Photo by: Andrew Ferguson/Tennessee Athletics
Lanier, Zeigler on Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 Watch List
January 07, 2025 | Men's Basketball
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Two members of the University of Tennessee men's basketball team are among the selections for the John R. Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 Watch List.
Fifth-year guard Chaz Lanier and senior guard Zakai Zeigler both made the cut, as announced Tuesday evening by the Los Angeles Athletic Club. Inclusion on the midseason list indicates players are predicted to potentially be a candidate for the Wooden Award All-America Team and Most Outstanding Player of the Year Award.
Lanier and Zeigler are one of just two teammate duos who earned the recognition, alongside Rutgers' Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper. A total of nine SEC competitors are listed among the 25 selections.
Last season, Tennessee had one of the five finalists for the award in guard Dalton Knecht, the SEC Player of the Year and a consensus First Team All-American.
Lanier is averaging 20.3 points per game in his first season as a Volunteer, while shooting 46.7 percent from beyond the arc. He leads the SEC in scoring and sits No. 14 nationally, plus places second in the league and No. 10 in Division I in 3-point percentage.
A native of Nashville, Tenn., Lanier is atop the SEC in both 3-point makes per game (4.0) and total 3-pointers made (56), good for second and third, respectively, in the country. His 100 made field goals rank second in the SEC and tie for No. 41 nationally. Lanier has scored at least 17 point in 11 of his 14 outings at Tennessee, with 22-plus in seven and 25-plus in four.
Zeigler is putting up 11.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, 8.0 assists and 1.9 steals per game in his fourth year in Knoxville. Already the two-time reigning SEC assists champion, he leads the league again this year while placing fifth nationally in assist average and sixth in total assists (112).
Hailing from Long Island, N.Y., Zeigler has three double-doubles this season, once finishing an assist shy of a triple-double. He is co-second in the SEC in both total minutes (472) and minutes per game (33.71), plus seventh in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.49), co-ninth in total steals (26), No. 10 in free-throw percentage (85.1) and co-No. 10 in steals per game (1.86).
Lanier and Zeigler have led Tennessee to the top spot in the national rankings each of the past five weeks, a program record. The Volunteers are the final undefeated team in the nation and have tied their best start ever.
The duo resumes play Tuesday at 7 p.m., as top-ranked Tennessee (14-0, 1-0 SEC) meets eighth-ranked Florida at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center in Gainesville, Fla., live on ESPN2.
To keep up with the University of Tennessee men's basketball team on social media, follow @Vol_Hoops on Instagram and X/Twitter, as well as /tennesseebasketball on Facebook. Â
WOODEN AWARD MIDSEASON TOP 25 WATCH LIST
Ace Bailey, Rutgers
Johni Broome, Auburn
Walter Clayton Jr., Florida
R.J. Davis, North Carolina
Hunter Dickinson, Kansas
Eric Dixon, Villanova
Jeremiah Fears, Oklahoma
Cooper Flagg, Duke
Keshon Gilbert, Iowa State
P.J. Haggerty, Memphis
Dylan Harper, Rutgers
Josh Hubbard, Mississippi State
Kasparas Jakucionis, Illinois
Tre Johnson, Texas
Kam Jones, Marquette
Ryan Kalbrenner, Creighton
Alex Karaban, Connecticut
Chaz Lanier, Tennessee
Ryan Nembhard, Gonzaga
Derik Queen, Maryland
Maxime Raynaud, Stanford
Mark Sears, Alabama
Braden Smith, Purdue
Wade Taylor IV, Texas A&M
Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee
Fifth-year guard Chaz Lanier and senior guard Zakai Zeigler both made the cut, as announced Tuesday evening by the Los Angeles Athletic Club. Inclusion on the midseason list indicates players are predicted to potentially be a candidate for the Wooden Award All-America Team and Most Outstanding Player of the Year Award.
Lanier and Zeigler are one of just two teammate duos who earned the recognition, alongside Rutgers' Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper. A total of nine SEC competitors are listed among the 25 selections.
Last season, Tennessee had one of the five finalists for the award in guard Dalton Knecht, the SEC Player of the Year and a consensus First Team All-American.
Lanier is averaging 20.3 points per game in his first season as a Volunteer, while shooting 46.7 percent from beyond the arc. He leads the SEC in scoring and sits No. 14 nationally, plus places second in the league and No. 10 in Division I in 3-point percentage.
A native of Nashville, Tenn., Lanier is atop the SEC in both 3-point makes per game (4.0) and total 3-pointers made (56), good for second and third, respectively, in the country. His 100 made field goals rank second in the SEC and tie for No. 41 nationally. Lanier has scored at least 17 point in 11 of his 14 outings at Tennessee, with 22-plus in seven and 25-plus in four.
Zeigler is putting up 11.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, 8.0 assists and 1.9 steals per game in his fourth year in Knoxville. Already the two-time reigning SEC assists champion, he leads the league again this year while placing fifth nationally in assist average and sixth in total assists (112).
Hailing from Long Island, N.Y., Zeigler has three double-doubles this season, once finishing an assist shy of a triple-double. He is co-second in the SEC in both total minutes (472) and minutes per game (33.71), plus seventh in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.49), co-ninth in total steals (26), No. 10 in free-throw percentage (85.1) and co-No. 10 in steals per game (1.86).
Lanier and Zeigler have led Tennessee to the top spot in the national rankings each of the past five weeks, a program record. The Volunteers are the final undefeated team in the nation and have tied their best start ever.
The duo resumes play Tuesday at 7 p.m., as top-ranked Tennessee (14-0, 1-0 SEC) meets eighth-ranked Florida at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center in Gainesville, Fla., live on ESPN2.
To keep up with the University of Tennessee men's basketball team on social media, follow @Vol_Hoops on Instagram and X/Twitter, as well as /tennesseebasketball on Facebook. Â
WOODEN AWARD MIDSEASON TOP 25 WATCH LIST
Ace Bailey, Rutgers
Johni Broome, Auburn
Walter Clayton Jr., Florida
R.J. Davis, North Carolina
Hunter Dickinson, Kansas
Eric Dixon, Villanova
Jeremiah Fears, Oklahoma
Cooper Flagg, Duke
Keshon Gilbert, Iowa State
P.J. Haggerty, Memphis
Dylan Harper, Rutgers
Josh Hubbard, Mississippi State
Kasparas Jakucionis, Illinois
Tre Johnson, Texas
Kam Jones, Marquette
Ryan Kalbrenner, Creighton
Alex Karaban, Connecticut
Chaz Lanier, Tennessee
Ryan Nembhard, Gonzaga
Derik Queen, Maryland
Maxime Raynaud, Stanford
Mark Sears, Alabama
Braden Smith, Purdue
Wade Taylor IV, Texas A&M
Zakai Zeigler, Tennessee
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