Tennessee Freshman Zakai Zeigler Earns SEC Honors

The Vols' freshman point guard Zakai Zeigler has been named SEC Freshman of the Week, announced by the league on Monday afternoon. 

Zeigler becomes the second Vol to earn the honor, as fellow freshman point guard Kennedy Chandler received the SEC Freshman of the Week award on November 15 following season-opening performances against UT Martin and ETSU. 

Zeigler earns the honor after posting back-to-back double-digit efforts against Texas A&M and South Carolina in the past week. The New York product was instrumental in the Vols' ability to have a bounce-back offensive performance against the Aggies, as Zeigler scored 14 points and provided a couple of splash plays in Knoxville last Tuesday. 

Against the Gamecocks, the Vols secured a 21-point win on the road, the largest margin of victory Tennessee has had over a Power six opponent this season. Zeigler did not score a point in the first half, but the freshman posted 18 in the second half, ultimately tying his career-high single-game point total in just 20 minutes. Zeigler was 6-9 from the field against South Carolina, including a perfect 4-4 from beyond the arc. 

The freshman is averaging a whopping 13.8 points per game in his last four outings and has now posted double digits in seven of the Vols' ten conference outings. In that ten-game stretch, Zeigler is the orange and white's third-leading scorer with 9.4 points per game. 

Zeigler and the Vols stay on the road for a mid-week bout against Mississippi State on Wednesday, February 9, at 9 p.m. ET. ESPN2 will have the broadcast. 

Photo Credit: Tennessee Athletics