Rick Barnes and Zakai Zeigler had a great exchange after their Tennessee Volunteers lost in the Elite Eight on Sunday.
The Vols were the No. 2 seed in the Midwest Region and lost 69-50 to the Houston Cougars at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind. Tennessee had gone 30-8 and reached the Elite Eight for the second year in a row before losing.
Zeigler was Tennessee’s second-leading scorer with 13.6 points per game, and he led the team with 7.4 assists per game. The senior’s career has come to an end, which left him emotional. He gave Barnes, who has been his coach his entire college career, a big embrace.
This moment between Zakai Zeigler and Rick Barnes ❤️#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/nbxoN7tuRi
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 30, 2025
There aren’t many players these days who spend four years at the same college program, get better each year, and end up as a star player on the team. But that was Zeigler. His career with Tennessee coming to an end meant a little more to him than it would for a player who didn’t spend his entire career with the same program and coach.
This was the second year in a row that the Vols lost to the No. 1 seed in their region final. Last year it was No. 1 seed Purdue that took them out.
