INDIANAPOLIS — Zakai Zeigler and Tennessee booked a spot in the Elite Eight with a 78-65 win over Kentucky, avenging a pair of regular-season losses to advance to a regional final for the second consecutive season.
The second-seeded Vols (30-7) went from Sweet to Elite on Friday with a super-sized effort from the smallest player on the court.
Zeigler had 18 points and 10 assists and dogged the Wildcats’ hot-shooting guard trio into a rough closing performance in the Midwest Region semifinal. Zeigler crippled the Kentucky defense in the first half, repeatedly carving his way into the lane to establish a double-digit lead the Vols carried most of the game.
Chaz Lanier scored 17 points and Jordan Gainey added 16 for the Volunteers.
Lamont Butler led third-seeded Kentucky (24-12) with 18 points and hit four of the Wildcats’ six 3-pointers.
Urgency set in too late for Kentucky. Butler began knocking down shots and sparked some faint noise from the Wildcats’ crowd with a pair of 3s and an aggressive downhill drive, only to be shaken by Zeigler on the other end with Gainey cutting through the lane for a sweeping right-handed flush to kick the Tennessee advantage back to 15.
A Zeigler steal on the inbounds led to a contested 3 from the right wing with Kentucky’s 6-foot-10 Brandon Garrison — closing out with a lunge and both arms outstretched toward the shot — turned into just another Superman freezeframe for the Tennessee point guard. As the triple circled the rim and went down, a spinebuster play for Kentucky, Zeigler posed in Garrison’s mug and the Wildcats trudged off the floor down 65-48 with less than nine minutes to go.
Sparked by Naismith Defensive Player of the Year semifinalists Zeigler and Jahmai Mashack, Tennessee appeared to be playing with five All-SEC defenders on Friday. Mashack had five steals and helped force 12 Kentucky turnovers.
The Vols were determined to restrict perimeter shots after Kentucky went 12 of 24 from 3-point range in both regular-season matchups.
There were no open looks to be found for the Wildcats, the only team to shoot 50 percent in a game (twice) against Tennessee this season. Top scorers Otega Oweh and Koby Brea were limited to 18 combined points and shot a collective 6 of 19 from the floor.
Butler made a 3 with 1:09 left and Kentucky closed to 78-65.
Kentucky cut the halftime deficit to 43-28 with back-to-back scores from Oweh and Collin Chandler. Tennessee kept the cushion at 12 or better the entire second half.
