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During the SEC Network broadcast of Tuesday’s Tennessee/ Georgia game, Tom Hart announced that the Queens, New York apartment of Charmane Zeigler, Zakai’s mom, burned down in a fire this past weekend.
“They lost it all,” Rick Barnes said, via the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
Hart said that Charmane was at the game and traveling with the team currently, but he also mentioned the Tennessee administration was in the process of setting up a way for Tennessee fans to support Zeigler and his family.
#VolNation — tonight’s outpouring of support for Zakai and his family, though not surprising, has been incredible.
— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) March 2, 2022
We will have more details tomorrow on how you can help. But in the meantime, please continue to share your love with Zakai
“It’s been a very emotional day,” Barnes said. “He saw his mom here for the first time since the fire. It’s been a tough couple days for him.”
KNS said that Zeigler found out about the fire after Tennessee’s 67-62 win against Auburn Saturday.
Zeigler struggled on the floor Tuesday and understandably so. He scored just two points on 1-7 shooting with three assists and two turnovers. A bad game for Zeigler has become the exception lately — prior to the UGA game, Zeigler had scored in double figures in nine of the last 10 games and averaged 13 points, two made 3s and 2.5 steals over that stretch.
You can now help Zeigler’s family by contributing via GoFundMe, which was set up on Wednesday.
The outpouring of support has been unbelievable! We’ll get through this. All love, #VolNation!! https://t.co/OAdsYy6w6S
— Zakai Zeigler (@Realzakaiz) March 2, 2022