FINAL:
Tennessee – 75
Arkansas – 57
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – It was senior night in Knoxville and Tennessee was set to honor a group of seniors that it feels like have been around in Knoxville for 10+ years. Depending on how usage of the COVID eligibility year goes in this senior class, it could be the last night for Santiago Vescovi, Uros Plavsic, Olivier Nkamhoua, Josiah-Jordan James, Tyreke Key, and Kent Gilbert.
Tennessee established a quick 4-0 lead over the Hogs, and then disaster struck. What should’ve been a happy celebration of a group of seniors the fans had come to know and love was overshadowed by another fan favorite, and star point guard, Zakai Zeigler going down with a scary non-contact leg injury.
You just hate to see this, hopefully it’s not bad for Tennessee’s Zakai Zeigler, but he looked to be in some serious pain. pic.twitter.com/MyqxVb438u
— Trey Wallace (@TreyWallace_) March 1, 2023
If anyone could handle the adversity and come back stronger it would be the second year, tough-as-nails point guard, but it is tough to see someone go down with that type of injury. From a team perspective, if Zeigler is going to be out long-term, it could be detrimental. The Vols are going to need players in other positions to step up in a big way.
Tennessee was able to refocus as they grew the lead to 7-0 and were able to maintain control for the rest/majority of the half. Tennessee’s bigs were doing work down low as the Vols scored most of their points in the paint with 24, and won the rebounding battle 22-14. After withstanding a couple of pushes from the Razorbacks, Tennessee was able to take a 25-34 lead into the locker room, tying their largest lead of the night.
By the 18-minute mark of the second half, a Vescovi three-ball extended the largest lead of the night to 12 with a 39-27 lead. At 11:45 Josiah-Jordan James extended the largest lead to 15 as the Vols stayed in control with a 39-54 lead. Tennessee’s defense was playing its usual brand of hard-nosed basketball, but an abundance of whistles were slowing the game down and making it hard for either team to find a true rhythm. Vescovi was having a fantastic game with his family in attendance. A 14-0 run from Tennessee pushed their lead out to 24 with three minutes left on senior night. Triple J hit a deep three to nail his final shot in TBA as he and the rest of the seniors got standing ovation as the clock hit 0:00. Tennessee got a huge late season SEC win with a final score of 75-57, but was overshadowed by the uncertainty of Zakai Zeigler’s immediate future.
This is what Tennessee Head Coach, Rick Barnes, had to say post-game via Ben McKee of Govols247 on Twitter:
Rick Barnes: We all hurt for Zakai. We know that he’s hurt because we know how tough he is and how he stayed down on the floor.
— Ben McKee (@benmckee14) March 1, 2023
Rick Barnes said if they have to proceed without Zakai Zeigler, point guard responsibilities will have to be by committee.
Said he could tell Zeigler had been crying when he went to go talk to him at halftime.
— Ben McKee (@benmckee14) March 1, 2023
Tennessee’s next game is the last of the regular season and against Auburn in Neville Arena at 1:00 on Saturday.
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