The Tennessee Vols dropped a tough road game on Tuesday night, falling 62-60 to the Syracuse Orange.

Tennessee has now lost two straight games after getting off to a 7-0 start this season.

True freshman forward Nate Ament, a future superstar with unlimited potential, had a tough game against Syracuse, finishing with 11 points on 2-of-10 shooting. He also had seven turnovers and nearly fouled out of the game.

Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes drops quote that shows exactly why Nate Ament struggled against Syracuse

Ament has the talent to be one of the best players in college basketball and a star at the next level.

But he’s far from a finished product. Right now, Ament is adjusting to the college game and he seems to be trying to do too much while attempting to live up to the hype that surrounded him during the recruiting process.

“He’s not going to be able to do the things that he did in high school,” said Vols head coach Rick Barnes of Ament after the loss to Syracuse. “It’s a process. We knew he’d go through it, but he’s going to have to listen because we’re telling him….he’s going to have to go through the fire and he’s going to have to learn when to pick his spots [and] when not to. But he’s also got to continue to understand the flow of the game. We love him to death. We do. And he works his tail off. But there’s just so much of this game he still has to learn.

“He is learning to do that on both ends. But he’s putting so much pressure on himself and he doesn’t need to do that — he’s got good guys around him. They have great respect for him and they know when they need to get it involved, where they need to get it. He’s just, he’s pressing. He’s putting way too much pressure on himself.”

That’s all part of the development process. I think some fans and analysts forget that young players have to make mistakes and go through adversity to reach their true potential.

The good news for Tennessee is that early season losses to Kansas and Syracuse don’t mean much in the long run. Tennessee will be a better team later in the season because they played those games (regardless of what the scoreboard said at the end of the night). And Ament will grow as a player because he went through some tough moments early in the season.

Remember, college basketball is all about who’s playing their best ball come tournament time. Tennessee has plenty of time to get to that point.

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