CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Brotherly love?
Not exactly.
Not when they’re playing against each other, which will be the case when Long Island half-brothers Zakai Zeigler from Tennessee and Armoni Zeigler from Saint Peter’s square off in Thursday’s NCAA Tournament opening-round game at the Spectrum Center.
Wednesday brought some comic relief with Zakai, the Vols point guard, delivering a tongue-in-cheek trashing of his younger brother, Armoni, who’s a freshman for the 15-seed Peacocks.
Armoni had just finished telling reporters that Zakai was up 6-5 on him in one-on-one battles and then Zakai took the podium.
“To clear the air, he’s never beat me one-on-one,’’ Zakai said. “He’s not even close in the series at all. And he’s not even close in his scores. I would say everything he does, I do a little bit better, except for athleticism and height. That’s the only two things that he has better than me, athleticism and height.
“Everything else, I do better times probably about five.’’
For the record, Armoni is 6-foot-4, 185 pounds and averages 6.4 points per game, and Zakai is 5-9, 171 pounds and averages 11.9 points per game.
“I’m more athletic than him and he’s a midget — what is he, 5-7, 5-6?’’ Armoni joked.
For all the sarcasm, the two are embracing this rare moment as two brothers playing against each other in an NCAA Tournament game.
“When we were kids, we always dreamed about something like this, but never thought it would come true,’’ Armoni told The Post.
“It’s really cool,’’ Zakai said. “Not too many times that two brothers face off in a big-time tournament like this. Our parents, they’re just so happy for us. I can’t wait to get out there and just go out there and get the win.
“Me and him, we’re two competitive people. We’ve gotten in plenty of fights just over us being competitive. At the end of the day, it’s still a team sport. Me and my team, we’re really competitive as a team. I’m not sure how they are on their team, but on our end, we’re really competitive. We’re going to do whatever it takes to go out there and get the win.
“Once we step between the lines, whether it’s my friend, my brother, whoever it is — whether it’s my dad — it doesn’t matter, I’m trying to go out there and win.’’
Asked what it’ll be like playing against each other, Armoni said, “It’s going to be a dogfight out there.
“It’s going to be a great, emotional moment, but I can’t get too emotional about it. When we play tomorrow, he’s not my brother. After the game, he’s my brother, but not now.’’
As Armoni was speaking to The Post courtside, with the Saint Peter’s hour-long shootaround practice having ended, the Tennessee players were running onto the court for their session and Zakai ran over and hugged his half-brother, younger by two years.
“That was a great moment right there,’’ Armoni said after the embrace. “He means everything to me. That is my brother. That is my heart. That is my world. I love him to death.’’
Armoni described his brother as “scrappy, fast, he creates shots for himself and for his teammates … he’s a great guard.’’
He described himself as “downhill, a transition demon, I can hit open shots, I’m very athletic.’’
Zakai and Armoni are half-brothers by birth.
They share a father and a last name.
“We don’t do the half-brother thing,” Ryan O’Malley, Armoni’s stepfather, told the Knoxville News Sentinel. “They are brothers. They look at themselves as brothers. There’s no half-brother about it.”
Charmane, Zakai’s mother and Armoni’s stepmother, told the Knoxville News Sentinel: “I watched these little boys when this was their dream.’’
Now they’re all living their dream — from Long Island to North Carolina on the biggest stage.
Both brothers wear No. 5 for their respective teams, their shared favorite number.
On Thursday, they’ll share the same floor.
“Those two have an incredible bond,” Vols forward Tobe Awaka said.
“I think it is going to be a great moment for both of them,” Tennessee guard Santiago Vescovi said.
A great moment, indeed.
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