The Tennessee Vols looked like they were on their way to a third win in three days when they opened up a 12-point lead with under 14 minutes to play against the Kansas Jayhawks on Wednesday night in the Players Era Festival Tournament in Las Vegas.

But unfortunately for the Vols, it was mostly downhill from there.

Kansas outscored Tennessee 38 to 21 in the final 14 minutes of the game on its way to an 81-76 win over the Volunteers.

It was a disappointing end to an otherwise fruitful trip to Sin City (the Vols picked up wins over Houston and Rutgers).

Vols freshman Nate Ament drops quote that shows exactly why Tennessee lost to Kansas

Vols true freshman forward Nate Ament spoke to reporters after the game, and he dropped one quote that made it clear what Tennessee’s issue was on Wednesday night — they were simply tired late in the game after playing a tough game against Houston the night before (plus a game against Rutgers on Monday).

“I was upset with myself tonight,” said Ament. “Just my defensive intensity and also just my leadership. You get to those last 12 minutes, and you could see we weren’t huddling for free throws, we weren’t talking about the game. We were all in our own worlds being tired. For me, being a starter on this team, I need to do a better job in a leadership role.”

Some fans may not love that response due to the fact that Kansas had to deal with the same circumstances, but it’s important to remember that every player is affected differently by that sort of thing.

In Ament’s case, he’s a true freshman who has played eight college basketball games. That’s a big jump for any player. And there’s always going to be an adjustment period. Even then, Ament is playing exceptionally well for being so young — he’s averaging 17.9 points per game so far.

Tennessee lost to Kansas because it didn’t stay locked in and focused over the last 10 to 15 minutes of the game, due to fatigue, which prevented them from performing up to their potential.

The loss is certainly frustrating for the Vols’ players and coaches (and for fans). But at the same time, the loss doesn’t change anything about who Tennessee is as a team. They’re still really talented and play really hard.

They just had a lapse at the end of a stretch of three games in three days. It happens. Kansas, which already has two losses on the season, probably needed that game a little more than Tennessee. All of that combined is why you saw the Jayhawks outplay the Vols over the last 10 to 15 minutes on Wednesday night.

“This group of guys, a lot of them, it’s the first time they’ve been together,” said Vols head coach Rick Barnes after the game. “And to win at this level and to be a highly ranked basketball team, when you go on the road, people are going to give you their best shot to win a big game.

“I know Kansas has respect for our program. I know that. And they came out, and [in the] second half, I thought they out-competed us when it counted. And that’s the hardest thing to take when they’re doing things that we could have done. But I don’t want to take anything from them. It’s a compliment to them because I thought they deserved to win the game.”

It may not feel like this way, but Tennessee will perform better throughout the rest of the season because it lost this game to Kansas. Barnes will find plenty of lessons from this loss that will help Tennessee’s players be better prepared for big games in the future.

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