Zakai Zeigler earns SEC Defensive Player of the Year honors

Tennessee’s Zakai Zeigler earns SEC Defensive Player of the Year honors.

Tennessee junior guard Zakai Zeigler was named Southeastern Conference Player of the Year.

Zeigler also received First-Team All SEC honors. He averaged 1.9 steals per game during the regular-season and recorded multiple steals in 15 contests. Zeigler recorded four-plus steals seven times.

He was one of 15 players maned to the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year watch list.

In addition to his defensive contributions, Zeigler averaged 11.6 points, a league-leading 6.0 assists and 2.7 rebounds per game during the regular-season.

In SEC competition, he averaged 14.1 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. Zeigler led the league by averaging 7.0 assists per game.

Tennessee (24-7, 14-4 SEC) is the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament. The Vols will play Friday in the quarterfinals at 1 p.m. EDT at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.