Tennessee basketball coach Rick Barnes announced Friday that Long Island, New York, point guard Zakai Zeigler (pronounced: zuh-KY ZEE-glur) has signed with the Volunteers.
Zeigler has enrolled and will be eligible to play as a freshman with Tennessee this season.
“Zakai is a great story—the type of kid who’s just built to work hard and beat the odds,” Barnes said. “He’s got that New York City guard presence. He’s tough, he understands how to run a team and he’s a winner. As a natural point guard, he can control the tempo of the game on both ends of the floor. He turned a lot of heads with his shooting and all-around play at the Peach Jam. And we love that he guards full-court and has shown the ability to really impact the game defensively.”
Playing for his AAU team, the New York Lightning, Zeigler had a breakout showing in six games at the Peach Jam last month, averaging 15.3 points and 5.5 assists per game while boasting a 4.7 assist-to-turnover ratio. He also connected on 50 percent of his 3-point shots.
Against eventual Peach Jam champion Team Final, Zeigler had 23 points on 7-for-8 shooting from 3-point range while also tallying 10 assists, three steals, three rebounds with no turnovers. The Season Ticket rated Zeigler’s showing against Team Final as the “Best Performance” of the 2021 Peach Jam. Zeigler and the Lightning went 4-2 overall at the event.
Zeigler follows the likes of Bernard King, Ernie Grunfeld, Tobias Harris, Howard Wood and Kevin Punter Jr. as Vols who hail from the New York City area. He graduated from Our Saviour Lutheran School in The Bronx, but he played the 2020-21 season with Immaculate Conception High School in Montclair, New Jersey, averaging 20 points and 4.6 assists per game.
Zeigler—who will wear jersey No. 5—rounds out Tennessee’s top-five-ranked 2021 signing class that includes Jonas Aidoo, Kennedy Chandler, Quentin Diboundje, Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, Jahmai Mashack, Handje Tamba and Auburn transfer Justin Powell.
-UT Athletics
