On Saturday night, despite Alabama playing Charles Bediako after a stint as a professional basketball player in the NBA’s G-League, Tennessee basketball earned a signature road win, 79-73. Leading the way for the Vols was five-star freshman Nate Ament.
In the win, Ament scored a career-high 29 points on 10-for-20 shooting from the field, 2-for-3 from range and 7-for-9 from the free throw line. He also contributed seven rebounds and three assists with just one turnover.
Ament’s 10 made shots put him in some elite company in UT history. Over the past 20 seasons, he joins Kennedy Chandler, Grant Williams (twice) and Tobias Harris as the only Vols freshmen to make 10 or more shots from the field in a single game.
in the last 20 seasons, freshman Vols with 10+ FGM in a game:
• Nate Ament
• Kennedy Chandler
• Grant Williams (2x)
• Tobias Harris pic.twitter.com/ibTMSjZ7a0— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) January 25, 2026
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“Nate’s been good all year,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said after the game. “I’ve said it from the beginning, he’s a guy that is playing a position he’s never played. In high school, he’s more of a four or five kind of player. He’s played on the perimeter pretty much exclusively. We’ve gone and got him at the four a couple of times, not very much. But what he’s learning to do, as much as we try to adjust him to the physicality that he was going to see, it’s something that you have to live. And he’s lived it. And I’ve said it before, I don’t think he’s had a great whistle all year. But he’s starting to understand how to attack space and not to get himself in trouble by going too deep. But he was terrific tonight.
“Again, I think he’s been really good all year. I know that when expectations are high for a player, sometimes people get disappointed. But we are not one bit disappointed with what he’s done for us all year. He’s gonna keep getting better. It was just a matter of time to where you felt like he would get the flow, the confidence and the vision to see where and how he needed to attack. And he’s done that really — and I really think it started in the Florida game. He’s put, what, four games (together) where I think he really knows where he needs to go to work.”
Ament is averaging 16.2 points per game on 42% shooting from the field and 29.3% shooting from three. He’s also contributing 6.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.3 steals per game.
Currently, Ament is considered a top-10 prospect in the 2026 NBA Draft class. This class is considered potentially the deepest one of all time, with one of the top freshmen classes ever shining as conference play begins.
Next, Tennessee will head to Georgia. The game was initially slated to take place on Tuesday, but was pushed back to Wednesday and will begin at 7 p.m. ET due to inclement weather. It will air on SEC Network.
