Five-star freshman Nate Ament did not have a dominant stretch or truly assert himself in Tennessee basketball’s 76-61 season-opening win over Mercer on Monday night in Knoxville. Yet Ament ended the night as the game’s top performer, slowly building a strong debut performance against the Beasts.
“You look at his line, other than the fact that he turned it over three times, I mean, that’s a pretty good night,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said postgame.
Ament finished the night with 19 points while grabbing nine rebounds— coming up just a rebound shy of a double-double in his debut.
Tennessee’s five-star was the headliner but he wasn’t the only freshman that impressed against Mercer. Forward DeWayne Brown followed up a strong showing against Duke by checking into the game earlier and playing 15 minutes in the win.
Brown showed his worth, scoring six points on three shot attempts while adding five rebounds and dishing out two assists. It was a validating outing from the overlooked freshman who turned heads all offseason and provided a serious spark in Tennessee’s exhibition loss against Duke.
“He shows it every day in practice so I’m really not surprised when it comes to game time he does the exact same thing that he was doing in practice,” sophomore center JP Estrella said of Brown.
There were signs of a sizable role for Brown after the exhibition game. That was not the case for freshman guard Troy Henderson who did not play against Duke.
But Barnes went to Henderson is the first half and the undersized guard brought the shooting that makes him an interesting piece to watch. Henderson hit two-of-three attempts from deep and dished out a pair of assists in 12 minutes of action.
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“He knows his role as someone who can back up Ja’Kobi and be a spark off the bench,” Ament said. “Him just being able to master that is just making us a better team and I think he understands that.”
It’s just one game against an overmatched Mercer team, so it’s wise to be cautious about drawing major conclusion. However, Barnes says that the two freshmen are going to play for Tennessee.
“They’re going to be in there,” Barnes said. “They’re going to be in there because one, they’ve earned it. And again, the more they play, the better they’re going to get. We got a chance to have the depth we want.”
But few on Tennessee’s team will affect the season more than Ament. He “didn’t like” what he saw when he watched the tape of his inefficient 14-point performance against Duke. Barnes praised his maturity and response in practice following the game and Ament looked much more comfortable against Mercer.
The level of competition certainly plays a role but Ament picked his spots better and forced the issue less while shooting six-of-11 from the field and one-of-four from three-point range in the regular season opener.
“I thought tonight he had a chance to shoot a couple more threes and he didn’t,” Barnes said. “Last game he tried to do too much and that’s where you’ll see his improvement. He’ll know more where his shots are coming from and when he needs to shoot. But I thought he really was into the game mentally.”
There were a handful of things not to like from Tennessee in the opener — 19 turnovers atop the list — but Ament and the freshmen performances were a positive to begin the season.
