It’s still unclear if Tennessee basketball will have its star freshman forward, Nate Ament, in the SEC Tournament. Ahead of the Vols’ matchup with Auburn, Ament was listed as questionable on the availability report on Wednesday night.
Ament just did shooting drills and individual work during the portions of Tennessee’s Tuesday practice open to the media. But the star wing did five-on-five work on Wednesday in Nashville. Ament did not go through the entire practice full speed but did the most he’s done since suffering the right leg injury.
The 6-foot-10 freshman rolled his ankle in the first half at Missouri and then worsened the injury in the first half of Tennessee’s loss against Alabama. He was on the ground trying to corral a loose ball when an Alabama player fell on his right leg and it bent backward. He briefly returned in the second half but played less than three minutes before exiting for the remainder of the game.
Ament has missed Tennessee’s two games since as he deals with both a right ankle and right knee injury. Rick Barnes has called the ankle injury the more serious of the two. Ament has been practicing with a brace on his right knee for precautionary reasons.
A Second Team All-SEC selection, Ament is averaging 17.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game this season. He leads the Vols in rebounding, ranks second in points and ranks third in assists. Ament has been even more productive in SEC play, averaging 19 points and six rebounds per game. He’s one of Tennessee’s major sources of offense and him missing time has been a significant blow.
While Ament has been sidelined, fellow freshman Amari Evans has stepped into the starting role and performed well, including a career-high 24 points against Vanderbilt
The Vols open up postseason play on Thursday afternoon when they face Auburn. Tipoff from Bridgestone Arena is at approximately 3 p.m. ET. The SEC Network is broadcasting the game.
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