Tennessee freshman Nate Ament has been tearing it up in the Vols’ recent stretch of games. Ament had a bit of a slower-than-expected start to the season as he found his footing, but he has been dominating SEC competition over the last handful of weeks. Ament has looked like a completely different player since the fall, and much of that has to do with his assertiveness in finding his shot and scoring the ball.
Ament is averaging 17.5 points per game on the season, but that number jumps up to 23.8 PPG over his last six games. During that stretch, he’s got two 29-point outings, a 28-point game, a 22-point game, a 19-point game, and a 16-point game. That’s not even counting the 17-point, 23-point, and 17-point games in the three before that stretch.
Ament had high expectations heading into the season, and he’s starting to play like himself lately.
In SBNation’s latest mock draft on Thursday, Ricky O’Donnell has Nate Ament going eighth overall in the 2026 NBA Draft to the Utah Jazz. Ament is O’Donnell’s highest-drafted player from the SEC.
“Ament is killing it lately after a slow start, averaging 25.4 points and seven rebounds over his last five games on 50 percent shooting from three and 45.2 percent shooting on twos,” O’Donnell writes. “I’m still worried that he settles too much, and struggles to get to and finish at the rim. Adding more strength and refining his dribble, pass, and shoot skill set should improve that over time. The tools that made him a top-5 recruit entering the year are still there as a 6’10 wing, and I’d bet on it being too tempting to pass up for teams in this range.”
More From RTI: Nate Ament Comes Through When Tennessee Basketball Needs Him At Mississippi State
During Tennessee’s win over Mississippi State on Wednesday night, Ament had a relatively quiet 16 points. It’s his lowest scoring total since only scoring eight points against Texas back on Jan. 6. But even still, he proved to be a key player in helping Tennessee secure the lead when the tide was shifting in favor of the Bulldogs.
When Mississippi State went on an 18-0 second-half run to close Tennessee’s lead to just five, Ament was the one to break them out of things. He scored eight of Tennessee’s final 10 points, which included two successful and-one opportunities. Ament also did so after getting a little banged up with contact through the game.
“I thought coming down the stretch, you know he’s banged up a little bit,” Rick Barnes said after the game. “I could tell he wasn’t moving the way he normally moves, but at the end, when we needed him, he came through.”
Ament’s already in pretty high draft territory as is, but perhaps stringing together a few more big showings and ending the season on a dominant note could quiet some of the skeptics and move him even higher in the draft. We’ll just have to wait and see.
