Light the Way: Tennessee’s Star Guards Talk Building Confidence and Chemistry En Route to Matching Best Start in Program History
This is Volunteer country. Where Uber drivers pull up proudly rocking their Tennessee orange and where stripes are always in season. Where high schoolers peek through the tempered glass of a closed-off gym trying to catch a glimpse of three of the best guards in the country. Where the Tennessee men’s basketball team has instilled a different type of energy throughout the foothills of the Smoky Mountains. That’s in part due to the dominant backcourt trio that led this year’s squad to tie the best start in program history, when it stormed out the gates to 14-0.
One member of that trio is leading the SEC in dimes with 7.6 a night. Another’s dropping 18.4 per game on anyone silly enough to drop back from the three-point line. And the third’s got a knack for silencing student sections and ending games with the flick of his wrist. Zakai Zeigler, Chaz Lanier and Jordan Gainey have got the Tennessee Volunteers sitting at No. 6 in the AP poll as they venture deeper into a stacked SEC conference lineup.
For the past two and a half months, they’ve been stitching their contributions to the cultural fabric of Tennessee hoops under the direction of legendary head coach Rick Barnes. The chemistry and connectivity that’s been witnessed through 19 games didn’t just click one day. The program’s star guards have been building toward this since the summer, featuring months and months of 1 on 1s.
“Oh, me and JG, every single day in practice,” Zakai says. “I’m telling you, people don’t understand, we go at each other like we don’t know each other. Like, we be talking trash, we be talking crazy to each other. Start fouling, we’ll start doing stuff outside of basketball. But you know, just being that competitor, we understand that when we go against each other like that, when we go out on the court and play against somebody we don’t know, it’s gonna be like, Oh this ain’t nothin’.”
The runs are competitive. “Like very competitive,” Zakai says, while reflecting on the outcomes of their past intensity. The Vols are living by the mantra “iron sharpens iron.” The results are in the 17-2 record they’ve established and their respective moments of brilliance. Jordan’s game-winning layup on the road in Champaign. Chaz’s 29-piece against then-No. 23 Arkansas. Zakai’s 6 steals against Georgia.
Alongside the commanding presence of both Igor Milicic Jr and Felix Okpara, with Jahmai Mashack, Darlinstone Dubar and Cade Phillips bolstering the rotation, the Vols are laser-focused on reaching the national championship. And to get there, the SEC’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year knows that his team’s energy starts with what he brings to the floor. For Zakai Zeigler, that’s baseline to baseline, surveying and attacking across all 94 feet of the hardwood.
“I feel like if I’m bringing that energy in the backcourt, picking up guys and slowing the ball down, it gives everyone else confidence on the defensive end and it just picks the energy up,” Zakai says. “I would say yeah, I put a little pressure on myself and expectations, but I wouldn’t even consider that as pressure. I would just say it’s something that I do every day and that I’m used to doing. I know if it’s going to help my teammates out, help my brothers out, then I’m gonna do it for sure.”
The Long Island, NY, native has been orchestrating both sides of the ball for the Vols since the tail end of his sophomore campaign. Ever since then, it’s been a flurry of defensive masterclasses, perfectly timed passes and the necessary amount of heroics with the rock in his hands as the starting point guard. He can heat up instantly, like when he willed the Vols to a 4-point win over Texas after posting 6 points in the final minute of the game. He beats opponents to their spot with a single slide, picks their pockets and then flies past with ease before setting up a teammate for a wide-open look.
Tennessee’s two-way stalwart is averaging 12.2 points. 7.6 assists and 2.1 steals a game. But the influence and leadership that exists through his play can’t be quantified, only felt.
“I would say Syracuse, that was a game where my energy was really high. I remember one point in time in the game, I told JG, Yo, I’m turnt up right now. I’m active right now. He remembers what I’m talking about,” Zakai says, while Jordan affirms. “Facts.”
“Just moments like that I know I’m picked up or I’m turnt up whether I’m making a shot or not, it’s going to pick everybody else around me up,” Zakai adds.
Empowering his teammates extends to every aspect of the game, especially from the bench. Case in point, a mid-December slugfest against Illinois in enemy territory. Widely remembered in Knoxville as “the Jordan Gainey game.”
Chaz had put up 17 but fouled out with a little over three minutes remaining, while Zakai sat next to him after also fouling out. Nerves and stress didn’t exist, even with the score tied at 64 apiece with just 5.7 seconds left in the game. The two guards felt nothing but confidence as Jordan inbounded the ball and instantly received the rock back, going coast-to-coast in just four dribbles before laying it off the glass as time expired with a mob of Tennessee orange surrounding him on the baseline. Twenty-three on the night, 18 in the final 14 minutes.
“Having moments of success like that, I look back at the first time I stepped foot on a college campus. My freshman year, I was at USC Upstate; just being able to see the journey that I’ve had and how I’ve come here. The path that I’ve gone through has helped me in moments like that,” Jordan says.
The 6-4 former All-Big South First Team honoree spent the first two years of his collegiate career out in Valley Falls, SC, leading USC Upstate in points (15.1) and steals (1.9) as a sophomore. And for the past two seasons, he’s found a home in Knoxville as the sixth man off the bench playing starter minutes. The transfer portal’s been good to Tennessee. Like, real good. New means of buckets continue to be discovered, including the reliable scoring punch of fifth-year guard Chaz Lanier.
After dominating the ASUN conference at North Florida last season, the former Tennessee Mr. Basketball finalist found his way back to his home state this past summer. The portal was chaotic, Chaz admits. But once the Vols got involved, the Nashville native knew the situation he was waiting for had arrived.
“I knew the opportunity was going to be special. And then on my official visit, when I came to Tennessee, all the guys were surrounding me in the locker room. We had a good little celebration. I just knew it was home.” Chaz says. “I knew that I’d be joining something that was bigger than me.”
We haven’t even hit the midway point of conference play and No. 2 has already cemented himself as one of the best scorers in the country. Less than an inch of space is needed for the 6-5 guard to have the confidence to launch it. Miami caught a clinic featuring 22 points strictly off jumpers. Baylor got scorched by seven of his threes. Fading one dribble pulls off the pick-and-roll are automatic. The averages: 18.4 points, 3.2 boards, 1.2 steals. Yup, he locks up too.
“The standard for this team is definitely toughness,” Chaz says. “Knowing they’re in the foxhole with you and that you’ll do anything for your brother.”
The established feeling of a brotherhood is shared throughout the roster. It’s felt inside the gym of Farragut High School where Chaz, Jordan and Zakai pose for flicks and fall into bouts of laughter as they reminisce on their memories from the season. The scene is just a snapshot of a much larger picture that hangs 17 miles down the road. In between the soul food dinners, endless battles during practice and the countless 1s played afterward, they’ve laid the foundation for the team’s ultimate goal. Toughness and perseverance will light the way.
“When the season’s closed, I want [us] to be remembered as a national champion and nothing less than that,” Zakai says. “Yeah, we want an SEC championship. We want an SEC tournament championship. But we’re going for the big trophy. We made history already with starting off the best in over 100 years, but we’re looking at something bigger than that.”
Portraits by Horizon Media Group.
