Rece Davis took some time on “The Next Round” to consider how Tennessee would fare in the SEC Tournament as the Vols continue to adjust to playing without guard Zakai Zeigler.

Zeigler suffered a torn ACL and is out for the season. But the chances for the Vols to play well in the SEC Tournament did not completely leave with Zeigler, the ESPN host said. He was averaging 10.7 points, 5.4 assists and 2.0 steals, and was named a semifinalist for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year.

“They’ll still do well, they’re still a threat, because they guard,” Davis said. “Zeigler was a big part of that. He’s really difficult to handle because he stays so low to the floor and does so much for their offense and he gets up under you defensive and they’re certainly going to miss that. There’s no dancing around it. But they’ve still got a lot of good players. They’re still rugged on defense. So I don’t think it’s all over for Tennessee by any stretch of the imagination. But certainly the margin for error is much, much smaller guy that’s been important for them on both ends of the floor.”

Santiago Vescovi, Josiah-Jordan James and BJ Edwards are expected to handle the point guard duties.

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Sports betting in Tennessee officially launched on November 1, 2020, and many of the largest sportsbooks are live and operating in the volunteer state. Tennessee is only one of a handful of SEC football states with legalized sports betting.