BIRDS OF A FEATHER
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