It has been an up-and-down campaign for Tennessee Basketball. After Florida dominated Tennessee, they defeated Texas A&M. The Vols would then lose to Kentucky, but on Saturday, they upset Alabama. The leader of the team was freshman Nate Ament, and after the game, head coach Rick Barnes strongly defended his budding star.
“I know that when expectations are high for a player, sometimes people get disappointed. But we are not one bit disappointed with what he’s done for us all year,” Barnes said regarding Ament, per Grant Ramey of On3Sports.
The freshman had a season high of 29 points in the win over Alabama, while also adding seven rebounds and three assists in the game. After a solid start to the year over lower-level opponents, expectations grew for the forward. Still, he struggled against teams such as Syracuse, Illinois, and Louisville. Ament has been solid as of late, with at least 17 points and four rebounds in each of the last four games.
“He’s going keep getting better. It was just a matter of time to where you felt like he would get the flow, (with) the confidence and the vision to see where and how he needed to attack,” the head coach added.
Tennessee needed a win after falling to Kentucky, and Ament knew that.
“I just really wanted to win that game coming off a tough loss against Kentucky,” Ament said. “And I mean, props to the Alabama team. They made us work for it every bucket, every stop.”
Barnes hopes Ament can keep his hot streak going when they hit the road on Tuesday to face Georgia.
