KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Tennessee basketball star Zakai Zeigler's legal effort to play a fifth season on Rocky Top hit its first roadblock on Friday when a federal judge denied a request for a preliminary injunction to allow him to suit up for the 2025-2026 season.

Zeigler filed the lawsuit last month arguing that NCAA rules allowing four seasons of competition in a five-year eligibility window constituted an illegal restraint of trade in violation of state and federal law.

US District Judge Katherine Crytzer denied a motion for a preliminary injunction on Friday, ruling that the eligibility rules were neither commercial in nature, nor produced an anticompetitive effect substantial enough to constitute a violation of federal antitrust law.

While the bid for immediate temporary relief

See Full Page