NASHVILLE — Zakai Zeigler and Dylan Cardwell raised their arms over their heads at the same time Saturday.
The Tennessee basketball guard and the Auburn forward had vastly different reasons for doing so in the SEC Tournament semifinals. Cardwell implored Auburn fans at Bridgestone Arena to unleash noise. Zeigler and the Vols sought a reprieve.
Zeigler paced to the Vols bench clapping his hands before taking over the huddle with less than five minutes to play.
“ ‘We are good.’ When they went on that run, that is all he said,” Vols assistant coach Lucas Campbell said.
The Vols called timeout after Auburn scored 10 points in 45 seconds, vaporizing the bulk of a 12-point Tennessee lead. No. 4 seed Tennessee settled down and held the top-seeded Tigers to five points in the final 4:48 to win 70-65 and reach the SEC Tournament title game Sunday (1 p.m. ET, ESPN) against No. 2 seed Florida (29-4).
How Zakai Zeigler ‘puts a battery’ in his teammates
Zeigler oozed confidence and positivity in that huddle.
The senior has been in every situation imaginable. He has played in tight postseason games and elite matchups. Saturday surely felt like a pressure-packed scene to most, but it didn’t Zeigler.
“We have been in a lot of big-time moments,” Zeigler said. “Not only myself but Jahmai (Mashack) and Jordan (Gainey). We have been in tough moments. I feel like guys seeing us take a pause and stay calm, that puts a battery in their back. They think they are fine, too.”
Auburn (28-5) had scored on six straight possessions before the Tennessee (27-6) timeout.
The Vols took a 62-50 lead with 6:58 to play after Gainey soared for a key rebound between Johni Broome and Chad Baker-Mazara. Auburn made it a 64-60 lead with a 3-pointer, two free throws and another 3-pointer.
The lead shrunk to two when Broome — the SEC player of the year — scored again.
“As long as we sustain their run and don’t let it get too out of hand, we will be perfectly fine,” Zeigler said.
Zeigler again stabilized the Vols in a timeout after the 10-0 Auburn run. He preached getting a stop. Felix Okpara provided it. Broome missed a shot and tried for an offensive rebound. Okpara won the fight.
“We went out and got a stop on that one,” Campbell said. “It feels like it resets.”
How Tennessee got the stops it needed to beat Auburn
Vols assistant coach Rod Clark preached winning 50-50 balls against Auburn. The Vols lost too many of those in a 53-51 loss at Auburn in January.
That is a way Tennessee could win the game.
FELIX: How Felix Okpara escaped international basketball’s ‘dark side’ — and found family in Tennessee
Okpara got the first when he got the Vols the stop they needed. Cade Phillips got the next, tipping in a Chaz Lanier miss for a crucial two points.
“This was an Elite Eight, Final Four matchup right here,” Gainey said. “Just being able to see how we handle adversity throughout the game was really good. … We were ready for it.”
Gainey all but sealed the win when he rolled around an Okpara screen and beat Cardwell to the rim. He lofted a lefty layup off the glass for a five-point lead with 2:23 to play.
Auburn scored three points and made only one field goal in the final 4:10.
“It is the ultimate confidence-booster of us understanding we are one of the toughest teams in the country — if not the toughest team in the country,” Clark said of the win.
The Vols already believed that about themselves. The 5-foot-9 tone-setter wearing No. 5 is a central reason why. He was that again Saturday, strolling into a timeout and guiding the Vols onward on the SEC Tournament.
“He is built for big games because he has been in a million of them,” Clark said.
Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on X @ByMikeWilson or Bluesky @bymikewilson.bsky.social. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Zakai Zeigler: Tennessee basketball star’s timeout talk key vs Auburn
