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Chaz Lanier named First Team All-SEC by Associated Press, Zakai Zeigler Second Team

IMG_3593by: Grant Ramey03/11/25GrantRamey
Chaz Lanier, Tennessee Basketball | Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
(Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images) Tennessee guard Chaz Lanier (2) smiles during a college basketball game between Tennessee and Norfolk State held at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center in Knoxville, Tenn., on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024.

Chaz Lanier was voted First Team All-SEC by the Associated Press on Tuesday and Zakai Zeigler was named to voted to the Second Team All-SEC. Bruce Pearl was named Coach of the Year, Johni Broome won Player of the Year and Texas guard Tre Johnson is the Freshman of the Year.

Lanier was joined on the First Team by Broome, Johnson, Florida’s Walter Clayton Jr. and Alabama’s Mark Sears.

On the Second Team with Zeigler was Mississippi State’s Josh Hubbard, Texas A&M’s Wade Taylor IV, Missouri’s Mark Mitchell and South Carolina’s Collin Murray-Boyles.

SEC coaches voted Zakai Zeigler Defensive Player of the Year, First Team All-SEC, All-Defense Team

Zeigler on Monday was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Year, as voted on by the league’s coaches, for a second straight season and Lanier was named Newcomer of the Year.

Zeigler was also voted First Team All-SEC by the coaches while Lanier was Second Team All-SEC. Jahmai Mashack made the All-Defensive Team alongside Zeigler. Missouri’s Caleb Grill was named Sixth-Man of the Year. 

Zeigler made history as the SEC’s first player to make the All-Defensive Team four times. He’s the third player to be named SEC Defensive Player of the Year multiple times, joining Robert Williams III (Texas A&M) and Jarvis Vernardo (Mississippi State). 

The league shifted from First and Second Teams that consisted of eight players each to First, Second and Third Teams with five players each. 

On the coaches’ First Team was Zeigler, Broome, Clayton, Sears and Taylor. On the Second Team with Lanier was Johnson, Hubbard, Murray-Boyles and Kentucky’s Otega Oweh. On the Third Team was Mitchell, Auburn’s Chad Baker-Mazara, Florida’s Alex Condon, Vanderbilt’s Jason Edwards and Ole Miss guard Sean Pedulla. 

Jahmai Mashack led Tennessee in defensive box plus/minus, tied for second nationally

Zeigler finished the regular season averaging 13.1 points, 7.5 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 1.9 steals in 33.9 minutes per game. He was third in the SEC in steals, led the league in assists and was fourth in minutes. 

Lanier was Tennessee’s plug-and-play scoring threat out of the NCAA Transfer Portal, averaging 17.9 points per game after transferring to the Vols from Northern Florida. He shot 43.2% from the field and 40.5% from the 3-point line. 

He was fifth in the SEC in scoring and was seventh in 3-point field goal percentage. 

Lanier averaged 19.7 points per game in a breakout year at North Florida last season, shooing 44.0% from the 3-point line and 51.0% from the field. 

He made 105 3-pointers this season, becoming just the third Tennessee player to make 100 or more in a season, joining Chris Lofton and Santiago Vescovi. Lanier is 13 3-pointers away from matching Lofton’s single-season record of 118. 

Mashack is tied for second nationally in defensive box plus/minus at 7.1. Duke freshman Cooper Flagg also has 7.1 rating while Houston’s Joseph Tugler leads the country at 7.3.

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