Tennessee guard Zakai Zeigler expected to miss game against Florida

Tennessee guard Zakai Zeigler will not play against Florida on Saturday.

The eighth-ranked Volunteers’ leader at the point was listed as out on the injury report published by the conference Saturday morning. Zeigler briefly left Tuesday’s game against Kentucky with a right knee injury but came back to start the second half and eventually finished the game for Tennessee. According to a report from ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Zeigler did not practice on Thursday, putting his status for the game in jeopardy.

Zeigler has started in each of Tennessee’s first 21 games of the season and he leads the team in minutes played, averaging 34.3 a night. He is the Vols’ second-leading scorer, with 12.3 points per game. He also averages an SEC-leading 7.4 assists per game and 2.1 steals per game.

Without Zeigler, Tennessee is expected to turn to sixth man Jordan Gainey as its lead guard. Gainey is more of an off-ball guard, so there will likely be some bumps along the way. He averages 10.8 points and 1.7 assists per game this season. Forward Igor Milicic Jr. is the only other player in the Tennessee rotation that averages at least 2 assists per game.

The Volunteers (17-4, 4-4 SEC) host the fifth-ranked Gators (18-2, 5-2) at noon ET on ESPN on Saturday. Tennessee is a 3-point favorite, via bet365. Tennessee residents looking to bet on the game can do so with this bet365 Tennessee bonus code.

Walter Clayton Jr. Injury Update: Star Florida guard limps to locker room vs. Vols

This was the last thing Florida Gators basketball fans wanted to see on Saturday. In the middle of the action on the road against No. 8 Tennessee, standout guard Walter Clayton Jr. landed awkwardly on his ankle and he was in a ton of pain on the hardwood.

It took several moments for him to get up and play even had to be stopped with him down. Eventually, Clayton was helped up, but he couldn’t make his way back to the bench. Instead, he immediately turned around and headed straight to the locker room, limping his way back with the help of trainers. This looked like a serious injury for him, which hade fans worried.

Florida guard Walter Clayton Jr. back on the floor vs. Tennessee

Thankfully, though, while things looked pretty bad at first, Florida came out of the locker room for the second half and the team announced that Clayton was good to go. When Clayton first went down, countless people back home feared the worst, thinking that he’d potentially miss extensive time.

Clayton has been unreal to watch for Florida this season and he’s one of the main reasons why this team is ranked No. 5 in the country. In order for the Gators to keep playing at a high level and potentially make noise in March and early April, Florida will need Clayton close to 100 percent.

Fortunately for Todd Golden, Clayton’s ankle is just fine and he’s going to keep balling out for the team. Entering Saturday’s tilt against the Vols, the 6-3, 195-pounder was averaging 17.8 points and 4.0 assists per contest.