Tennessee basketball coach Rick Barnes has consistently been complimentary of the Vols’ five-player freshman class. Coming out of high school it was a good but not a super highly touted freshman class. It included five-star freshman Nate Ament and a pair of lower four-stars Amari Evans and DeWayne Brown along with three-stars Troy Henderson and Clarence Massamba.
All five played 14-plus minutes in Tennessee’s 94-52 rout of Gardner-Webb Sunday and many have earned consistent roles even when the competition is greater. What makes this class different from past freshman classes that Barnes has coached?
“So much credit goes to our staff,” Barnes said. “They’re really, really highly experienced evaluators. They know how to evaluate not only our needs, but what they know will fit within our program and probably as much as anything with this class would be their mental makeup.
“We know they’re going to go through a growth period, which they all have. But again, it’s mentally probably as much as anything. And they’ve learned, they’re learning as we go here, but they didn’t know this summer probably why, how we were doing a lot of the things that we were doing. But they stayed with it, and we’ve got a long way to go still. But we’ve got a group of guys that I know want to be good and we’ll just keep trying to get better a little bit each day.”
Ament was the star of the class and a clear one-and-done. He’s gone through those learning curves during this season but is averaging 15.3 points, 6.9 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.4 steals per game.
Brown has been the biggest surprise of the group, coming in and earning a starting spot after Cade Phillips suffered a season-ending injury. The power forward totaled six points and 14 rebounds— becoming just the fourth Tennessee freshman to total 14 rebounds in a game.
The Hoover native is averaging five points and 4.4 rebounds in 14.3 minutes per game this season and should just see his role increase.
“He really understands how to play,” Barnes said of Brown. “We love the fact that when he’s up high, he is a connector. He can keep things going. Really good passer. Sees the game, probably our best post player in terms of knowing how to get positioned in there first. Score before he gets the ball. But very unselfish and as he continues to really two things— understand defense at the level that we need him to and learning how to play when he’s tired. That’s the two things that he’s got to continue to grow in.”
Troy Henderson is a good shooter that hasn’t shot the ball well this season. But Henderson found his stroke against the Runnin’ Bulldogs, knocking down three-of-five attempts from beyond the arc. The freshman guard is averaging 2.1 points and 1.7 assists while playing 10.4 minutes in 10 games this season.
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Amari Evans has provided a serious spark the last two games. After scoring seven points against Louisville, Evans came off the bench and totaled six points, three rebounds and three steals against Gardner-Webb.
The 6-foot-4 wing was one of the best perimeter defenders in the 2025 recruiting cycle and that’s why he has a path to finding a consistent role once SEC play begins.
“That’s a freshman that’s trying to figure it out, you know?” Barnes said of Evans trying to play defense without fouling. “How much can I get in there and be physical? How much can I back off? And that’s not his game, you know, he’s gonna have to play with tenacity. I mean, that’s who he is. But this experience, and again, the more he gets to go through it, the better he’ll get with it.”
Then there’s Massamba. He has the smallest chance to impact this year’s Tennessee team. But Barnes is clearly extremely high on him long term.
“He just reminds me of a lot of Yves Pons and the fact that he’s so driven,” Barnes said. “He never complains about anything. He’s just all about what do I have to do to get better. And when you watch him, I stand there every day and watch him start practicing, just the short shooting or whatever drill we’re in, he just goes at maybe harder than anybody on the team.
“When you got a guy like that, just there’s something in your gut that says we’ve got to give him a chance to get out there. And the more the more he gets out there, the better he is going to be.”
It’s undecided just how big of a role this freshman class is going to have when SEC play begins. But it’s clear that Barnes and his staff nailed the personality evaluations. This group is made of the right stuff. Tennessee will benefit from that long term.
