler's 36.2 and 20.8.
Zeigler obviously has a higher turnover rate, but that is just a byproduct of always having the ball in his hands. As good as Vescovi is off the ball, he isn't close to good enough to make up for what Zeigler creates.
Another problem Tennessee is bound to have is that Zeigler has arguably been their best player in most of Tennessee's big wins. He had 26 against Kansas and 25 against Maryland, just to name a couple.
Without Zeigler, Tennessee will struggle to score in transition and create offense in the half-court when they can't get the ball to Josiah-Jordan James. I question whether Vescovi can make the pin-down passes accurately and on time.
This isn't meant to be a knock on Vescovi either, but he might have to play out of position and get put in a spot where he's bound to fail a lot of the time. We'll see what Barnes can do to make up for Zeigler's absence, but saying it will be an uphill battle is an understatement.
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