We’re a little over a week away from tipping off the SEC Tournament in Nashville and Tennessee is dealing with some adversity. The Volunteers saw star freshman wing Nate Ament go down with a leg injury over the weekend against Alabama and a timetable for his return is not currently clear.
Ament was tangled up on the floor between a couple of bodies, awkwardly twisting both his ankle and knee. He was seen stretching in the tunnel afterwards and did return after halftime, only to return to the locker
room shortly after.
Tennessee has ruled him out for tonight’s game at South Carolina.
The spread reacted accordingly. After opening in most places around 12 points, it’s now moved down to just 8.5. The Volunteers are coming off of two losses and simply need to get by tonight to stop the bleeding in the SEC standings with just a week left to play.
South Carolina is the worst team in the conference on paper, sitting at just 3-13 in conference play. They’ve played tough at home though, recently keeping things close with Kentucky and beating Mississippi State.
“I think it’ll be all hands on deck,” Tennessee assistant Justin Gainey said on Monday of replacing Ament’s production. “I think Bishop will have to step up more. I think Amari, I think Ethan, I think Troy needs to be ready. I think Mo (Amaree Abram) needs to be. All of those guys, everybody that we have, they need to be ready to step up and contribute in some way. And it might not be scoring, but defensively, some minutes here or there where there’s no breakdowns.”
Tennessee is currently projected as a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament. They’re also currently the No. 5 seed in the SEC Tournament, meaning they would not get the double-bye.
The Vols will tip-off with the Gamecocks tonight at 6 p.m. ET on SEC Network.
