Rick Barnes gives an update on Nate Ament’s injury following Tennessee’s loss to Alabama
The Vols’ lost more than a rivalry game on Saturday night in Knoxville.
Tennessee was in cruise control late in the first half against the Alabama Crimson Tide in Knoxville, and then one of the worst things that could have happened to the Vols reared its ugly head.
Freshman Nate Ament was on the defensive end late in the half with the Vols comfortably in front of the Tide, and during a scramble for a loose ball, an Alabama player bumped him. He fell awkwardly, with his leg getting trapped and bending backwards in a manner that appeared to be very painful. Ament stayed on the court being tended to by medical staff before he made his way off the court.
He did shoot around at halftime with a limp and he gave it a go in the second half, scoring a basket early in the frame. But it was clear quickly that he couldn’t get up and down the floor like he needed to, and he left the game for good.
With Ament on the bench, Alabama slowly rallied from a 55-42 second half deficit and took their first lead with the game’s final points at 71-69 with a little over 20 seconds left. Ja’Kobi Gillespie’s drive in the final seconds went off the rim, and the ball bounced away at the horn.
After the game, the concern was understandably on Ament’s health. While Rick Barnes didn’t have an update on his status, he did say during his press conference that it was related to both his knee and his ankle.
Rick Barnes says Tennessee’s Nate Ament “hurt his knee a little bit” and “tweaked the foot” from Missouri loss against Alabama
“No, I think when he hurt his knee a little bit, but he did tweak the foot he had turned at Missouri, that ankle,” Barnes said. “He tried. If he can’t go, he can’t go because there’s no one tougher than him.”
Ament did suffer an ankle injury in Tuesday night’s loss to Missouri, but he was able to return to the game and play until the end. Barnes noted on Friday that he was dealing with lingering effects from the injury.
“Well, he had turned his ankle early in the game, and I will say this, most guys probably wouldn’t have tried to fight through it, but he did,” Barnes said on Friday. “I thought it slowed him down some. But again, people are trying to stand him up a lot, and he’s going to have to get some separation, but he’s going to have to really be forceful with his cuts to get some of those freedom of movement type calls. But we didn’t do much with him yesterday, and we’ll just see from here how it goes today.”
The question now is the severity and the timetable for a return. Tennessee plays at South Carolina on Tuesday before a return match with Vanderbilt on Saturday to close out the regular season. The question now is whether any absence would extend three weeks, when the NCAA Tournament gets underway.
Tennessee fans had better hope not because what we saw on Saturday night does not bode well for the Vols’ chances to make any kind of meaningful run with Ament watching on the bench.
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