Volunteer Country

Trio of Vols Receive All-SEC Honors From the League's Coaches

Three members of the Vols' backcourt receive All-SEC Honors from the conference's coaches after productive seasons.

Jack Foster

Three Tennessee basketball guards earned All-SEC coaches postseason honors, the league announced on Tuesday. Junior Santiago Vescovi and the freshman duo of Kennedy Chandler and Zakai Zeigler all earned honors. 

Vescovi earned a spot on the All-SEC first-team roster, while Chandler earned a spot on the All-SEC second-team squad. 

Chandler also received a spot on the All-SEC Freshman Team after his impressive freshman season in which he averaged 13.8 points per game, 4.4 assists per game and 2.2 steals per game, a stat that led the conference, in SEC play.  

Vescovi becomes the third Vol to earn All-SEC first-team honors since Rick Barnes took over as Tennessee's head coach in 2015, joining Grant williams (2018,2019) and Admiral Schofield (2019). The Uruguayan native is recognized after putting together a career year on Rocky Top, averaging a league-high 44.5 three-point shooting percentage in SEC play, as well as totaling 57 made three-pointers and averaging 14.3 points per game against conference opponents. 

Freshman point guard and the Vols' fan-favorite 'sparkplug' Zakai Zeigler earned a spot on the SEC All-Defensive Team while also joining Chandler on the All-SEC Freshman roster. 

Zeigler becomes the fourth Vol in program history to be selected to the SEC All-Defensive Team, and he is the first to do it as a freshman.

JaJuan Smith ('08), Josh Richardson ('14, '15) and Yves Pons ('20, '21) were the other Vols to get the defensive honors. 

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Tennessee recently moved to No. 9 in the AP Top 25 rankings, earning their first Top-10 ranking of the season. Despite being ahead of them in the SEC standings, No. 5 Kentucky still came out ahead of Tennessee in the March 7 rankings to join No. 4 Auburn as the top two SEC teams in the Top 25. 

Up next for Volunteer basketball is the SEC Tournament, in which Tennessee earned a No. 2 seed after knocking off Arkansas this past Saturday. The Vols will take on the winner of No. 10 Mississippi State vs. No. 7 South Carolina. The Vols went a collective 3-0 against the Gamecocks and Bulldogs this season. 

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Jack Foster
JACK FOSTER

Jack is a sophomore at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville majoring in Journalism/Electronic Media. Jack grew up in Paris, Tennessee, but now spends the majority of his time in Knoxville doubling as a student and sports journalist for Volunteer Country. Jack has been a sports junkie since he was a young kid and always watched NFL football with his dad on Sundays. Jack still follows the NFL religiously, as he is an avid fantasy football player. Jack started with Volunteer Country in May of 2021 and has since helped provide full coverage of football, baseball and men's and women's basketball. Jack also works as a recurring member of WUTK's Rock Solid Sports show on Wednesdays and Fridays, and he also serves as head sports producer of The Volunteer Channel's Vol News, a student-run show at the University. When Jack is not watching or covering sports, find him on the golf course or back home spending time with his parents, younger sister and friends. Follow Jack on Twitter and Instagram by clicking "Twitter" and "Instagram" to see all of his work with Volunteer Country as well as student media.