Knoxville, Tennessee – Zakai Zeigler of the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team has been named a finalist for the Lefty Driesell Defensive Player of the Year Award, according to an announcement made Monday afternoon.
This is Zeigler’s second season as a finalist for the highest distinction. For the second year in a row, he was among the ten semifinalists for Naismith Defensive Player of the Year.
Zeigler had received SEC Defensive Player of the Year honors earlier this month. He is the second Volunteer to receive the accolade, and the third person under six feet, regardless of school, to do so.
The Long Island, N.Y. native is fourth in the SEC with 1.82 steals per game. In conference play, he finished second in the league with 2.11.
Zeigler now ranks ninth on Tennessee’s single-season steals list, with 62. His 180 steals during three years as a Volunteer ranked him fifth all-time in program history and fifth among active SEC players. In his career, Zeigler has averaged 1.83 steals per game, which ranks fourth all-time at Tennessee and second among active SEC players.
According to College Basketball Reference, Zeigler’s career steal percentage of 3.93 is sixth among SEC players over the last 14 seasons (2010-24), and he is also ninth in career defensive box plus/minus during that time with a 4.94 rating.
CollegeInsider.com presents the Jim Phelan Award, which honors the legendary coach who won 786 games over 41 seasons. The award winner is chosen by a
Zeigler is one of 25 finalists for the award, including 15 from a Power Six league and three from the Southeastern Conference. The other players in the latter category are Auburn’s Johni Broome and Texas A&M’s Andersson Garcia.
Zeigler and sixth-ranked, second-seeded Tennessee (26-8, 14-4 SEC) face No. 11-ranked, third-seeded Creighton in the Sweet 16 on Friday at 9:59 p.m., live on TBS and truTV from Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
