Tennessee’s Rick Barnes admits an obvious but harsh reality on Nate Ament after win over Miami (OH)
The Vols will have to find a way to get it done without as much from their superstar freshman.
Tennessee freshman Nate Ament didn’t have to do all that much on Friday evening in Tennessee’s 78-56 throttling of Miami (OH) in the Vols opening game of the NCAA Tournament. Ament started the contest, but he ended up tallying just 18 minutes, with no points to show for it and just three rebounds.
Naturally, with the Vols holding a 51-32 halftime lead and keeping that general cushion for most of the rest of the game, the issue was never pressed such that Ament had to be back in there. But after the game, Rick Barnes issued a sobering reality about where things stand for his superstar freshman — one that matched up with what fans’ eyeballs witnessed during the first half of the game.
Rick Barnes said that Nate Ament isn’t going to be at 100% until after the season ends and that he’s wincing doing some basic activities in practice
“Well, I’ve said it — Nate would play every minute of every game if he could,” Barnes said. “He’s not going to be 100% healthy until the season is over with because when you have that ankle sprain where he had it. He tries. I was watching him in practice just doing some basic stuff and he never says a word, but I could see on his face he was wincing a little bit. Obviously, when we had the lead, right now he needs as much rest as he can, but he’ll do everything he can to be ready. Certainly, he will be ready to do what he can do.”
It was apparent that Ament cannot quite cut and drive as forcefully and quickly as he typically does, as he struggled to get past RedHawks defenders when he had the ball in one-on-one situations.
Fortunately, Ja’Kobi Gillespie and the rest of Ament’s teammates rose to the occasion in a big way and delivered one of the more impressive performances of the day. Gillespie had a game-high 29 points on 6-11 shooting from three, and J.P. Estrella added 14 points and 10 rebounds.
But March Madness is about star power and players putting their teams on their backs and carrying them with legendary performances. You often have to have those types of players to beat the true contenders in March. Ament is that type of superstar.
And unfortunately, due to a couple of freak moments during the month of February, his ability to put Tennessee on his back and take them to the promised land of that Final Four is looking very iffy at the moment.
