Tennessee guard Zakai Zeigler takes a major step following the denial of a preliminary injunction for his eligibility

Tennessee Volunteers guard Zakai Zeigler is taking a stand for his eligibility this college basketball offseason. On June 11, the senior's preliminary injunction to play out a fifth year with the Volunteers was reportedly denied by the federal judge handling the case between him and the NCAA.

On Tuesday, June 17, @On3sports on X reported that Zeigler and his camp have decided to appeal the denial in the hopes of still being able to play one final year at Tennessee. On May 21, the veteran cog filed a lawsuit against the league in hopes of playing in his fifth year.

In this back-and-forth commotion between Zeigler's camp and the governing bodies of college basketball, the main point that the former has been attacking is the NCAA's rule of players playing out four seasons in five years.

According to the report by Nick Schultz of On3, they feel that this is "an unlawful restraint of trade under federal and state antitrust laws."

Zakai Zeigler feels that the Tennessee Volunteers program has made an invaluable mark on him

When the Tennessee Volunteers' 2024-25 season ended, Zakai Zeigler gave a statement to On3 wherein he talked about how much of an impact coach Rick Barnes' program has made to him. The Long Island, New York native has spent all of his four college basketball seasons with Barnes' program, wherein he has become a steady perimeter player.

"Coming into Knoxville, I didn’t have any expectations for anything like that. All I did was ask Coach Barnes for a chance and he gave it to me. The mark that they left on me and my family, they changed our lives, really. I’m just so thankful for each and every person that’s a part of Vol Nation. I’m so thankful for the coaches, so thankful for my teammates," Zeigler was quoted as saying. "I'm so thankful for everybody that’s part of Tennessee as a whole. Accolades, I couldn’t do anything like that without my teammates. I couldn’t do anything like that without my coaches. The mark that Tennessee has left on me is really crazy to just think about. It’s been the best four years of my life," he added.

During his time with the Volunteers, Zeigler has averaged 11.3 points, 2.6 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.8 steals per contest. In what may end up as his last stint of collegiate hoops in the 2024-25 season, Zeigler and Co. finished with an overall record of 30-8 (12-6 SEC).

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Edited by Chaitanya Prakash