Zakai Za’Miek Zeigler (born August 2, 2002) is an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. He played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the

Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in Division I of the National Colleg ...

High school career

Zeigler graduated from

Our Saviour Lutheran School Our Saviour Lutheran School is a private, Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, co-educational school in Morris Park, Bronx, New York City, New York, United States. The origins of its younger grades' school began in 1942, and its high school was esta ...

The Bronx, New York The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County to its north; to its south and west, the New York City bo ...

, after transferring from Immaculate Conception High School in

Montclair, New Jersey Montclair is a Township (New Jersey), township in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated on the cliffs of the Watchung Mountains, Montclair is a commercial and cultural hub of North Jersey and a diverse ...

. With Immaculate Conception, Zeigler averaged 20.3 points and 4.6 assists per game. A three-star recruit, he committed to play

at the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...

over offers from

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private university, private Catholic Jesuits, Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1863 by the Society of Jesus, a Catholic Religious order (Catholic), religious order, t ...

, and

Wichita State Wichita State University (WSU) is a public university, public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 ...

College career

In his freshman season, Zeigler made an immediate impact. He finished the season averaging 8.8 points per game while shooting 35% from three. The following season, Zeigler averaged 10.7 points and 5.4 assists per game before his season prematurely ended after he tore his

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation. In ...

in a game against

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

. Zeigler returned to action the next season with limited playing time. His role increased throughout the season as he recovered, eventually being named the SEC Defensive Player of the Year at the season's end. He averaged 11.8 points, 6.1 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game.

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

, 35 , , 1 , , 22.1 , , .381 , , .352 , , .843 , , 1.9 , , 2.7 , , 1.7 , , 0.1 , , 8.8 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 30 , , 15 , , 28.8, , .375, , .311 , , .833 , , 2.7 , , 5.4 , , 2.0 , , 0.2 , , 10.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2023–24 , style="text-align:left;",

, 36 , , 30 , , 31.6 , , .393 , , .344 , , .706 , , 2.8 , , 6.1 , , 1.7 , , 0.1 , , 11.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2024–25 , style="text-align:left;",

, 37 , , 37 , , 34.3 , , .404 , , .322 , , .814 , , 2.9 , , 7.4 , , 1.9 , , 0.2 , , 13.6 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 138 , , 83 , , 29.3 , , .390 , , .331 , , .794 , , 2.6 , , 5.4 , , 1.8 , , 0.2 , , 11.3

Personal life

Zeigler's half-brother, Armoni, plays for the Saint Peter's Peacocks men's basketball team.

References

External links

Tennessee Volunteers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeigler, Zakai 2002 births Living people 21st-century American sportsmen All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from New York (state) Immaculate Conception High School (Montclair, New Jersey) alumni People from Long Island Point guards Tennessee Volunteers basketball players