How Rick Barnes challenged Zakai Zeigler, unleashed All-American performance for Tennessee vs Vanderbilt

Rick Barnes knows the look.

It’s the look Zakai Zeigler gets when he’s the player the Tennessee basketball coach expects him to be — even moreso, when Zeigler is the player he expects to be.

Barnes wanted to see that look Saturday against Vanderbilt. So Barnes did something about it, tossing words he wouldn’t normally say to Zeigler to challenge the point guard he trusts deeply

“Who is getting respect right now and who is getting disrespected?” Barnes asked Zeigler as he turned in a lousy first half defined by uncharacteristic play.

The words struck a chord, bringing out the All-America version of Zeigler that Tennessee had to have at Food City Center.

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He scored 22 second-half points after going scoreless in the first half against Vanderbilt. He hit clutch 3-pointers, wove for contested layups and dropped timely passes to lift No. 4 Tennessee to its 81-76 win against the Commodores.

“He is at his best when he plays angry and with a chip on his shoulder,” Barnes said. “That is when he is at his best. He has always been a fighter his whole life.”

Zeigler’s path to Tennessee is well-told by now.

He took a two-hour train ride each way from Long Island to New Jersey to play high school basketball. He bet on himself and put a spotlight on his play with a starring show at Peach Jam in Augusta, Georgia, in July 2021. That performance landed him at Tennessee, changing his future and starting his path to Vols legend.

It was during those formative years that Zeigler learned to embrace getting mad on the court. He heard his mom, Charmane, often tell him to pull that fire from within. Part of that is life as an undersized point guard. Part of that is just being a Zeigler.

He takes a potentially negative emotion and makes it a positive.

“I feel like my whole life, I was always like that in a way,” Zeigler said. “If I am playing angry, I might have a smile on my face but I might be a little bit mad. Playing angry, I feel like I am being a little bit more aggressive you could say.”

Take Saturday’s second half.

He lobbed an assist to Felix Okpara to start the Tennessee (21-5, 8-5 SEC) comeback with one of his eight assists. He hit a 3-pointer on the possession after picking up a technical foul following a feisty tie-up.

Zeigler was at his best in the final four minutes against the Commodores (17-8, 5-7). The Vols put the ball in his hands with similar actions over and over.

He got a layup for a 69-67 lead. He made two free throws. He put Vanderbilt guard Jason Edwards on the court with a lightning-quick crossover dribble, firing a pass to Jahmai Mashack for a corner 3-pointer — the biggest shot of the game.