Vols begin SEC Tournament title defense without Zeigler

ERIC WOODS Assistant Sports Editor

After a season filled with adversity and injuries, the No. 17 Vols will be putting everything to the test as the postseason is officially here. Starting with the SEC Tournament, Tennessee eyes to recapture the triumph it experienced last year when the Vols defeated Texas A&M to claim their first title since 1979.

Tennessee seemed to be a shoe-in for the No. 1 or No. 2 seed after a 7-1 start to SEC action, but injuries to Josiah-Jordan James, Julian Phillips and Tyreke Key led to some unfortunate losses.

With the Vols finally getting all of those guys back, the regular season had one more blow to land: Zakai Zeigler tearing his ACL. While it’s not a death sentence moving forward, Zeigler’s injury strikes at the very heart of Tennessee basketball.

Newly honored member of the All-SEC first team Santiago Vescovi has had to take the large part of Zeigler’s role, which means he is going to be the key to the Vols’ success moving forward.

“We definitely miss Z out there. We all feel it,” Vescovi said. “It’s just a different role that I have to play this time especially when I have to play point guard. It just feels different without him on the court. We just have to adapt and find other ways to win.”

Rick Barnes has been talking about resiliency for the past month, so can the Vols overcome one last hurdle and make a run back to the conference championship and perhaps a deep run in the NCAA Tournament?

“I think they do know that every game has to be a championship game,” Barnes said. “It has to be and the effort and the details and getting ready for a mindset that that’s what it is because a week from now, it is real.”

From this point forward, a loss means an abrupt end to the season, and a win means that the fight goes on.

“You can either have two or 10 games. But to do that you have to have everybody. We can’t be talking about inconsistencies. We can’t. This is a new start to the third part of the season that you go into and it’s time for everybody to where we can’t be talking about inconsistencies or not understanding roles, whatever. It’s time everybody does exactly what this team needs them to do to help us move on.”

After falling to the No. 5 seed on Saturday, Tennessee (22-9, 11-7 SEC) lost the doublebye and will play either Ole Miss (11-20, 3-15 SEC) or South Carolina (11-20, 4-14 SEC) at 3 p.m. EST.

Despite their less than appealing record, the Rebels took the Vols down to the wire to open conference play in Oxford, even leading by 10 points late in the first half. Ultimately, Tennessee came out with a narrow 63-59 victory, and a neutral site should fare better for it.

On the flip side, the Vols have absolutely dominated the Gamecocks with their physicality this season, winning the two matchups by a combined 83 points. While anything can happen in basketball, it’s fair to assume that the Vols would rather face South Carolina.

Should the Vols win their first matchup, they will see Missouri (23-8, 11-7 SEC), who snagged the fourth seed from them thanks to their buzzer-beating win over Tennessee, which eventually broke the tie between the two.

From there, Tennessee will have to see how the rest of the tournament plays out. Alabama is the general favorite to win it all, but no team has separated itself on a higher level.

The SEC is extremely deep this year, but it is also wide open. Even without Zeigler, the Vols are the healthiest they have been since the beginning of February in a time where they were considered to be a top seed in the SEC.

If the Vols are able to find a working offense without Zeigler, then the madness could be in their favor.

“I do know that a lot of what we went through in February, with the injuries, kept guys from getting in a rhythm and wondering,” Barnes said. “Because they work so hard and it’s hard on them when they want to play, more than you can even imagine. They’ve faced some adversity and it’s tough. But I’ve said these guys have been resilient. You guys were here watching them today, they were working, will continue to work. I do think that we have a confident basketball team.”

No.5 Zakai Zeigler is helped off the court by Tennessee training staff after injuring his leg in the first half against Arkansas at Thompson-Boling Arena. Tuesday Feb. 28, 2023. Cole Moore / Contributor