Tennessee star freshman wing Nate Ament left Saturday’s game against Alabama in the first half after getting twisted up in a scrum for the ball. After he was seen stretching in the tunnel, Ament returned in the second half — only to leave for good after giving it a brief go in the opening minutes.
The Volunteers would go on to collapse to close the game without him on the floor, losing to Alabama 71-69. Ament finished with two points on 1-5 shooting.
The injury appeared to happen to Ament’s knee or
ankle, both awkwardly getting bent during the play.
“I think when he hurt his knee a little bit, but he did tweak his foot he had turned at Missouri, that ankle,” Rick Barnes said after the game. “He tried, and if he can’t go, he can’t go because there’s no one tougher than him.”
Ament has been one of the best players in the country for the better part of two months, finally turning things on and showing why he was a top ten overall player in the class. The 6-10 wing has powered Tennessee’s mid-season turnaround, scoring 20 points just about every time out. His shooting has continued to heat up while his ability to get to the rim and draw fouls have really stabilized the Tennessee offense.
“It goes back to execution,” Barnes said of playing without Ament. “I mean, you’ve got to – and it’s not just offense. I mean, you know, it’s defensive execution. I mean, think about how many points they scored at the rim in the second half. We need some of those, you know, and we might do it a little bit different, but they still got in there and made some shots. We need to do that.
“There’s no excuse for the ball-screen (defense), blowing the ball-screen (coverage). I mean, that was one of the first things we put up on the scout.”
Now Tennessee waits. The Vols close the regular season with a road trip to South Carolina and a home game against Vanderbilt. Will Ament be able to go in either? More importantly, will he be back to full strength for tournament time? We’ll get an update ahead of Tennessee’s game at South Carolina on Tuesday.
