Vintage Zakai Zeigler leads to historic night in NCAA Tournament opener
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Zakai Zeigler singled out J.P. Estrella during a second half timeout Thursday night.
Tennessee's court general had a play in mind and he wanted the freshman forward who was seeing valuable minutes in an NCAA Tournament game for the first time to be a part of it.
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A few minutes later, Zeigler drove towards the basket from the corner and lobbed a pass to Estrella who pulled down his second dunk of the game, an emphatic sequence that highlighted the 2-seed Vols' complete domination of 15-seed Saint Peter's in the First Round at Spectrum Center.
"I told (Estrella), 'Just run to the rim and I promise I'm going to find you. Even if you don't think I'm going to pass it, just run,'" Zeigler said. "I tell him that all the time, even in practice. Just run to the rim. I promise I'll find you."
"I thought he was going to throw the bounce pass and then I saw him throw it up," Estrella quipped. "I looked at him and he said, 'Thank you for the assist.'"
Zeigler found him—and the record books.
It was his 10th assist in the game to go along with 11 points to become just the 13th SEC player all-time to record a points and assists double-double in the NCAA Tournament.
It was vintage Zeigler, from start to finish. He fit passes into tight windows, bounced them into the paint and lobbed them high. He knocked down three 3-pointers and shot 50% from the field. Saint Peter's defenders could only watch.
Jonas Aidoo watched too.
The Tennessee forward scored 15 points and Zeigler assisted on three of those baskets. A sizable lead that Aidoo helped build in the first half allowed him the chance to watch stretches from the bench where he was able to sit back and admire Zeigler.
"(Zeigler) is the head of this thing. He controls the team," Aidoo said. "He's going to tell us which spots to get to. It can be crazy passes you don't think you're going to get and it just falls in your hands. It's amazing. He's a wizard with the ball."
MORE FROM VOLREPORT: Why an 'angry' Jonas Aidoo is good for Tennessee basketball
It was a timely response from Zeigler, who was coming off of an uncharacteristic performance in Tennessee's loss to Mississippi State and subsequent exit from the SEC Tournament a week ago.
Visibly the most confident player on the floor anytime the Vols are playing, it was important for Zeigler to get back to that. It was important for his teammates to see him play that way, too.
"It was just my teammates being confident and me being confident," Zeigler said. "We knew it was going to be a physical game and I just wanted to be aggressive."
The Vols (25-8) are right back to looking like the best versions of themselves. That version almost always includes Zeigler playing at the level he did against Saint Peter's. Dalton Knecht scoring 20-plus and Jonas Aidoo having a commanding inside presence are the other parts of the equation.
Tennessee got the most out of all three and now it heads into a Round of 32 bout with 10-seed Texas (21-12) on Saturday (8 p.m. ET, CBS) in position to reach its third Sweet 16 in the last five years.
The Vols had to make a Sweet 16 run without Zeigler a year ago. Sidelined with an ACL tear late in the regular season, he watched the First Round in Orlando from his home in Knoxville but was with the team the following week in New York City when their season ended against Florida Atlantic.
MORE FROM VOLREPORT: Tennessee got its toughness back with defensive win over Saint Peter's
He approached his recovery like he approaches everything else and he was back to his old self before the calendar turned to January. Where Tennessee ends up this time will depend on Zeigler.
"(Zeigler's) DNA has impacted our program more than any player since we've been at Tennessee," Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said. "Maybe more than anybody I've ever coached."
"It's about us," Zeigler added. "We understand that. We've just got to be the best version of ourselves...We've just got to take it one game at time."
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