Tennessee basketball wing Nate Ament returned from injury last week in the SEC Tournament after missing the previous 2.5 games with a right leg injury. Ament played 32 minutes in the Vols’ win over Auburn before playing 30 minutes in their rivalry loss against Vanderbilt.
Meeting with the media in Knoxville Sunday, Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes acknowledged that it was good for Ament to get back on the court before the NCAA Tournament.
“I think it was good for him to really get some of the rust off. I mean, this time of year, you go 10 days, and I thought it was important that he did get to play in Nashville,” Barnes said.
Ament was fantastic against Auburn, scoring 27 points while adding eight rebounds, four assists and three blocks. The freshman wing led the Vols in all four statistics in the come from behind win. But Ament struggled against Vanderbilt the next day, making just one-of-13 field goals in a 12-point, 11-rebound, two-assist and two-steal performance.
It was good for Ament to get back on the court, he is clearly still not 100% healthy. While he did not suffer any setbacks in Nashville, Barnes said he might not have played on Saturday against Florida even if Tennessee had won against Vanderbilt.
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“I’m not sure that the doctors wanted him to play as much as he played, and I’m not sure if we would’ve kept winning, how much he would’ve played,” Barnes said. “(If it was) Up to him, they’d have had to sit him down because he wanted to play. But I think this is good. A little more time will certainly benefit him.”
It’s a sentiment Barnes also echoed after the loss, saying it is probably a blessing in disguise for Ament that he didn’t play a third game in three days.
A Second Team All-SEC selection, Ament is averaging 17.5 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game this season. He leads the Vols in rebounding, ranks second in points and ranks third in assists. Ament was even more productive in SEC play, averaging 19 points and six rebounds per game.
Perhaps no player on Tennessee’s roster is more important to its success than Ament. The Vols are 8-2 in games Ament scores 20 points this season while just 12-8 in games he fails to reach the mark.
Tennessee does not open up its run at the NCAA Tournament until Friday afternoon. The six-seed Vols will face the winner of the First Four game 11-seeds Miami (Ohio) and SMU. If Tennessee wins its first game in the tournament then they face either three-seed Virginia or 14-seed Wright State in the Round of 32.
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