Art of the steal: How Tennessee's backcourt ball pressure could spark an NCAA Tournament run

DETROIT — Zakai Zeigler heard the scouting report and started staring down Tennessee assistant coach Rod Clark. But the coach wasn’t looking in the point guard’s direction as the Vols prepped for Texas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Charlotte last week.

Zeigler wanted to guard Max Abmas in the Longhorn backcourt. Clark and Tennessee’s coaching staff had other plans, instead putting him on Tyrese Hunter.

“I was just giving him a look,” Zeigler said Thursday. “He wasn’t looking my way, I was just staring at him like, you serious? We went out to the court before the game and I’m like, yo, what’s up with you? 

“Like, what’s up with this? I had told you days ago, like, this is going be my matchup.”

Last season, in Tennessee’s 82-71 win over Texas at Thompson-Boling Arena, Zeigler had harassed Hunter for all 32 minutes he was on the floor. He scored seven points, he shot 2-for-6 and he had two turnovers.

It was exactly what the Vols needed again. 

“Zakai was a little bit upset with me,” Clark said, “because he wanted Max and I told him, no, we need you on Tyrese Hunter. Because last year you guarded him at our place and you threw off their entire offense by just disrupting his rhythm. And that was big for us down the stretch. And the same thing applied to that game last week.”

Last week, in the 62-58 win over Texas, Hunter scored 13 points on 6-for-11 shooting, but committed a team-high six turnovers. Abmas and Hunter combined for 10 of the 17 Texas turnovers, which led to 15 difference-making points for Tennessee. 

“Yeah, it definitely was the right move,” Zeigler admitted Thursday. 

When No. 2 Tennessee (26-8) faces No. 3 Creighton (25-9) on Friday (10:09 p.m. Eastern Time, TBS/truTV) in the Sweet 16 at Little Caesars Arena, the Vols will need all the right moves all over again in the backcourt. 

In the NCAA Tournament Midwest Region semifinal, Tennessee faces a Bluejay team that gets a bulk of its production from guards Baylor Scheierman, Trey Alexander and Steven Ashwroth.

If this run is going to continue, it starts with pressure and disruptions in the backcourt.

“He’s going to be a guy that we need to be ultra aggressive,” Clark said of Zeigler. “And I could see them, with as talented as some of their other guards are, I could see them trying to take whatever matchup he has and get him off the ball and use other guys, which is going to make our other guys have to step their game up when it comes to pressuring the basketball.”

The Mindset 

One particular possession stood out from the rest against Texas on Saturday at the Spectrum Center.

With Tennessee leading by two with just over seven minutes left in the first half, Hunter ran the baseline as Zeigler chased a few steps behind. Zeigler dipped his shoulder to get past a screen and turn the corner as quickly as he could, making up the necessary ground to stretch out his right arm and deflect a pass from Abmas to Hunter.

“They had me beat for a little bit,” Zeigler said, “but they were being kind of lackadaisical with the ball and I saw that and I just went for it and I grabbed it.”

Zeigler beat Hunter to the loose ball and started a fast break the other direction. 

How fulfilling is that moment for a guard that prides himself on the pressure he puts on the ball? For a guard that is the front man for a Tennessee defense known for breaking rhythms?

“Really fulfilling,” Zeigler said, “because I just feel like that was a moment of us showing the pressure that we had on Texas the whole night. And just us saying, going into the game, we’re not going to give up anything easy.” 

The play was an example of Zeigler at his best on the defensive end. And what separates his steal attempts from those of Santiago Vescovi.

Both Vescovi and Zeigler had three steals against Texas, with Vescovi becoming Tennessee’s all-time steals leader with 212. Zeigler can reset the record next season, sitting on 181 career steals in his third season with the Vols. 

Zeigler has 62 this season, after getting 59 as a sophomore and 60 as a freshman. Vescovi had a career-high 60 last season and 58 in 2021-22.

“I would say Santi is really smart,” Zeigler said, “and I feel like I gamble a lot. Santi is a really smart defender so he knows. I don’t know how he does it, but he has really quick hands and he has quick feet.”

It’s a mentality, too. Quick hands and fast feed are required. So is Vescovi’s basketball IQ and some of Zeigler’s gambling. But if the mindset isn’t there, the turnovers aren’t being forced.

“You could talk about all the tactics,” Clark said, “and skill and how smart they are and all of those things, but there are a lot of guys that have those same attributes. They obviously are not as vicious as on-ball defenders as they are. It’s their will, it’s their competitiveness, it’s their heart, it’s the fire that they play with where in their mind it’s like, I’m going to take the ball from you. 

“That’s how competitive they are. And having those guys, and as special as they are on-ball defenders, obviously going into every game we feel confident in our back court handling the job and canceling other guys out from their activity and what they bring.”

‘His job every time we go out is to create havoc’

Tennessee coaches had one point of emphasis that was bigger than the rest entering the Texas game. Zeigler, Vescovi and the other guards couldn’t get screened. 

“You guys are on your own,” Clark said, “don’t get screened. Get into the ball, press them, turn them over, throw off their time and their rhythm.”

The screens will be there again, all over the floor, Friday night against Creighton. Head coach Greg McDermott’s screen-heavy offense is one of the best, most productive and most efficient in college basketball. 

And again, it will start with Zeigler at the top of the defense. 

“Guys try to take him out of the game,” Clark said, “but at some point they have to see him. And we’re going to make sure that we do a good job of putting him in matchups where he can be successful. 

“And it’s him understanding his job every time we go out is to create havoc and do what he does, basically. We don’t want him to do anything other than what he does and he does that every night.”

After the win over Texas, Clark found Zeigler and said the 10 turnovers in the Texas backcourt, and the six committed by Hunter, was the exact reason Zeigler was matched up against him and not Abmas. 

Zeigler acknowledged it was the right move while already turning his attention toward whatever matchup would be next.

“Zakai is huge when it comes to that man,” Clark said. “He’s big and we need that. That’s as big as a part of our high-level defense as it is in any other position. If we don’t have the constant pressure on the ball like that, it’s tough for us to have a top-five defense.”

“(The coaches) put a whole bunch into it,” Zeigler added, “and it’s just us listening to them and locking in on their scouts because they watch more film than all of us probably combined. So just locking in on what they got to say.”

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