Duo Of UT Basketball Players Up For Major National Awards
Image: Andrew Ferguson/Tennessee Athletics
By Cody McClure
It’s a good time to be a Tennessee Basketball fan.
The men’s team is having plenty of success this season, having posted a 24-5 record and being on track to earn the program’s first-ever No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
As a result, a couple of key players are up for big awards.
It was announced earlier this week by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame that senior Zakai Zeigler is a finalist for the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award.
He’s one of just five finalists for the award along with Walter Clayton Jr. (Florida), Kam Jones (Marquette), Braden Smith (Purdue), and Mark Sears (Alabama).
Zeigler’s teammate Chaz Lanier, meanwhile, is a finalist for the 2025 Jerry West Award.
Lanier will be competing with Caleb Love (Arizona), VJ Edgecombe (Baylor), Tre Johnson (Texas), and PJ Haggerty (Memphis) for the award that honors the nation’s top shooting guard.
Both Lanier and Zeigler were on the Naismith Trophy’s Midseason Team — an elite list of just 30 players nationally.