Tennessee Basketball Earns Multiple SEC Awards
Image: Eakin Howard
By Tyler Edmands
Tennessee made history on Monday afternoon, winning multiple SEC awards.
The most notable of the bunch was senior guard Zakai Zeigler, who won his second straight SEC Defensive Player of the Year award.
This is Zeigler’s second SEC DPOY award. He becomes the first player since Robert Williams (Texas A&M 2016-17, 2017-18) to win the award in consecutive years.
Zeigler additionally earned a spot on the SEC All-Defensive team. He’s one of just three players in SEC history to make the team three times — and the only SEC player to make it four times.
That may be worth repeating.
Zeigler is the first player in conference history to be a four-time selection to the All-Defensive team.
He finished the regular season averaging 1.9 steals per game, highlighted by his six-steal performance against Georgia on January 15th.
Zeigler also surpassed Santiago Vescovi to become the Vols’ all-time steals leader this season — with 239 and counting.
Zeigler also made First Team All-SEC, averaging 7.5 assists per game, the fifth-highest average in the NCAA.
Joining him on the SEC All-Defensive list is teammate Jahmai Mashack. The senior guard earned the honor for the first time after averaging 1.6 steals per game.
Mashack was named Field of 68’s National Defensive Player of the Year on Monday, as well. He joins Zeigler on the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year list.
With 49 total steals this season, Mashack has solidified himself as one of the nation’s best on-ball defenders. His best performance of the year was on December 17th when he plucked the ball five times from Western Carolina.
Fifth-year guard Chaz Lanier made a splash on Monday by winning the inaugural SEC Newcomer of the Year award, given to the transfer who made the biggest impact after not previously competing in the SEC.
He also earned Second Team All-SEC honors after transferring from North Florida in May.
Lanier started all 31 games for the Vols this season, averaging 17.9 points, 3.9 rebounds, and an assist per game. He heavily relied on his three-point shooting, leading the SEC with 105 made triples.
That was good enough for seventh in the NCAA. Lanier was efficient, too, knocking down 40 percent of his attempts on the season.